Halloween 2012

I really tried to fill this post with tons of pictures in perfect chronological order with clever and descriptive text for everything. Well, I accomplished a certain amount of that, but I have now officially run out of steam. So please enjoy this little hodge-podge mish-mash of all things Halloween. I hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours!

Too excited to wait for trick-or-treaters, he thought if he sat by the window hard enough, he could use the force to drag them to our doorstep. Too bad it's not a big thing here, and we only got about a dozen kids. Never mind. He had fun passing out goodies!

The closest I can get her to smile for the camera is convincing her to say 'Meow'

No witch is complete without her hat and peanut-butter goatee.....

.....and wine goblet, naturally

Him making milk carton luminaries, her eating sugar-laden crap on a stick

I think they're pretty amusing!

At our friends' annual Pumpkin Carving Party, Granny and Grandad got in on the action as well

Kitty Kat had more fun on the tractor

And Mr T lived on the trampoline

The annual 'Parade of Pumpkins' picture

Granny and Grandad's Grim Reaper

My spider

Big Chief's ghoul flying over tombstones

Mr T's old-school triangle-eyed pumpkin.....with a slash through one eye for good measure. His involvement in the process was fairly limited, though. I think he drew the design, then left Daddy to the cutting, scooping, and carving. Not one to get his hands messy, that son of mine.

Painting the base layer of cranberry sauce for the 'Meathead'. Ohhhhh, wait til you see it!

Glue-ing Halloween confetti on plain plastic bowls ('cause it just makes them more festive)

Grandad and Big Chief tossing bricks around in the garden (there was a Halloween purpose)

The kids taking a break with light sabers after Kitty Kat shouted 'Mr T, let's fight!' Oh, the things that make a mom proud

Our backyard cemetery, with clever little Dutch-life-related epitaphs

Setting the scene with luminaries and trash-bag mini pumpkins (see the purpose of the bricks now?)

Yes, Kitty Kat had a tail

(and those curls!)

Our candlelit courtyard

Witch finger cookies and popcorn ball ghosts. Not all that impressive, but I'm just getting warmed up.

Earwax-coated Q-tips......a.k.a butterscotch-dipped marshmallows. Always a big hit with the kids.

Jello worms (recipe here) that will NEVER be repeated. Well, unless the straws in the States are of a larger diameter, then maybe I'll consider it. I was swearing up a storm making these damn things! Good thing they tasted nice.

Ohhhh, yeah baby! 'Meathead' and homemade poppy-seed-crusted cheeseball spider. In other words: ham, cheese, and crackers. How great are they?! These will DEFINITELY be an annual feature with us.

And the piece de la resistance......Kitty Litter Cake! The joint star of the evening, along with the Meathead.  How disgusting is this?! So. Damn. Funny! Absolutely another keeper. (it's just crumbled cake with vanilla pudding/custard, some crushed cookies on top, and Tootsie Rolls) Yum!

The spread in its entirety. (I love that the food has yet to be touched, but there's very little in the way of the killer rum punch left to be seen in the background)

The motley crew of little hooligans (minus Kitty Kat, who was undoubtedly crawling under the table at this point)

She ate her body weight in the Earwax-coated Q-tips. Whatever. It kept her quiet and happy while there were 20 people crammed into our tiny living room, and after all, it was a party.

They're just so darn cute.

'What do you mean I've just had my last earwax-crusted Q-tip?!'

'Smashing Pumpkins' (get it?) I'll explain more later in the post, but let me just say, these are probably the thing I'm most proud of this year. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes I really kick arse!

One trying to hide, one sexing it up, and another caught in the act......my girlfriends are great!

Our crazy little tribe

Somehow, I forgot to take a picture of Mr T in his full 'Death Eater' glory....and I even slaved away for hours making his cape from leftover black sheet material! Never mind. It can always be repeated at a later date. Except for his Death Eater tattoo, which is pretty darn cool.

Ummmmm, yeah. It was time for the festivities to end.

So! Onto the Smashing Pumpkins (which, for those of you who don't know, is the name of a band). The idea came because I didn't have any cute goodie bags to pass out this year, and I couldn't face another round of papier mache. Somehow brainstorming led me to think of clay. I found this recipe, and decided to make a sort of Halloween pinata for the kids to break open (at their own houses, thank you very much!). It took a little time, but was sooooooo easy and cheap, not to mention lots of fun for the kids. I'll definitely be doing this again.

1. Make the orange clay (I think I had to do a triple or quad batch to have enough for 8 pumpkins)
2. Divide into equal portions
3. Gently form around bags filled with chick peas/lentils/rice/salt (NOT flour...it goes all weird afterwards) leaving a hole up top just large enough to fit candy in later

4. Wait for a few days to dry OR get impatient like me and cook them in a VERY low oven (50C/120F) for an afternoon
5. Carefully open the bags, pour out the contents, and tug out the plastic bag
6. Repeat step 4 so the interior dries.

7. Fill with candy
8. Make another batch(es) for the stems
9. Form stems over the holes
10. Really DO wait 4 days to dry, as you don't want to cook the bases again
11. Let the children pick their own to decorate with a Sharpie marker as they arrive at the party
12. When it's time, throw/drop onto hard ground to smash open

 
 
13. Enjoy the candy!

 
I know, I know. It sounds like a lot of work. But honestly, after I figured out what I wanted to do. It took about 45 minutes for bag-filling/clay-making/shape-forming, then the rest of the time is just letting them dry/cook on their own. And other than the food coloring (which was a combination of mine and ones I borrowed from a girlfriend), I think I didn't have more than about €2/$3 invested in the total cost of making 8 of them. No joke! Much more fun than the usual plastic bags anyway.

So that was our Halloween 2012. I think it's safe to say it was another great success. But I'd be lying if we all didn't agree that we're looking forward to Halloween 2013 in the States.....where it can only be bigger and better. Although, there is something to be said for being one of the very few handfuls of people who 'do' Halloween over here. No matter what I do, most people are impressed! I'm not fool enough to think I'll have the same level of notoriety when we're Stateside.