Carnival!

This is our second time attending the Halloween carnival at the kids' school, and yet again, it did not disappoint. It is a huge event. The tickets actually have to be limited to elementary students only - can't bring in outsiders (although we would have loved to invite some friends who do not attend :-( sorry!) The middle and high school kids host the booths and other attractions as fund raisers, and they do a great job!

After trick-or-treating at home with our neighbors, we hopped into the car and drove to school. We arrived about 10 minutes before it opened - and yet managed to find a very close parking spot. Either someone left, or others thought it too small - I got our truck in just fine though. We still had to wait in the HUGE line waiting to get in.

Immediately inside the door, high school students, dressed in medieval garb, greeted our arrival... with great fanfare I might add. They greeted each child and made a fuss over each according to their costume. Brian they greeted as a fellow warrior, and bade him join them at court. Honor, of course, was greeted as a fairy princess upon a noble unicorn steed ought to be greeted. They asked for her magical blessings, so she politely waved her wand and granted wishes.

Here are my guys - ready to head inside and have some fun!

First stop is the trick-or-treat lane. Not that we need any more candy - I know my kids.. Honor will eat some, but mostly, they will hoard it until I make them throw it away. When we arrived home Friday evening, Honor and I took most of our extra candy downstairs to the guards. One of the men who we've known since we've been here, and has become a good friend, walked us around the block so Honor could hand out candy to the security forces all around the perimeter. Reverse trick-or-treating :-)

Honor - skipping along after Brian and her daddy, trying to touch the ghosts in the trees.
Me and my sweeties.
Honor was fascinated by this queen. We didn't get a chance to watch any of the shows this group performed, but just visiting was plenty of fun for our little princess.
The kids loved running through the dark maze, but were NOT ready for the haunted house in the gym. Both gave it a go. Honor made it past the screaming fiend chained to a fence-door, but couldn't make it through the steamy scary locker room to see the zombies in the shower... the haunted house is REALLY good. Brian continued on, but Brad said he was lucky to have both arms attached at the end. We told them they were very brave for just wanting to go in (their idea!) - we saw other kids their size who didn't even want to try. Anyway, Brian escapes the maze... his sister manages to follow a few seconds later.
ew! slime!
Bowling for ghosts.
"Daddy! That's my prize!"
Gladiator goal.
and gladiator golf.
Sibling tic-tac-toe. Honor managed to hold her own against her big brother and they tied.
Look at that professional stance... gotta get this girl a dart board.
I think they had a lot of fun - I know we did, just watching them play.
There was a lot of wildness going on outside the school as we left around 9pm. Older kids - of all nationalities, running through the streets. Eggs and tomatoes were flying everywhere. Security forces were everywhere, lining the streets and corners, as well. We were parked in the middle of it all, and had to drive up the road, turn around, and come back through it to get home - we passed by teens with hands full of eggs - but nobody was out to 'get' us or anyone, and we didn't have a single 'splat' on our truck. It was just wild Halloween goofiness. I don't actually approve of throwing eggs and tomatoes - my dad would have been ticked off at us for wasting food like that! People need food. Wasting it isn't right. Water balloons would have been a better choice of ammo...

Halloween morning, trick-or-treat, and portent of the future to be borne on fairy wings

So, we were really tired from the class parties on Thursday. Friday was our weekend, and I didn't set an alarm. I assumed the kids would wake us early. Nope. They were tired too. We got up a bit late for the morning party at the club, but the kids and I put on our costumes and walked the half mile to the club house anyway. Friday morning is quiet around here, but we got a lot of stares, smiles and waves as we paraded by. One Egyptian soldier asked if we were going to fly - pointing at Honor's fairy wings. I said that I wasn't sure that she was big enough to carry us. He said, no, just big enough to carry the future. Now, how sweet is that? I love it!

Here are some of the games the kids played at the club. As I did a lot of my 'party prep' shopping on the internet, I feel obligated to share what I have learned this year for future shoppers. Hopefully someone else can use these ideas - or at least it's a good place for me to keep notes for my own future plans!

Honor searches for bones. They had a disassembled plaster skeleton. Pieces scattered all over the party area. Kids had to go find the bones, and assemble according to an outline drawn on a paper... they each only had to find one bone, but the outline was labeled (so they were actually learning something) and they knew which bones were found and which were missing.
Mystery boxes - what is it about sticking your hands into gooey stuff that excites kids so? Whatever... it's fun!
Candy hunt in the graveyard.
They also had some 'traditional' games like a bean bag toss, and guess the weight of a pumpkin, as well as a number of craft activities and coloring set up. They usually have a cookie frosting (and eating) table, but we were late this year and probably missed that.

Later, in the evening at home, there was trick-or-treating at our building. First step... gather all the kids in the party room. Are you ready?! Oh yea!

Trick-or-treat!
Down to our desolate end of the hallway - see why I never show pics of outside... rather industrial, don't you think? (kids don't care though)
Crowded elevator, but we didn't want them galloping madly up and down the stairs - in costumes that hinder sight and tangle legs!
Chorus of mom voices "Don't run!" - totally ignored, of course.
Some of our neighbors seem oddly quiet tonight.
Others were less benign...
and hungry too...
Hope you had fun joining us as we trick-or-treated!

Party Party

Last Thursday, the day before Halloween, the kids' classes had Halloween celebrations. As I am one of the room moms in both classes, this was a little daunting. I have not had to help organize these events before, but I know how much the kids enjoy the day, so I gave it a go. Actually. This whole 'being a room mom' idea is still daunting in itself. Last year, and previous years, I tried to volunteer as much as possible - it was hard when I still worked - and someone else did all the organization. This year, even though the job looked hard, I volunteered to be an actual room mom. What I am finding is that many parents want to help... they just do not have time to sort everything out. The calling, emails, etc. When we send out emails for assistance, or hang up a sign up list, we always get very positive response from the childrens' families.

The internet is a blessing. Ideas for crafts and games galore. If you have access, the Oriental Trading Company is an awesome resource for supplies and crafts kits. I picked out a picture frame craft for the kindergartners and sticker crafts for both. I was also able to find some nice decor, and other party supplies.

I managed to convince Brad to take a day of leave and come join the parties. I could have managed on my own, but I was glad to have him with us helping out, and I think that he had fun helping out.

For the kindergarten class, we started off making the more complex picture frame craft. I highly recommend Glue dots for party crafts for little kids. There's no drying time, although it may be slightly difficult for the little ones to figure out how to handle them - they figure it out quickly. The pictures were taken and printed out in advance, so the kids had a fully finished keepsake to take home.

Next we did a sticker craft. Each child had a sheet of stickers and a piece of construction paper to make their own scenes.

One parent sent in cookies, and I brought in frosting. Two regular-sized white frosting cans from the store, divided into 4 containers, 4 colors - orange, purple, green and white. Another parent sent in a variety of edible candy sprinkles. We divided the class - half decorated cookies, the other half played a cakewalk game with monster tiles for the kids to walk around in tune to Halloween music.

Parents brought in fruits and other snacks, and we ordered pizzas for lunch. The party ended with a Halloween story read by one of the parents. Then, the kids went off to art class and regular school activities, and Brad and I headed off to 3rd grade.

We got to Brian's class as the kids were being released for for lunch and recess. The 3rd grade parent volunteers set up snacks, cupcake frosting, and the same sticker craft as we had for the kindergartners. Stickers are stickers, and are magic for kids.

The 3rd graders also had a game that required a number of words to be written on the board. Each kid was given a small bag with 10 candies. Any time someone heard another say one of the words on the boards, they got to take a candy from the kid who said the word. At the end of the party - candies were counted, whoever had the most candies won. We chose words we thought the kids would be likely to say: Halloween, candy, cool, the teacher's name, etc. Brad had a good time trying to get the kids to mess up and say the words from the board.

Another good elimination game was "Four Corners". Each corner of the room was labeled "Ghost", "Witch", "Pumpkin" and "Skeleton". The kids had to choose a corner and stand there, one of the corner names would be chosen randomly from a stack of 4 cards. Anyone in that corner, had to go sit down. Then, everyone would go to a different corner and a card (from all 4 cards) would be chosen again, etc. until only one player is left - and wins.

The children also played, and enjoyed, "Murder by wink" although it would have been better in a bigger place to play.

After the party, and costume photo opportunity, the whole elementary school gathered on the field for parade. Each class marched by around the track - waving to friends and parents. It was fun to watch. We were very tired by the end of the day, but I thing it was a success, and I know we had fun.