Phew! This past weekend was a freaking blast! My 2nd annual Halloween party (2022) was held on a Friday. 

My friends with todlers arrived at 5 and hung out in my open garage with space heaters running. Note to self - 3 is the most space heaters you can plug into the circuit at a time without tripping it. Who knew?! The kids played with the tin can bowling game I had created after their dads demonstrated a little. Prizes included stickers, coloring books, snap bracelets, and stamps. We tried to do face painting but it was a little too stranger-danger for two-year-olds so I painted the mom's faces instead with their favorite animals. After a prep talk about imagination and what "fake" means, the families got a tour of my house before the other guests arrived. The skeletons were a big hit! Finally as they were leaving we took cute family photos on the doorstep where a dozen pumpkins and old woooden crates created a festive backdrop.

Other guests arrived at 6:30 and immediately dug into the themed cocktails and snacks I had prepared. A spotify Halloween playlist provided a nice backdrop to conversations. I would later find out that my Ring doorbell had captured some hilarious footage of adults wearing tu-tus, dragon skulls, capes, etc. arrived in the cold and waited patiently for me to answer. My favorite thing was listening to their comments as they entered my underwater-themed hallway. Not gonna lie, I was pretty puffed up.

Guests brought food and drink to share, as well as fire wood. I was so thankful to be able to task them with starting up the firepit and later on to get drinking games going in the garage. Once I was able to move people downstairs the DIY Photobooth room was a massive hit. The photos my laptop captured with the DSLR software were amaaaaaazing! 

Overall I had an amazing time and was really pleased that everyone stayed so long. I think it was a hit!

I spent pretty much all of September and October prepping for my 2nd annual Halloween party. My vision has always been to have an experience-based party. Not quite a haunted house, but with scenes in every room that bring back the magic of being a child to adults. I wanted to create different spaces and activities for all my guests - a cozy backyard fire pit, a feast of themed treats, a bar of foaming cocktails, an intimate living room with group video games, a DIY photobooth room, and beer pong garage. 

I created a facebook invite a couple months ahead, requiring all guests to be vaccinated and encouraging tests in the days ahead or staying home if you felt sick. I encouraged guests to wear masks if they felt more comfortable and that an outdoor space would available, weather pending. I acknowledged that the event might need to be canceled if there was a second Delta wave. Luckily there was still a really high response rate. Everyone was excited for one of the first big parties in a year and a half :)

In the end I only got about 80% of the props created that I wanted to, but I was still really happy with the results. I was a little stressed out getting everything ready. I even skipped a couple days of work... But I reminded my anxious, perfectionist self that on the day of, once everything was set up, it wasn't my job to make sure every person had a good time. I just needed to sit back and let things play out and try to enjoy myself. 

A couple weeks back I was lucky enough to attend an amazingly affordable church rummage sale AND my two 12 ft skeletons were delivered from The Home Depot early!!! I thought I had dided and gone to heaven.