Halloween Party 2010

Well, here it is, early, early in the morning on October 17th and I am up writing about the events of October 16th. I have too. It was the Halloween Party!!!

I am worn out. Soooooo tired. Probably gonna be sick. But it was all worth it.

First, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who helped out. I can NOT do it without you all. It is a complete group effort. Kudos to everyone that came by, dressed up, brought their kids, brought some food and drinks and loads of candy. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!! I can not say that enough.

Today, before the party, was spent decorating, doing last minute supply runs, and getting my costume together. I wanted to be a zombie clown (to pay homage to "Zombieland"...plus, clowns just creep me out), but I couldn't find my clown outfit. :-( So I used a zombie outfit from a couple of years ago. Plus, it had been in storage and mice had chewed holes in it, which was great, because that just added to the zombie effect. lol.

By the time 6 p.m. rolled around, I was already tired, but I trudged onward and upward. When the partygoers were heading home around 9 p.m. I was ready to rest my aching feet and back.

The thing that always bothers me about the party is that I don't get to spend a lot of time socializing. I hope people understand that I'm not being a rude hostess, its just that my primary focus is on the kids. Six years ago (that's right, this is party number six) this party started as a smallish gathering of family and friends and was catered primarily to the children. Over the years, it has grown and grown. Tonight, there were people there that I had never met before and still do not know their names or even how they heard about the party. That's a good thing, I think. It means the party is sooooo good, that word is spreading rapidly. Everyone wants to come hang out on the old Homeplace for our little get-together.

Still...I wish I had time to visit with everyone. I feel like I only caught some people in passing. It makes me feel guilty. At the same time though, when the night comes to a close and I have kids (some of which I've never seen before) coming up to me and telling me "This was the best time ever!", "Can we do more stuff?!", "That was the scariest corn maze ever!" and "Can I come next year?", then it makes me feel like I've accomplished a lot. :-)

This year was the biggest party yet. We ran out of daylight hours, which I did not expect to happen. I started the party at six because I THOUGHT there would be plenty of time to do everything. I just didn't expect the crowd we had! So rather than play a lot of games (something we usually do), we only managed to play a few and the pinata was actually played after dark, which kinda stinks, because you can't really see all the candy. Plus I mighta overstuffed the pinata a bit and it fell pretty quickly. Still, as long as kids get candy I am sure they are pleased. :-)

Anyway, thanks to all those that could make it. Thanks to all those that helped out in any way at all. And especially, thanks to all the kids that came. It really is the children that always make it such a success. :-)