Trunk or Treat Carnival

We were astonished by our new church congregation's Halloween carnival. They turned the traditional trunk or treat activity into a full carnival and fundraiser for the youth. There was dinner, carnival game booths, cotton candy, sno cones, a haunted trailer, a silent auction and a petting zoo. We had over 100 youth in our ward volunteering, which made for a pretty elaborate celebration.

I couldn't get enough of Finn eating his cotton candy in the golden hour light. 

Nash and Blake scattered using their tickets to win carnival game prizes.

Crew loved the chicken coop.

Once the sun set, we lined up our trunks in the parking lot and the kids filled their buckets with candy. They typically collect more candy during trunk or treat than regular trick-or-treating because it's so quick to go from car to car. What they don't know is that we sneak back a lot of that candy to redistribute on Halloween...

Halloween Rundown

We kicked off our Halloween festivities with a preschool costume party. One of Crew's friends refused to put on his costume that his talented mom spent hours sewing. He wouldn't wear anything but his Christmas pajamas. I think that made this capture even better.

We hosted the party at our house and Crew and I put together games, crafts and snacks for the occasion.

Next on the agenda was Trunk or Treat. The boys wouldn't let me get away with not decorating the trunk, so we collaborated a few hours before the event and threw some things together. 

Blake had the idea to play Halloween music on his dancing water speakers. We rigged up some electrical cords and made it happen.

I have to admit, the speakers were a nice touch. 

Troy's parents were in town for Trunk or Treat so Finn made the rounds with his grandpa. He was too young to understand the concept of filling his bucket with candy last year, but it took him no time at all this year to get up to speed.

I hardly see my older boys at these events anymore. They are off making the rounds on their own with their friends. 

Blake made it through the loop of trunks in record time, so he took over his dad's job of passing out candy. 

At one point he realized that he was accidentally passing out the candy he had worked to accumulate. He hid in the car, devastated that his loot had vanished. I finally convinced him that he could go around and collect candy again, but not after reassuring him multiple times that he wasn't breaking any trunk or treat rules.

Crew and Finn loaded up on candy.

Once they reached a sugar comatose we called it a night.

A few days later, we put on costumes once again to hit the neighborhood for trick-or-treating.

It still amazes me that we can walk around in shorts and short sleeves on Halloween. 

Finn didn't understand when some people weren't home. He knocked and knocked until we eventually pulled him away, tears filling his eyes.

After collecting more candy than we could ever possibly need, we drove to an infamous street in our town where each house goes all out. One house is transformed into the Cinderella story with an illuminated glass stairway, a larger-than-life carriage, characters to meet and greet and a fairy godmother passing out candy. There are also several haunted houses, a house that passes out fresh scones and a house that charges admission for a ride you can go on. 

But our favorite house is the pirate house. Photos don't give it quite the same effect as being there live and experiencing the music, the fog machines and the animated pirate skeletons. You walk through multiple rooms that make it feel like you are on Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. You obtain candy in the courtyard. And then at the very end, you walk by a gigantic pirate ship where lights are flashing, music is blaring, cannons are booming and gusts of wind are blowing.

There is always a line to get in, but it is absolutely worth the wait. We went through the pirate house twice this year. Blake is involved in swim team and scouts with the family that lives in the house so it makes it extra fun to marvel at their hard work.

We made sure to wait and carve the pumpkins on Halloween this year because we learned the hard way last year that they will rot in the October heat. 

Three days after the hype of Halloween died down, I let the boys each pick out ten pieces of candy they wanted to keep. Then, we loaded up all of the rest and took it to the pediatric dentist's office. The boys earned one dollar for each pound of candy they donated and the candy was shipped off to soldiers. 

We packed away all of the outdoor decorations, chucked the pumpkins, placed the costumes in the costume bin and it looked like Halloween never happened. I love the events and anticipation that are connected with Halloween and I love it just as much when it is all over.

Halloween Wrap-Up

We're almost halfway into November already but I'm going back in time for a moment to wrap up Halloween.

Since Halloween was on a Saturday this year, we began the day where we begin most holiday weekends.

Crew insisted on bringing his trick-or-treat bucket, hoping it might be filled.

Crew was committed to the bucket, I'll give him that. Sadly, only sand made its way in. No candy was to be found at the beach.

This year's festivities were limited. I'm usually exhausted by the end of all of the school parties, work parties, church parties and neighborhood trick-or-treating. But this year was different. They don't allow the kids to dress up at school here. They had "Dress Like a Superhero" day instead. And instead of costumes parades and Halloween parties, they designated a day for "fall activities." Politically correct? Yes. Lame? Yes.

I got to volunteer in both of the boys' classes for "fall activity day." We played lots of rounds of Bingo in 2nd grade.

In Kindergarten, we made pumpkin faces out of clementines and played more Bingo at my station.

They all made spider hats as well.

I loved that every other child's spider legs were attached to the bottom of their hats and Nash's were spiking out from both directions.

In addition to no costumes or parades at school, Troy was in Chicago for a wedding so we didn't go to his work trick-or-treating party. And then, the trunk-or-treat at church was on Halloween instead of the week before. So, that meant the boys only dressed up for one day and one day only.

I have to admit, even though I'm usually complaining about all of hoopla surrounding Halloween, it was a bit of a let down this year to only dress up once. After all of the effort that goes into gathering costumes parts, it's nice to have more than one day to wear them.

Nonetheless, I took their individual costume pictures (pineapple, Descendants characters and train conductor) and we were off to celebrate for a few short hours at the church trunk-or-treat followed by neighborhood trick-or-treating. The big kids collected their candy at trunk-or-treat quickly and took over distribution for the rest of the event. 

Crew was as happy as can be when some candy was finally placed in his bucket. Little did he know, there was much more to come.

We carved our pumpkins a few days before Halloween. It's a good thing I took a shot of them then because after five days in the heat, they were moldy and deformed and had to be thrown out before trick-or-treaters arrived.

We met up with a bunch of our friends for trick-or-treating. This was the best we could get from this crowd. Even though we all started out together, it was impossible to stay together. Blake branched off with some friends for a good hour while I took a quick detour with Nash to find a bush. Sadly, I feel like the days of not trick-or-treating with mom are just beginning.

I made a last ditch effort to get all of my boys together for a shot in the darkening sky. 

I don't know if I'll ever get used to trick-or-treating in short sleeves and still being hot. I had to rethink a few original fleece costume ideas. Even Nash's jacket was a stretch in the heat. But it was so nice to not have to cover up those costumes with winter coats! Doors were both opened and closed in the realm of Halloween costume possibilities.

Crew would have been happy with a few suckers and packs of gummy bears. But he was delighted to go door-to-door and watch that candy level rise.

Crew asks me regularly now if we can go trick-or-treating. "That was so fun!" he exclaims. He was a riot this year. For the entire month of October, he lit up when he spotted "punkin punkins" (it was never one pumpkin, it was always doubled). And don't even get me started on houses with Halloween decor. He called them "pooky pooky" (spooky spooky) and it was adorable every single time.

Most years I'm relieved to put Halloween behind us but this year left me wanting more. I'm sure I'll reconsider next year when costume parts are strewn around for a week straight we have more candy than we'll ever need.