Lucy had a blast with Halloween this year. She was too cute. She told me she wanted to be a duck so my in-laws pulled out her old duck costume for us. It still fit. My sister-in-law gave me a pumpkin costume and a dog costume. Both of them fit too. Lucy had until the last minute to decide which one she wanted to wear. The decision? The pumpkin! A couple people asked me if I made it. HA! I quilt – not sew. Everything I do stays flat… I was VERY happy not to have to buy a costume this year.

Our little pumpkin went house to house with us and tried to run into most of the houses so we had to hold the back of her costume to prevent her taking off. I think the dog costume would have been a more appropriate choice. We only went to about 10-12 houses total since they are pretty spread apart. We live on a country road at the foot of a big development. We are not part of the development but have a sidewalk that connects us to it. I was so sad for my neighbors that so few trick-or-treaters came around. For many of the houses we stopped at, we were the only ones who came by. I was thrilled that we could bring our little pumpkin around to brighten the Halloween nights of some people. It makes it more special.

The first year we were in our house I was sure we’d get lots of people. After all, we were in a house! I think I bought 6-8 bags of candy. Well, nobody came. I was so disappointed. Brett went out the back door without me noticing, ran around the front and rang the doorbell in 40 degree weather with short sleeves and a plastic bag. The doorbell rang and I was SO excited. Finally I had a trick-or-treater! I was not so amused to find my husband out there shivering. It really was very sweet – in hindsight!

Woohoo! The birthday party is over! We had a wonderful time and Lucy had a blast running from spot to spot playing with her friends and doing the different activities. It was a LOT of work to put everything together. Most of the work to be honest came with trying to get my house “company ready” and though I tried, it wasn’t completely ready. Oh well – a few closed doors and we were all set.

Some of the activities we did were:

My friends were joking that they could tell I used to be a First Grade Teacher! The kids all had a blast and Lucy enjoyed it more than anyone.

I know lots of people order items from Oriental Trading and similar catalogs when they need little “stuff” for parties and things. I used to order from them all the time when I was a teacher. In the last few years I have found a company that I like sooooo much better – Rhode Island Novelty. I just ordered a whole bunch of “trinkets” for Lucy’s party. Plastic maracas, harmonicas, sunglasses, little stuffed teddy bears, etc. The prices were very reasonable and the products were much nicer than those I’ve found other places. Certainly they were much cheaper than buying things at the party store. Last year I placed a huge order and sent all the little things to Iraq for the soldiers to distribute to the children. My husband’s cousin Ryan was stationed there and he said the soldiers always needed items they could keep in their vehicles for the kids. They loved them. And the plastic blow-up arm leopard-print arm chair I sent the soldiers for them was a huge hit.