Halloween Party...2024 Style

Today was the day of the party, so my mom and I were up early making the party food. We made mummies in a blanket, witches’ brooms, apple monsters, donut spiders, orange pumpkins, and worm cakes.

The haunted house was a big hit with the kids. My wife was very proud of how it turned out and scaring the beejeezes out of the kids. Some were one and done, but others like Troy went back for multiple rounds of “punishment”! Some of the adults even went through it out of curiosity.

Besides the haunted house, which was decked out with even more witches, ghouls, ghosts, reapers, and things that go bump in the night; we also had party games. My mom and I had put together carnival-style games for the kids to play. There was toss the skull in the jack o’lantern, toss the candy corn in the cauldron, toss the hoop on the haunted tree, and skeleton cornhole (which was basically tossing an orange or black beanbag into a skeleton’s face).

The kids earned tickets for the games, and we had a prize table set up for them to spend the tickets on. The ticket amounts had shapes to reinforce the numbers. So, 3 was on a triangle, 4 on a square, and so on. They also had to add numbers to sum up their ticket totals. So, sneakily we got them practicing school work without even knowing it!

To add to the overall ambiance, the house was also decorated all things Halloween. There was a giant reaper and two-headed dragon welcoming people in the door. There was a bowl of eyeballs on the side table. Mini pumpkins trailed up the stairs, ending in a spiderweb across the walkway. Ghosts and bats hung in the leftover tree from Troy’s birthday party. A witch’s hat hung on the wall. There was even a skeleton enjoying a bubble bath!

Overall, I think the party was a success. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. The adults were very complimentary of all of our efforts. And everyone enjoyed the fun food. And in the end, that’s all we really wanted to achieve. A good time with good company.