You all know that Halloween is my favorite time of year! This year it was a little harder to get in to. Maybe it was because I was at a hockey tournament the last weekend of Sept, which is when I would normally start decorating. Or maybe its because of our ridiculously unseasonally hot weather. I didn't like it! Go away, 80's! I want the 60's!
I did a terrible job documenting projects this year, so I'll apologize now!
Once I got my decorations out, I got into it. Here are some of the things I worked on this year:
Witch's Only Dinner Party
I really wanted to make my dinner party special this year. I've always made the best food I could find, and decorated my house to the nines, but what could I do to go above and beyond? I could hire a psychic for the night. So that's what I did. I built her a gypsy tent and let her do her thing for my guests! While waiting, I bought a fire pit and hay bales for seating, right next to the dessert shed of doom! Who wants to be on the invite list next year?
My ghost costume
This costume has been in the works for a few years. Ever since I saw the Martha Stewart ghost, I really wanted to recreate it. But it didn't completely work out, which is why I tried it for a few years (unsuccessfully) before finally committing to make it work. So Martha's is basically one big hooded cape with several layers of tulle. My problem was that it wasn't opaque, which kind of ruined the illusion for me when you could see my t-shirt underneath, and it made me feel very "big" with a tent starting from my neck. Those two statements feel kind of contradictory, but just go with it.
So to solve these issues, I used the yards and yards of tulle, and ripped them up! I made a no-sew tulle skirt like this one, but longer, and for adults. I also used a satin ribbon instead of elastic. The elastic probably would have stayed up better. I didn't have this tutorial when I made it. The long skirt was actually tied around my chest like a long dress. This made a huge difference from starting the dress from the neck. With the extra material, I made a hood that I tucked into the dress, and a little shawl that tied at the back. This made me feel a little less lost in the costume.
But the final touch was the glow. I think ghosts glow! So now trying to figure out now to pull this off! I bought battery-operated blue LED lights (this was a dilemma for me - do ghosts glow blue or purple? I went with blue), and put it under my skirt. I saw little circles of blue. Dammit. Not the beautifully diluted glow of light that I expected. So I got some cotton material and made little tubes, and put the lights in there. Not completely what I wanted the finished product to be, but pretty close!
Then I pinned the feet of covered lights to my body - spiraled them up from my knee all the way up, and around, my torso. Then I pinned the 6, yes you hear me 6, packs of 3 batteries each. Its the price to pay for a great costume. Then I painted my face white and my eyes black, with my blue hair, and here is the final result!
I saw this great video of skeletons jumping out of doorways and climbing out of the ground, and I just had to have it! I wanted it on my front lawn, so I built a screen. Yes, I was shocked too. I bought 2x4s in lengths of 6 feet and screwed them together to make a frame. Then I painted the outside black (now I know the insides need to be black too because they are too visible when the video is on), and used a staple gun to attach a 6x6 square of tulle (leftovers!), which is essentially invisible in the dark. The tricky part was getting it to stand up. I used 1-foot planks on each side, but it still blew over in the wind since it's basically a giant sail. I'll work on it for next year. I didn't take pictures of the building, but someone (Melissa?) took pictures of the VERY COOL effect of the skeletons climbing out of my front lawn and scaring people! I'll have to work out the kinks for next year!
Tilson Street
Halloween wouldn't be the same without the new tradition of going to Tilson Street in Romeo. It's a few blocks of Halloween awesomeness. Almost every house goes crazy with themes and decorations. Ok, so I had lots of photos last year, but the new dead hockey rink this year really got my attention! Here are some of the best shots of the night:
Halloween Night
As tradition goes, I invited friends and family to join me for Halloween night. I love the energy in the air, and the trick or treaters that come to the door. Thanks for joining me, Bri, Sea, Katy, Jason, and Jen! I loved making lasagna, garlic bread, salad, drinks, and cupcakes! A few pics (Seabrook scared the kids):
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
PEACE. LOVE. SERENE.
