Halloween Recap!

Halloween this year was so much fun I really don't want it to end! Soooo, one more Halloween-y post before I get back to trying to get through everything I didn't post during the summer mayhem. This year, while I decorated my own house, I actually spent Halloween in Campbell with my new boyfriend Johnny, a lovely, Halloween-obsessed partner in crime. He decks out his house every year inside and out and puts on quite a show for the kids. It's kind of a dark Wonderland theme, as he is always the Mad Hatter (completely in character, voice and all), so I decided to be the March Hare. I made a giant brown pom pom for my tail, the cardboard template for which was as big as a desert plate and it used a whole ball of yarn, and I recovered some old Playboy bunny ears (come on, it was in high school) with brown and pink fabric et voila!

I really like the way my nose makeup came out, and the little clip-on whiskers were only a few dollars and relatively comfortable for most of the night. I wore one of my favorite springtime outfits with an extra dash of Alice in Wonderland - a petticoat and stripped tights, plus my comfy heels. This is me outside, giving a high-five to the fabulously flamboyant skeleton after putting up the last of the spiderwebs:

At night there was fabulous blue mood lighting on the graveyard, and the pillars were lit up with orange twinkle lights. There were also lots of sound and motion activated ghouls, plus a fog machine filled with cotton candy scented fog near the graveyard! And a bubble fogger, which is pretty much the most fun and amazing thing ever, by the front door. Also the little cage lights surrounding the porch were timed to flicker to thunder sounds that we blasted from inside the house. There was also a projector going on the window over his garage, showing werewolves, vampires, etc, going about their various spooky business, and many times during the night the driveway looked like an outdoor movie theater!

And this is Johnny, with his fake nose and white wig, all decked out as the Mad Hatter. The kids adore him, and the teenage girls go nuts for the fake diamond rings he gives out in addition to candy. He also at times will offer, "Candy or tea?", and if they want tea he gives them tea packets, and if not he throws that plastic teapot dismissively over his shoulder. So much fun! And to go with this routine, he has the entire half of the living room that is visible when you open the front door decked out with mood lighting, fake candles, a tea party scene, and some great props. He did the vultures on the staircase like the Munsters this year:

And all the tulle that covers the staircase is being blown by a hidden fan which makes the whole scene very ethereal. The headless bride (some of the Queen of Heart's work we presume), is super creepy, as well as the empty rocking chair that rocks by itself, and the portrait projected onto the wall that withers away to a skeleton. There's also a life-size Jack Skellington at the top of the staircase.

Basically, with Halloween being my favorite holiday, I would have pooped myself with delight if I had happened upon this house as a kid. So maybe it's for the best I got to be part of it as an adult. We gave candy to well over 200 kids and lots of families came inside to have their portrait taken with the Mad Hatter. Here's some of my other favorite shots, and there's even more on my flickr, here.