October Wrap Up (finally)

So I consider Halloween a success!  

The weather ended up being pretty close to perfect - it was cool but dry and the damn wind died down so it was decent sitting out in the driveway even without the fire pit.

I got about 40 kids, including one reverse trick or treat (Randy brought me home a Zombie Killer cider and made me say the magic words for it) and one repeat.  The first time this girl / bunny stopped by was with her mom, the second time she was with her cousin and announced the fact.  So I made sure to give her something different that time around.   My favorite costume(s) were a young couple and their adorable baby girl.  Mom was wearing baby in a front-facing carrier and wrapped in a box painted like a podium with a Presidential Seal on it.  Mom & Dad were her Secret Service men!  They had on black suits, sunglasses & earpieces!  So stinkin' cleaver & cute!  Another cutie was about a 2 year old Mini Mouse who came running up the driveway, just giggling like crazy! 

I also found it entertaining when parents tried to get their kids to stand in front of the (skeleton) pony for a picture and the kid would stand and look at the cemetery, probably looking for....

(real) PONY

and not seeing it!

One kid flat out told his mom NO when she tried to get him to stand in the walkway to the front door so she could take a pic.  He wasn't having it!

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So 40 seems to be about the average number of kids for the last couple years, considering how many live in the neighborhood.  And probably 2/3 were little ones. I imagine the lack of porch lights / street lights / sidewalks on my street are probably contributing factors to them going elsewhere.  I was also somewhat disappointed when I drove around and saw very few houses with as much as a string of orange lights up!  I saw only 5 other houses that put an admirable amount of effort into their yards.  More had a few decorations and/or lights.  But the vast majority....nada.   I get that Halloween isn't everybody's thing, but it was sad nonetheless.

I have to give a shout out to my darling spouse who willingly offered up (for the 3rd year in a row) to take November 1 off work and help me disassemble the cemetery and put it away!  He's amazing & I couldn't do it without all his help!  MUAH!

So by the time the neighbors were coming from from work & school - this is what they saw.   Pooof!  Magical.  

Chuck & Jack supervised clean up efforts and even helped out a little bit by raking the lawn where the coffin had been sitting. 

Chuck also conducted the annual debriefing. 

Oh, hey - someone on one of the many H'ween pages I follow on FB posted this awesome link to Instructables.com on how to make skeleton repairs and how to get them to stand!!  I'm happy with my fence posts & zipties making mine stand, but the repair info is pretty interesting & I might be using some this new knowledge before next year. 

Speaking of next year...  it'll be Maple Grove's 10 year anniversary!  

I've already got a loose idea of what I plan to do with my skeleton army!  I'm thinking of something along the lines of ~them~ trick or treating!  

And I've had plans for several years on how to get a skeleton to move, so maybe I'll finally do that, too. 

I've already posted this on my Facebook page, but here it is again!

The official 2017 Halloween video