I purchased the kids' costumes a couple months ago. I've had them stashed away so that the kids wouldn't mess them up. I have to tell you though that I did also purchase a couple "extra" costumes for them. I wanted to get them new dress-up clothes for the rest of the year, you know?
The Princess and I started Halloween a little early this year. Last Saturday, the YMCA had a "Trunk or Treat" event. There were at least 30 cars that were located in the upper parking lot decorated and stocked with candy. The local fire department was also on sight. Letting the kids look in the ambulance and sit inside the the front section of the fire truck. They also had a rock climbing apparatus (it was at least 20 feet tall!). So the Princess was able to get an early stash of sweets.
For Halloween, the Princess had a "Cheerless Cheerleader" outfit that she selected out of a catalog. The Bear was the "Red Power Ranger". But like I mentioned, I purchased a couple extra outfits for both of them. The Bear got boy's "Black Ninja" and a "Red Spiderman" outfits. The Princess got a "Cinderella" and girl's "Black Ninja" outfit. Of course, we had use for these already. The Bear was allowed to dress up for preschool, so he chose the "Spiderman" outfit. Then the Princess wore the "Black Ninja" outfit to the zoo, which was a Reading Program reward outing that her school put together. So their Halloween night costumes were pristine when they put those on.
The Hubs (thankfully) brought home a gourmet pizza on Halloween. Nothing to cook or clean up! This made the evening a lot less stressful. The sun sets about 6pm around here, so that didn't give us much time to eat and then get the kids ready. Of course, I had the candy bags all emptied into big bowls. All we needed were the kids cleaned up and changed. The kids were getting changed when we got the first knock on our front door. That knock got the kids going 100 miles per second! They got ready in no time flat. They were headed out the door with the Hubs less than 5 minutes later.
Every year, one of us takes the kids out. The other stays home and hands out candy. It's only fair. We want the kids in the neighborhood to be able to "Trick or Treat" at as many homes as possible. And what's great is that most of the parents in the neighborhood do the same thing. One spouse walks the kids. One spouse stays home and hands out candy. I had a nice time handing out candy. No obnoxious kids. They said "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you".
Our city doesn't allow street lights in the neighborhoods. We only have low-tone lights along the main street. So the streets around our house are dark. DARK! To make sure that kids/parents knew that I was home and ready to hand out candy? I had our shutters slightly open in all the front rooms (living/dining/foyer) and had the lights all turned on. I had the light next to the front door turned on, along with the string of lighted pumpkins leading to our front door. It was CLEAR that we were "open for business".
The Hubs and the kids came home an hour later (7:15pm). The kids stayed in their costumes and helped hand out candy. The Princess had a blast. She was instructed to grab as much candy in one hand and put that handful into each person's bag. So everyone got at least 3-4 pieces of candy. Of course, when I handed out the candy it was about 6 pieces per child (as I have Mommy hands). We still ended up with 1/2 a HUGE bowl of candy. We're never going to be able to eat that! I'm not that much into candy since I've started exercising. I refuse to give up my coffee or guacamole. I can easily give up candy though.
We decided to end the night around 8:30pm. That's 45 minutes after the kids are normally in bed. Those two were tired. And thankfully the rest of the kids in the neighborhood were also safely stashed in their homes. So I closed the shutters, turned off all the lights in the front rooms, and also the lighted pumpkin lights in the front yard. A definite signal that we were "closed" for the night.
It was fun. It was nice. The kids had a good time. So did the Hubs and myself!
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