Halloween Carnival 2012

I have decided that I think Halloween might be my new favorite holiday. Talk to me again once Thanksgiving or Christmas roll around... but for now, Halloween is the best. I think it has something to do with how EXCITED Catie is about everything related to Halloween... in addition to Andrew's intense enthusiasm. Anything I do is SO APPRECIATED, so it makes planning parties and other fun events really rewarding.

On Saturday we hosted our annual Halloween Carnival. Past years can be viewed here (2011) and here (2010). I'm almost 8.5 months pregnant and just came off planning a huge neighborhood BBQ with my neighbors/co-social directors, so we decided to do this year's carnival on a bit of a smaller scale and I just hosted at my house (instead of in the cul de sac with everyone) and we invited far less people (40 versus 150+) and had a few less activities... but definitely still had just as much fun!   

I managed to snap some pictures while I ran around before and during the party. 

For food we had ghost rice crispy treat pops, mummy and spider cupcakes, pigs in a blanket, sugar cookie bars (brought by Jenny and sooo yummy), spinach dip, graveyard bean dip, and all sorts of other cookies, cupcakes, and snacky foods. The food table was overflowing onto side tables, but I didn't ever get a picture after the party started. No one went home hungry... but they definitely inhaled a lot of treats!

For games and activities the Going Fishing game (manned by Uncle Scott), Tattoos (manned by Aunt Tito), and the Candy Walk (manned by Kevin) were the hits of the day. Our living room was crammed with kids trying to win candy after candy from Kevin. Smart kids.

We also did a modge podge pumpkin craft (Catie covered hers with googly eyes), Monster golf, a pumpkin toss, and then had two bounce houses! Chris and Jenny brought over their little one so that the little kiddos didn't get trampled and then the big kids bounced in the big dog bounce house. Sugar + bouncing = best party ever according to Andrew. He asked if we could have a party like this every Saturday.

The center bottom pic of Andrew was taken at the end of the party... he was so bummed everyone was leaving.

Here are a few pics I managed to snap of some of the guests. I was too lazy to put together a photo booth this year, so I didn't get a picture of all the kids in their costumes... but boy did they look awesome! Andrew wore his astronaut costume up until everyone arrived and Catie wore a cute Halloween shirt from Grandma Shari.  

My favorite little guest was cuddly little Pierce (bottom left)- only 2 weeks old! I loved getting a chance to snuggle with him while I chatted with friends. Made me so excited for our little one arriving in about 3 weeks- crazy!

Surprisingly, I didn't go into early labor after the party... so maybe I'll throw another party closer to my due date? :) Most likely the reason was because Kevin- my super helper and decorator extraordinaire did so much work to assist with the party!

If you look in the collage above you can see the awesome spider web he created from crepe paper. He also decorated all the doorways and hung or moved all of the things I needed him too and set up games and furniture. I think he also sampled all the treats (and then some), so he is ready for a week of detox at this point. I am so lucky to have such a helpful, creative, and fabulous husband!

We seriously had a great time getting to chat and hang out with friends and family. We were so grateful to have Cat & Scott willing to come and help out too. Catie and Andrew just adore both of them. It is so fun to have them close by!

Now... if only I had a magic wand to make everything get cleaned up and go back to it's place!
You can find all of the individual pictures I took of the party here... just in case the ones above weren't enough :)

Can't wait till next year!