One of our first official Halloween activities of the week leading up to Halloween was going to a free movie for faculty and their families on campus. In addition to the movie, they had a raffle and a costume contest. Rebecca won an ISU hoodie and two of our children won fidget spinners in the raffle. Then, for the costume contest, Agnes won best overall costume (snow white) and I won the dead last prize (I just put my sombrero on). Both prizes came with a bag of candy and a McDonald's gift card.
The next day the children wore costumes as we went to the assisted living center to visit with the residents. They loved that and some of them even had candy to give out.
On Friday graduate students from my work came over. They have a yearly tradition of going to the faculty members' homes and the children get to pick their favorite costumes. We didn't give out any candy, but we did have donuts to share.
Then on Saturday the trick-or-treating began. We went to an indoor community event put on by businesses in the area. There was a huge line to get in, but once it started it all went pretty quickly. The highlight was seeing R2-D2 and a black similar looking robot.
On Sunday afternoon we carved our pumpkins. These were the huge pumpkins that we grew in our garden this year. Ethan knew for sure that he wanted to do a pumpkin that had eaten a kid again. Julia also knew that she wanted to do a cat. After some searching online, Elliott decided on a monster/angry looking pumpkin and Christian decided on a pumpkin that was taking his head off. I think they all turned out pretty well. On Halloween night a group of younger kids came to our house trick-or-treating. Our bowl had run out of candy and while I was filling it back up I overheard them talking about the pumpkins. When I came back one of them asked me why we always do scary pumpkins - he had told the other kid that we had scary pumpkins last year too.
On Monday our ward did a trunk or treat at the church. We put teeth and eyes on our van and folded a red blanket so it looked like a tongue. All of the children went around the loop once and got a lot of candy, but all of the cars had a lot of candy left so they sent the children around the loop again. They also had donuts, cotton candy, and apple cider. It was a fun activity, but it was really really cold that evening so no one stayed for too long.
Then on Tuesday we went around our neighborhood. We first went to all of our neighbors on our street. Since there are not very many children on our street many of our neighbors had special little bags prepared just for our children. After we did our street we met up with another family in our ward who carries children around the ward in a trailer hooked up to their truck every year. When we started there were probably 10 or so children on, but by the end there were probably 20 or so children all crowded in. It was a lot warmer that night and so it was more enjoyable being out. I don't think any of the children said they were tired the entire night, which is different from all the other years they have gone out. Instead, they just ran from house to house all night long. One of the favorite houses is a couple who does donuts for the families that they know. They invite us all in and we get to pick out a donut and then top it with whatever topping we like. This is really making me hungry writing about it while I am fasting. Another favorite house was one where they converted their garage into a haunted house. The children had to wait in line a bit, but it was worth it. They had several rooms with people hidden that would jump out with chain saws or blood dripping out of their mouths. There was a ton of screaming!!! But all of the kids in the neighborhood still loved it. When we got home at the end of the night we did our tradition of the children watching Charlie Brown and the great pumpkin and eating as much candy as they wanted.
Now we have a ton of candy to help fatten us up for winter. Rebecca already has some fun recipes planned, like these ones:
https://ohsweetbasil.com/reeses-peanut-butter-marshmallow-cookie-pie/
http://everydayannie.com/2011/11/11/chocolate-peanut-butter-cup-cookies/
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/caramel-snickers-cheesecake-bars/
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