Tuesday, October 25th
4:00-6:00PM
Bentley, Jake & Viva's home
BEFORE THE PARTY:
I talked Kara into having a Halloween party for the children. The children were very excited and greatly anticipated the party. They helped decorate the house. We put up our Halloween tree and added the ornaments. The cat nearly took the tree down one day, damaging some of the ornaments. We draped a large spider web above the tree using the entryway chandelier and the staircase to anchor it. The children threw spiders (from Grandma Vicki--not real ones!) into the web. Bentley and Jake made moons from construction paper and taped them up wherever they were allowed to. If we didn't reign them in, they'd probably have made a hundred of them. Their enthusiasm for some projects is boundless.
Kara and I purchased some items for goodie bags and the children helped me put the bags together. It took much longer with their assistance than it would have without it. Working with my three overzealous helpers, I couldn't help but wonder what the party would be like working with eleven three-to-five year olds. It was too late to have second thoughts. Kara had prepared and mailed the invitations days ago.
Right before the party the trio helped me decorate the cupcakes that Kara baked for us. They did a fantastic job. It's amazing what you can do with colored sprinkles, gummy tarantulas, and skeletons on a toothpick. Nothing elaborate, but very cute. The twins insisted on eating every sprinkle that fell off the cupcakes.
I took two Tylenol and helped the children get into their costumes while Kara fed Lincoln. Let the fun begin!
AT THE PARTY:
The party started at 4PM and two of our guests arrived right on time. The children ran through the house for a few minutes and then Kara had them sit at the table and color Halloween placemats while waiting for the other guests to arrive. The other guests didn't arrive, so at 4:15PM we moved on to our second activity, eating a donut tied to a string without using your hands. Some of the children were better at this than others. Our second pair of guests arrived during this activity.
We moved the children back to the table and fed them. What's a party without food? We kept the menu simple with finger foods: carrots, black olives, candy corn, cupcakes, and little smokies wrapped in crescent dough (mummies). We forgot the apple slices. We served punch. I made floating hands for the punch bowl and Kara froze gummy eyeballs in ice cubes for the cups. The hands melted very quickly and the eyeballs floated wrong side down. Thumbs down on these two items. The rest of our guests arrived during the snack.
After eating, we tried to have a Halloween parade around the house, but we could not get the music to play. (Our sound system is a hand-me-down that doesn't always work properly.) The children marched and made lots of noise. While they marched their mommies helped us clear the table of food so we could do a craft. Kara had purchased Halloween necklace kits from Oriental Trading Company. She wasn't impressed with the quality of the kit, but Bentley really liked the activity. He asked to make another one the next day, so I gave him all the leftover pieces.
Next we played toss candy into Halloween buckets. I'd practiced with our children to determine the right distance for the buckets. On the first round almost everyone scored two to three out of five. On the second round I moved the throwing line back a foot and hardly anyone could get the candy into the bucket. Eleven children is a lot to cycle through in a game, so I only did two rounds.
We still had lots of time left on the clock, so I pulled out Cranium Hullabaloo. It was a big hit, but Kara and I can only handle so much chaos and noise, so after three rounds it was back to the table for an ending activity. The children were given construction paper and foam cut outs. They created a Halloween scene.
We herded our guests to the door and gave them their goodie bags. At the party there were 8 party guests, 4 siblings of guests (3 one year olds and a newborn), and 5 mothers. It was a wild time. The house was blissfully quiet when our last guest left.
AFTER THE PARTY
Jake told me right after the party that he had a good time. Bentley and Viva (prompted by their mother!) thanked me later that evening. I saw that our trio had a great time at the party and they loved preparing for the party, so I can truthfully say that it was a grand success. Mission accomplished.
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