This is Halloween!

Ahhh, the crispness of the mornings are lasting well into the afternoon and has announced that autumn is once again here! WaHoo! It's my favorite time of the year. I know that we'll have two weeks of cool weather, then another three weeks of really hot "Indian Summer", then two or three days before Halloween it will get cold and stay cold for at least four months.

The whole of autumn gets me excited. I enjoy the anticipation of the holidays. I try to get into Disneyland for one last hurrah and to sneak a peek at the "Nightmare Before Christmas" (N.B.C.) display at the Haunted Mansion and steal as many idea as possible within my budget. I am a holiday freak and I admit it.

This morning I went into nutso mode and the wheels are turning. After a quick trip out to the shed, inventory will be taken and plans will be made. This year there will definitely be more tombstones made, and hopefully more decor that lends itself to the theme. All of this is crazy because we rarely treat children in our neighborhood. The times they are a changin' and good folk stay away from the door to door festivities and only the crack head 32 year old moms with a soundly sleeping 3 month old come asking for milky way bars. (Oh, and the 24 year old gang bangers who scare the bujeebies outta me) But still I hope.

Two years ago I made up the front porch with floor to ceiling "New Orleans" lattice closing it off on all sides except the entry. Once inside there was a friendly "graveyard". (I prefer Halloween lite to blood and guts gory) I have tons of silk grass (from the wedding business years ago), so the grass was laid over bundles of crumpled newspaper to resemble grave "humps". Each site had it's own tombstone and some actual dead roses. There was a floating glow in the dark ghostie balloon and when guests arrived at the porch they would inadvertently step on the fog machine dispenser and fog would cover the floor of the "yard". The soundtrack from Nightmare before Christmas was playing in the background and with the other decorations, it was pretty cool.

Not too many people showed up, but those who did, albeit on some form of "medication", were happy they came by for their lousy candy. I always want to throw a fun party, but competing with the "Trunk and Treat" at church and school carnivals always means not enough guests to bother with. sigh.

This year Halloween is on Monday, so I will again attempt to bring something new to the slab. Goals are as follows:

New additions to the tombstones.
A wreath with eyes and teeth similar to the one in the Haunted Mansion/ N.B.C. Theme.
Gates similar the scenes in N.B.C.
Characters from N.B.C. that will greet the trick or treaters on the porch.
New luminaries that follow the theme and create a path to the door.


We'll see how it goes. I will be posting on the projects so all can see where it succeeds and if they fail. Costs and difficulties.

I will also be posting projects I have done in the past that probably everyone has done to death, but maybe someone new will pop by and get an old idea and turn it into something better. Please share!

First project just to get me in the mood... scary cupcakes!

I am hoping to get started soon, so stay tuned!