Hallowe'en in a Hurry

A couple of weeks ago, F wanted us to go up to Spring Barn for Hallowe'en, like we did last year and I was OK with that. But then when we went up last Monday and found that the trailer ride was nowhere near as fun and scary as the previous year, so not such a highlight to be doing it in the dark. F was still adamant at that point that she wanted to do Hallowe'en at Spring Barn, rather than go Trick or Treating. However, I went right off the idea and asked her to think about what she would enjoy about Spring Barn, given the change in the trailer ride. It boiled down to a bit of fancy dress and chips! Both of which seemed quite doable without having to trek up to the farm park. So she thought it through, with me sensibly not hassling her, and decided, yes, Trick or Treating in our neighbourhood would be a good idea after all.

Spent Saturday just lazily laptopping, bathing and such, bliss, really needed it and was feeling a bit achey and imminently viral! Had considered going in to Brighton for White Night but we will have to do it another year. The day at home, getting up very late and lounging around, did me good!

F did a lovely picture of a tree but with different sections of it showing the 4 different seasons, so it includes winter bare-branches, spring blossom, green summer leaves and a coppery autumnal part. She did this after we were all talking about the beautiful autumn tree over the road and slightly down the street from us. She went out on her scooter and had a proper look at it and discovered the other types of tree near it - a bare one, one that looks evergreen and a lighter one - so it inspired her to do a 4-seasons tree.

So on Sunday, having lazed so much previously, we faced the following to-do list, to be done in roughly 5 hours:

make a ghost princess costume

carve a pumpkin

create a 'Haunted House' Hallowe'en box

make pumpkin soup

get stuff ready for Trick-or-Treaters

Well we cheated with the soup and I did it after we got back from Trick or Treating in the end, but everything else got done. The pumpkin was a group effort, with J doing the trickiest bits, thank goodness.

Very pleased with it we were, and it got lots of compliments later! J wants to do several next year but not in such a rush, he doesn't thrive on hurried craft sessions!

After that achievement, F started her 'Haunted House', and in fact did almost all of it on her own. A picture doesn't really do it justice, but it was a box with an open front, F coloured all the inside in dark colours and I helped her to fix a 'floor' in halfway up to make it a 2-storey house. Then she added a small hanging bat/monster, whose silhouette shone on to a circle of white paper when lights were placed on the upper floor, plus a vampire king, a ghost and a couple of spiders, working out her own ways to make each thing, improvising with materials available. The execution was kind of 'rough' but I love and applaud the ideas, imagination and sheer ingenuity of F in inventive mode. And she only required help a couple of times for fiddly bits.

Whilst she was working on that, I made her ghost princess costume, which was mainly black items with some pre-tattered scraps of silvery sequinned material hanging from them, so didn't need much sewing skill.

That was all finished just about by the time the first Trick-or-Treaters arrived and I'd also found a few moments to tip all our bags of sweets out onto a silver tray with some 'worms'.

F got ready and we headed out into the street. It was perfect timing as we coincided with the peak surge of Trick-or-Treaters, when the households were already warmed up but not yet sick of the whole bloody thing. We went to about 20 houses, always making sure we only went to ones with pumpkins out. It was fab, kept bumping into neighbours and others, was a lovely feeling out there, a very happy atmosphere, with kids calling out and people chatting. F was thrilled. I'd given her a large plastic tumbler to hold her stash and she had to return to empty it once and then refill it. 

Back at home, our sweets just about lasted - must have been not far under 100 kids out there.

A fun evening.

Today we went off to MMs, Monday group, which we've not managed to get to for a good few weeks. It was good to see E and be able to talk to her and hug her. Hard good but good good.

F played most of the time, didn't see much of her. Chatted with most other people there, quite like it when most of us end up around the table, especially if we have some colouring to do!

And that was the weekend, Hallowe'en and Monday.

Other things that the days went to were: F did a lot of Art Academy on DS today - highly recommended for actually learning and getting a feel for some drawing and painting techniques. It should be crap but it isn't. Quite addictive in fact and rewarding, certainly for those of us who aren't maybe naturally able in that area. I had a go last week and found it really engaging.

Can't remember much else except F telling a long story on the bus today, the plot of an invented sequel to a film we recently saw, she was working out a bit of how the story would be told in cinematic terms, how things would be shown. 

Also various words have been asked about, including 'dormant' and some others I can't remember, oops.