Day 192

Our neighborhood is apparently one huge Halloween deco-palooza.  And my kids want in on it.   I hadn’t really anticipated this because we have never been a family that has gotten “all ghoulie with it” during October.   In years past, I have been lucky to get everyone costumed and the odd jack-o-lantern carved.

Plus, the recent trend toward decorating the exterior of one’s home for ANOTHER holiday is a mild irritant to me.  I suspect that the marketing geniuses at the seasonal Spirit Halloween stores are behind this development.  Incidentally, those seasonal stores that show up overnight in September are owned by Spencer Gifts.  You know the mall stores that have been selling the same lava lamps, black lights and naughty nurse costumes since disco reigned?  It makes perfect sense when I think about it.

So, I had already worked out the plan for our Simple Year Halloween with great recycled costumes.   I had even prepared for the whole carved pumpkin issue by letting the girls pick out pie type pumpkins since they would count as consumable.  I guess technically the big day-glo orange ones sold for jack-o-lanterns are edible, but they are kind of watery and not very tasty.  I told them we would carve ours the day before Halloween and later would dissect our scary faced pumpkins and bake them.

I WAS PREPARED

Then, the whole decorating issue came up. But, I stood my ground and told the kids that they were going to have to live without fake graveyards and inflatable ghosts riding motorcycles.   But, yesterday morning, my oldest, Kayla proposed that she and her sister make some decorations.

FINE WITH ME

I should mention that at no point did the kids ask for ideas or input from me.  They didn’t Google or consult Pinterest.  They rummaged around in the house for things we had and here is what they came up with.

We have an apple tree in the back yard. They used a sharpie to draw scary faces on the apples.

Door decoration made out of a grocery bag and bathroom trash bags.

Great use of the dead potted plant.

Granted, Martha Stewart probably wouldn’t allow this on her front porch, but I thought it was pretty good work for a seven and nine year old. Plus, I am pleased that they used items on hand and figured out a non-consumer solution to their desire to haunt our house.

Oh, and I did randomly select winners from the “New To You” sweepstakes.  Winners are:

Track Suit: Mercedes E

Shoes: Jean C

Cake Plate: Charlotte

Book: Pat H

Incidentally, randomly selecting was harder than I realized.  I ended up writing everyone’s name on a slip of paper and putting them in four separate bags and drawing names.  I am sure there is a more technologically advanced way to do this, but fortunately I had more people telling me they didn’t want to enter than those that did (which I find very entertaining), so the numbers were manageable.