Halloween is over, and that means it's almost Christmas! I'm not exactly "one of those people", but I am excited for Christmas this year. Last year was Zoom Christmas, and no big celebrations. This year there is just a lot to celebrate!
We had a really good and busy (as usual) Halloween weekend. Dave is working his way through the Harry Potter books with our theme, so this year was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Three years ago we did a HP set up in general, then we did a year of spiders, then last year we did HP and the Philosopher's Stone. I don't love Halloween usually. It's a lot of extra work as a mom, and just another thing on my plate. I also don't like being scared, suspense, or gore and creepy things haha. However, Harry Potter Halloween is one way to get me on board! Light, kid-friendly, and something I'm interested in.
There is a LOT of work and time that goes into these set ups every year. Dave thinks about it all year round (literally we already have ideas for next year), and he works on it for months leading up to the day. Scott, Ashleigh and I help out where we can, and had some crafting evenings. Dave puts a lot of work into the tech side of things too. Lighting, sound design, fog... everything to really set the ambiance.
He opened up the yard on Saturday and Sunday evening this year again like last year, and it worked really well. First off, all the time and effort put into the stuff got enjoyed over two days instead of just one. Second, friends, family, and others from different neighbourhoods could come out on Saturday if they were going to be busy in their own area on Sunday. Saturday evening we probably had... 200(?) people come by. Maybe 150... It wasn't super busy, but there were definitely people who drove in just to see it.
Sunday evening we had about 400-450 kids, and probably 7-800 total people come see. Busiest year yet for sure! I'm glad we're not on a busy street, because we blocked the street with the crowds many times. We had a lineup from our place all the way down to the entrance of the complex. This is Dave's dream come true!
After the crowds died down, we sat around the fire outside on the street with Scott & Ashleigh and had some drinks while the last few people trickled through. Finally at 9:30 we had one last couple come through and they made it all worth it. She was a Harry Potter super fan. She was upset that she got off work late, but figured they could drive by just to be able to say, "Ah ya... I bet that was cool." She bounded out of the car and shrieked when we said she could still check it out. Her 30th birthday was a Harry Potter theme. She found many of the easter eggs Dave planted, and her laugh was incredibly contagious.
Caitlin was equally as excited, and it's fun because there is a huge HP set up at her house every year too. They have a whole group of people working on things throughout the year, and actually have a budget and space to execute some big displays! They're called "Whimsic Alley" and they were open Friday-Sunday evenings. We went to check out their display on Friday. So cool. So so cool!
Alright now to the more traditional part of Halloween... the kids! Dominic wanted to be a dinosaur this year, so I got this strange dinosaur costume on Marketplace for $10. He thinks it's a T-rex, so we'll call it that haha.
Emilia was, of course, Queen Elsa. Don't get caught trying to call her Princess Elsa though! We were out trick-or-treating and I called back and said, "Hey Princess Elsa, are you coming?" She stopped and looked behind her like "Who is this lady talking to?!" She turned back and said, "No Mommy. I'm QUEEN Elsa!" Okay then. I put a braid in her hair, she borrowed an Elsa dress from Isla, and we did some "makeup" before hand. She got the whole princess treatment and I'm not sure she could have felt more special. She was a trooper throughout the trick-or-treating as well. It was pretty overwhelming for the kids though as there were so many bigger kids throwing elbows and shoving them out of the way to get to the doors faster. Maybe we should have started a little bit earlier before the bigger kids came out.
Eva was a mandrake again. I already had the costume, and it just so happens that Emilia and Eva were both the same size at their first Halloweens.
Jesse, Kirsten and Wren joined us for our first little bout of trick-or-treating where we hit the complex across the street, and walked up to Ian's house up the road. He always puts on an amazing display with all sorts of projectors and stuff. Very fun atmosphere. He and Dave spent the two months leading up to Halloween discussing plans and dreams, or as Ian so eloquently put it "flirting".
Our second round of trick-or-treating Dave stayed back to man the yard, and we were joined by my parents, Jeff, Marta, Owen, Scott, Ashleigh and Phoebe. I really appreciated the extra hands and eyes with Dom & Emilia. Wearing Eva in the ergo and with all those leaves in my face I did not have great mobility or peripherals.
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