Z's Scaaaaaary Halloween Party!

Carrying on with the continued saga of our Halloween weekend...

Have I mentioned his obsession with Halloween?  Seriously. 

I had always planned on having Z's first "friend" birthday party for his fifth birthday (this February...how will he be FIVE?!).   But then Z decided he wanted a Halloween party.  Last year Dorothy had been given by Walmart (very long story) a ton of Halloween goodies (bracelets, rings, stencils, pencils, erasers, fangs, bowls, costumes, etc).  So she brought it to me, Z saw it, and the Halloween party seed was planted.  So I ditched the birthday party in favor of a Halloween party, which he cares more about.    

We (HE) scoured through catalogs and magazines for ideas.  He started planning in early September, and I finally got on board in early October. 

We invited 8 families (plus us and Mat and Marbree) for a total of 26 kids.  Thankfully (though we missed them) not everyone could come.  We ended up with 5 families and 16 kids (which was a perfect number), ranging from 11 months to 7 years old.  10 of the kids were old enough to participate.    (I feel like I'm writing a scientific abstract...) 

I sent out and invitation on Evite, but Z also made his own to send in the mail (because everyone likes to get mail, right?).
Those are "eyes peering out of the darkness" for the invites.

Z filled up the party favors (thank you Walmart for the freebies!). 

We decorated the house... 

Z's room has been decorated for a loooong time already!

We did a trial run of all of the food on Friday night, and I made some of the treats on Friday.  Saturday I cleaned and got the rest of the food made. I was incredibly grateful that Mike and Dorothy were here to help clean and keep the kids out of my hair (and messing up everthing that I had cleaned). 

Saturday was gorgeous, which was awesome!  The kids got here and all played outside for awhile, then we played the first game, "Guess the Ghost".  I kind of think games are lame, and was worried the kids would think so too, but they loved it!  One kid closed his eyes, I put the sheet on another kid, all the kids except the "ghost" ran around, and the first kid had to figure out who the ghost was.  Fun had by all! 

We headed inside to do a craft (THANK YOU Dorothy for being in charge of those!).  The first craft was making a spider with beads. 

Then we played Pin the Head on the Skeleton.  I really just wanted to blindfold kids and spin them around! 

Back for more crafts, then more playing outside while I set up dinner. The next craft was stickers on a scene. 

And then, dinner.  I worked hard on this, and Z loved it.  When all his friends were sitting down, he got up and told everyone what they were eating (mummy dogs, etc).  He was pretty proud of himself. 

We attempted a group picture...got 10 of the 16 kids!   

Z did so well.  He was a gracious host, he shared, he was polite, and he didn't run around like a maniac.  He thanked his guests for coming and politely gave them their goody bags.  I was incredibly proud of him.  The little boys did great also...I barely even knew that they were there.  Other people helped watch them, and they had a fun time kind of walking around and watching what the big kids were doing, and they didn't really get into any trouble.  All the other kids had a fun time.  Everyone was involved in the games and the crafts.  It honestly went as well as I could have hoped it did.  I'm kind of proud of it, and Z was happy....so glad to have done this for my sweet boy.