Happy Halloween Everyone!!! Eliot and I have had an action packed weekend full of frightful fun! It was excited when I found out that Halloween was on a Sunday this year. After all the craziness of 2020, it was nice for everyone to be able to extend the holiday out for an entire weekend. And what a weekend it was!
We had planned to have our Neighborhood Block Party on Saturday so the kids had Sunday to recover from the excitement. However, the forecast for Saturday was rain all day, so Thursday morning we decided it made more sense to push it up to Friday night instead. That left me and Eliot scrambling a little bit, but we pulled it all together.
Eliot was able to buy candy for all of the kids Thursday night after work. So that left me with figuring out what to do for the Trunk or Treat. I wasn't going to bother with it, but we didn't put much effort into it last year and everyone else had really cool displays.
During the day Thursday, I scoured Pinterest looking for an idea for Trunk or Treat that was cute but not too complicated. I came across a lot of fun ideas, but they were all too much to pull together this late in the game. (I started a private Pinterest board for those so I can plan ahead for next year!) Thankfully, at some point, I randomly came across one pin that lead me to an idea... and that also gave me my costume idea!
Friday afternoon, Eliot came home from work early carrying a few pieces of card board and some large paper. I could already hear people gathering outside so I quickly set to work with my black Sharpie and some scissors. A few minutes later, Eliot and I were moving the truck to the end of the driveway and setting everything up!
Before we knew it, Cookie Monster (the truck) and Elmo (me) were all ready for our Halloween Block Party! It came out pretty cute considering we pulled the entire thing together last minute. Our neighbors appreciated my commitment to my Elmo costume- Eliot's red sweatpants, my red sweatshirt and the Elmo headband we bought at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg last month! I even wore my Pair Eyewear Elmo toppers!
The kids had a blast at the block party. We had all of the neighborhood kids and one of our neighbors had their grandkids up from MA. Then, a few of the kids had friends over and a few kids from other local streets came over. They loved Trunk or Treating and running around playing! Meanwhile, the adults all gathered around to talk.
After it got dark, most of the adults moved over to the Haunted Trail. This year, they decided to make it a walking trail instead of a Haunted Hayride. Eliot and I joined the others who planned to help man the trail to scare the kids. (Spoiler Alert: Melissa dressed up as Elmo is not scary!) We went into the "Haunted House" part which was a little maze our neighbor cleverly made from giant trash bags attached to trees. There were a few corners where you could hide. I made my way to the outside and banged on the "walls" of the "hallway" since I wasn't visually very scary.
Most of the kids weren't scared at all. I think they actually had more fun scaring each other. But, I have to admit, it was a bit creepy. The fog machine was the best addition; you couldn't see very well through it, and that lead to the spooky ambiance!
After that, Eliot and I visited with our neighbors for a few more minutes near the bonfire before calling it a night. The kids were all going to watch the new Under Wraps movie on Disney+ on our neighbors outdoor movie screen, but we knew we had too much to do. We said goodbye to everyone and headed home to get dinner and work on orders.
On Saturday, we worked on more orders and did a bit of cleaning. My brother Jeremy arrived at our house around 5:30 Saturday evening. After showering and changing into my Halloween outfit, the three of us headed up to Portland to do some shopping. First, we went to Kohl's to look for the Minnie pillow I was missing after to trip to MA. We hit the jackpot! Not only did I find Minnie right away, but Jeremy spotted another one and Eliot found another Mickey! They also had the Mickey red truck pillows! We left with two Minnies, one Mickey and two truck pillows.
Then, we made a quick stop at Lowes to check out the Disney Christmas stuff. Most of the stuff that was there last time was still there. Eliot ended up buying a few of the Airdorable inflatables, but we decided to wait on the rest for now. Next, we made another quick stop over at Target. When we got back in the car, Jeremy ordered his Pat's Pizza. We had 20 minutes to kill before it was done so Eliot and I went into Homegoods. They had a ton of Halloween stuff on sale and we found a few Christmas treasures! Then, we picked up the pizza on the way home.
Once home, we watched the last 10 minutes of the Sharks game. (They scored a few minutes into overtime!) Then, we watched all of the Dug Days shorts on Disney+ since Jeremy hadn't seen them yet. All three of us were in stitches laughing. Then, we watched a few of the Chip and Dale Park Life shorts before we called it a night.
This morning, we all got up and did a few quick projects around the house. Eliot and I figured we'd take advantage of the extra set of hands. Then, we all showered and got ready. (I went all out in my candy corn outfit!) We had breakfast/lunch at IHOP. Eliot and Jeremy both got lunch since it was 2:00 pm by the time we got there, but I wanted breakfast. I asked our waitress for pumpkin pancakes with the Cinnastack toppings and she was able to do it! (Ok, so I accidentally asked for pancake flavored pancakes at first and I couldn't figure out why everyone was looking at me weird... I'm sure that Eliot and Jeremy are never going to let me live it down.) But my "pumpkin" flavored pancakes with the cream cheese icing were really good!!!
After that, we said goodbye to Jeremy as he was heading back down to NH. Eliot and I went over to Biddeford to do a quick shopping run. We went to Walmart to get a few cleaning supplies and toiletries that we'd run out of. When we went back outside, it had rained while we were shopping and there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky!
Next, we stopped at Kohl's to see what pillows they had. I found 5 of the Mickey Red Christmas Tree Truck pillows so I bought one more of those as a gift. Then, Eliot and I went over to TJ Maxx. They had a ton of Halloween stuff on sale. We bought a few Halloween items as well as some Thanksgiving and Christmas items that we found!
On the way home, we drove past the local church in town where they were having their Halloween Trunk or Treat event. It was packed with people! Now I know why we never get trick or treaters at our house! They're all down the road at the church!
After a busy weekend, Eliot and I spent Halloween night having a quiet evening at home. We watched a few Hallmark Christmas movies in the background while we worked on orders. We'll be up late tonight waiting for the Loungefly pre-orders at midnight and the Shop Disney merchandise release at 3 am before we finally go to bed and bid adieu to another fun spooky season! I hope you had a great weekend too!
Happy Halloween!!! °o°