Halloween 2016 Wrap Up

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AuntJamelle

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Oct 22, 2007
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So - how was your Halloween?

What was crazy? What worked well? What would you try differently next year? Are you shopping for Halloween clearance?

What is on your Halloween bucket list for next year?

Dish it! :D
 

AuntJamelle

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I'm thinking of hitting Target for Halloween clearance today - it should be 50% off (30% on food) and then on Friday I might go back again when the items are 70% off (50% on food)...

I'm considering picking up a costume or two for DS for dress up play. Other things I'm looking for are Halloween themed paper plates and napkins for next year, maybe some candles. I don't need any candy but might take a quick look to see if there is anything that might work for decorating gingerbread houses this year!
 

Minta

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Oct 14, 2007
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We are debating if we will hand out candy next year. This is our 2nd Halloween in this house and we got some kids just not a lot. Doesn't help we are on a dead end (only 2 houses on this street and the other is empty). We went through about 6 bags of fun size candy and DH was handing out at least 3 fun size bas to each child. I will stop after work to see if I can find any small reese pb cups on clearance for ,my Christmas cookies.


Usually we order pizza for dinner on Halloween but this year I did a crockpot of meatballs since we had a house full of kids. That worked out really well.

While we were out taking the kids around the neighborhood we came to house that was having a small Halloween party outside. They had a fire pit and a table with assorted bowls - one bowl had fresh fruit, one bowl had candy and another bowl had bags of chip and pretzels. The trick or treaters could pick 1 to 2 items from any of the bowls. If do decide to hand out candy next year maybe we will do a set up like that.

Will definitely be out and about later today and tomorrow to see what new Halloween decorations we can find for next year.
 

housewife2

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i hada fun Halloween taking my 2 year old grandson out. he dressed as marshall from paw patrol. he loved it. we have no kids on my street so I only bought candy for work. I hit rite aid this afternoon and picked up a couple things. im taking my stuff down tomo and pack it up for next year.
 

Ahorsesoul

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We handed out plastic candy filled gloves to about 30 kids. It was rather cold and windy. DD and I sat on the porch until it got to cold. We came in a little before 7. We might have gotten a few more kids if we had kept on the lights but not many. One family had their ATV hooked up to a tailer and were hauling about kids. That looked like fun for them.

I need to keep all the bags of candy together next year. I kept finding bags of it that I had stuck around the house. Ended up with 9-lbs of candy that was unopened. Thank goodness we took some to the doctors office today.

I did good at practicing the face painting before Halloween. It went really well this year.

DD and I stopped at our local store (not Walmart). They had a photographer taking pictures (5x7) for $5. So DD had hers taken. I think that was a great idea. In the store they had check points and each area gave us candy or cookies. I told the meat dept they should have had meat sticks. lol

We did decide to make it a tradition to take the GS to a pumpkin patch each year. We will do it early and during the week so it's not so busy.

So all in all I think it went well this year.
 

AuntJamelle

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We were at the campground for Halloween as usual this year. Had a great time! My sister ordered oversized pixie sticks to go in our big bowl of candy for trick or treaters on Saturday (the campground always does it Saturday from 4p to 6p) and they were VERY popular with the kids! :)

We had a ton of candy left over so I took it to a girlfriend's house on my lunch on Monday and she used it ALL! They get a TON of kids in their sub-division!

We did a small amount of decorating of our campsite again this year BUT I picked up several things on clearance at Target yesterday that will help decorate next year! Got black cat metal lantern lights that we will hang on our camper awning and a couple of larger light up figures, a little monster and a black cat. We have a large light up Jack O'Lantern already. Will have to brainstorm with DH on what else we might want to do!

I did not dress up this year and would really like to do something next year, even if simple. Just have to start planning it earlier! I focus so much on Christmas that Halloween kind of sneaks up on me every year!

Also had a "moment" when school sent home a note that there should be no violent costumes when it came to what DS wore to Halloween parade at school. He had chosen a Lego Ninja costume this year and I panicked thinking that would fall too much in the violent category. Was going to run to Meijer last minute when DH suggested we just dress him as a football player using items from his dress up bucket. Worked perfectly!

And then at the Halloween parade, there were lots of ninjas! LOL Including a kid in his class in the EXACT same costume. So I guess it was good we did the football player after all.
 

Holiday_Mom

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As our children are getting older, Halloween is looking different for us. I usually pick up the teens at 5 pm but dh was able to do that for me so I could start on dinner with my dd9. We kept dinner simple with salad and hot dogs. Dh and dd9 went out and the teens joined them for a bit to visit the neighbors. I sat on the front porch and handed out candy. This year only 2 people came to our house. :( Most of the families on our street have children who have aged out and it doesn't help that we live at the end of street. We had a lot of candy left over. I froze the chocolate so I won't be eating it between now and Thanksgiving. :D

I think we'll continue to keep dinner simple on Halloween and I'll buy less candy for next year.
 

teachermomof2

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Oct 27, 2007
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Our Halloween was rushed because it was a school night. I got home, made mummy pizzas, which are always a hit and I thought I had larger Halloween paper plates, but I didn't. We ate on dessert plates. I'll have to pick some up for next year. I have loads of napkins and dessert plates. Then we dressed dd11 and headed out to my gf's house to do our annual trick or treat in her neighborhood. Several of her friends and their children joined us this year. It was more chaotic than I prefer and they kids were out of control (running into the streets, kicking people's decorations and mums, fighting with parents, etc.). M, df's daughter, her hubby, John and I walked a bit ahead of the crowd. Our hour trip, lasted about and hour and a half.
Then we headed to my parents' for M to visit them.
I think this was our last year of trick or treating, but we will see how M feels next year. Hunter was over trick or treat at an early age. I hope to continue the pizzas, monster toe cookies and such each year with the kids as long as I'm able. Those things won't change.
 

MrsSoup

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Oct 13, 2007
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Our Halloween was great and all of our kids trick or treated. DS (age 14) went as well but with friends. However, I think they did more walking around than actual trick or treating because he came back with only half a bucket full. He may decide not to go next year, but I have no doubts that DD will continue for several more years as well as Eli (although he tires out quickly). We always take plastic bags to empty out their buckets as they get full or too heavy and that works well. I miss our wagon but it's not worth purchasing a new one since the kids are older now. We won't be here next year and will be moving to Hawaii and will have to drastically pare down our household, so no clearance shopping for me. :(

If I were to do anything differently it would be to plan costumes farther ahead, especially DS since his was purchased the Saturday before Halloween. Also I would like to do some better Halloween themed food or maybe even host a party one year. We did Halloween sugar cookies twice, so i'll probably go back to once and just do them closer to Halloween.
 

HouseElf

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Oct 12, 2007
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Very quiet, less than 30 kids this year and all before 7! It was colder and windy but we have had more kids even with rain. This was our smallest count ever I think.

Next year I think we will do pizza - boys enjoyed our dinner but it was a messy eat and I would likely appreciated being less in the kitchen;)