Halloween

Another Halloween has now come and gone. This year, I half-assed it, since after 6 years of costume-making, starting the Neighborhood Boo, various class parties, activities, etc. etc. etc,... I'm a bit burnt out on Halloween. I wanted a little more low-key holiday this time around.

Anya had her heart set on being Hermione (from Harry Potter) for the last few months. Fortunately, she already had half of her costume in her school uniform (the skirt/shirt/tights are very similar to Hermione's). So we purchased the Griffindor tie, a cheap wand, Griffindor robe, and a wig. All the extras set me back about $30 total. Done. I didn't have to do any sewing this year. 

I of course started the Neighborhood Boo again. And now I'm done. This year we got boo'ed a few times and not with the printouts I use. So people are doing it independently of ours now (woot!). It was fun for the first 5 years, but then became a chore in subsequent years. So I'm pretty thrilled it's caught on in the neighborhood - widely even - and we can just plain old participate.

At school, there was the Harvest Festival (fun for the kids, loud) and then the Halloween assembly. I thought the assembly was great -- the 7/8th grade leadership team kids put the whole thing on, with games, prizes, etc. And they all MC it. They did a wonderful job. 

We had the annual PEPS Halloween party. Fun as usual. Very creative food setup by the hosts. On Halloween, we decided to completely stay in our neighborhood this year. I'm so glad we did....it was always fun with our friends in Laurelhurst, but the drive back home during trick-or-treat time wasn't. We ended up having a prefunk at Josh/Shannon's with some other neighbors and friends and then went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, wine in hand. Ran into other neighbors and friends and the group morphed as we went along. It was nice.

I dressed up as a helicopter pilot. Steve was generous in letting me borrow a flight suit and flight helmet. Easy. Done. And Chris picked up a mask and some junky chains at Display and Costume. Sadly, I don't think we have any pictures of us. If friends have any, I'll put them up here. 

And we also didn't get any good pictures of Anya's costume. We forgot to take pictures (see half-assing comment above) beforehand. Got a few at the end of the evening, but with her wig askew and body full of candy, she just looked drunk. So here is a video I took at the Halloween assembly at school. Her class parade starts just before her teacher, who is the cute Minion.