OT - Halloween DONE!

Oh I wanna come play at your house next Halloween!!

You make us miss Halloween fun so much. Your pictures are great. Thank you for sharing. We don't do Trick or Treating here in the Swamp, the gates are locked long before dark. Gators, you know. We used to do some gentle haunting with strobe lights, creepy music and ridiculously ugly costumes. For next year, you might want to try one of our favorites. We would glue a raisin to our nose or lip and attach one terrible long hair from a false eyelash. It's just really gross - but subtle enough to surprise the grownups that accompany the wee Trickers. Polly

About 10 or 15 years ago (during our Pennsylvania days!) I pulled a great Halloween prank.

From the first of October... I moved a rocking chair out to the front porch. I had purchased a really awesomely realistic witch mask and my DMIL (who owned a beauty shop) gave me a Styrofoam wig head. With the mask -- came a plastic insert that had "real" looking eyes. So I bought a wig, a costume and went to town. An old snowmobile suit stuffed with newspapers was the body of my dummy. I added a pair of black panty hose... worked hard at "shaping" the newspaper in the legs of the snowmobile suit to look realistic. Stuck the toes in a pair of black high heels of mine. Added a black witches costume (dress), a pair of latex gloves (painted flesh tone -- with nail polish on the ends of the fingers), and a hat. I "stuck a pole" inside the Styrofoam head... and then down inside the snowmobile suit -- that was sitting on my rocking chair on my front porch. Every few days I would go and change her "pose". She looked 100% real. Of course....all the neighborhood kids came to check her out. (My boys ranged from 5 to 12 at the time). It was the talk of the neighborhood.

On Halloween night... I replaced the "Dummy" witch.... with ME! In the same costume... same panty hose... same shoes... same hat.... and wore the gloves. I sat in the chair until the kids came up onto the porch and rang the doorbell. I would wait for a minute..... then in my "wickedest" voice... would lean forward and say... TRICK or TREAT to you too! (My cauldron next to me was filled with candies.) The screams from the kids brought parents from several houses down to see what was going on.

I remained the talk of the neighborhood for weeks... and the following year I put the witch back out on the porch -- but didn't fill in for her on Halloween night. That was almost as much fun too. Watching the repeat trick-or-treaters coming up onto the porch... waiting for the witch to move... poking her.... Me inside peeking out the windows!

What fun!

Kate in MI

Wow, Kate! This year we built an awning over the front steps to put them in shadow. I sat in a chair wearing DHs jeans, flannel shirt, rubber boots and gloves. I had a big straw hat tipped forward so you couldn't see my face. The candy bowl was in my lap, with a hole cut in the bottom so my hand could come up through it. Also a piece of paper pinned to my shoulder saying Happy Halloween! Help Yourself!

Depending on the age of the child, some got to see my fingers move the candy as they reached in, some got grabbed. The best reaction was one boy who went right for the bottom to grab a fistful and took hold of my hand. "Ack! It's a hand! And it's warm!"

But sett> About 10 or 15 years ago (during our Pennsylvania days!) I pulled a great

Halloween prank.

I had purchased a

gave me a Styrofoam wig

So I bought a wig, a

the body of my dummy.

in the legs of the

heels of mine. Added a

with nail polish on the

head... and then down inside

Every few days I

neighborhood kids came

of the neighborhood.

costume... same panty

until the kids came up

my "wickedest"

cauldron next to me was

houses down to see

put the witch back

almost as much fun too.

the witch to move...

Wow, can I come over and play too on Halloween! thanks for sharing.

Ohhh Kate, you would scare the geebers out of my DD. What a blast that must have been. Gotta try it sometime. ;oD

I'm so envious. I try to decorate a little and buy special candy and look so forward to seeing little guys in their costumes. This year I got to answer the door only twice - 7 trick or treaters. My new decoration this year was a ghost that sings and moves along a string. I got it for $7 at Kings. I posted a small clip on youtube.com - a first for this old lady. You can see it at

Howdy!

How fun! Good for y'all!

I don't decorate that elaborately (esp. w/ the wind blowing gale-force) but I manage to amuse the neighborhood. I love the trick-or-treaters; we get about 50-70, (unlike the truck-loads of kids and grown-ups we'd see when we lived down on the border in s.Tx.). Business stops by 8:00 now, but I keep the lights on until 10 pm. It was chilly for us, w/ a cold front blowing in, about 45* by bedtime; no snow, tho', as you had (& as I remember from my childhood in Illinois).

My favorites t-or-t were the family behind us:

6 yr.old boy who I didn't recognize at first, dressed up in a wonderfully furry wolf costume; he was in a crowd of several groups that came at once. Then I recognized his little sister dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood-- WONDERFULLY gorgeous, accompanied by her real grandma dressed as Granny, who pointed out Grandpa dressed as The Woodsman standing at the curb w/ his big cardboard ax on his shoulder. It was delightful! I laughed so hard, told Red's mama that "I want pictures!" Second favorite get-up: this teen-ager in a hospital gown and band-aids on his face. He grinned so big; I said, "I hope you get to feeling better soon!" and he replied, "I'll be okay if I don't freeze my butt off!" and turned around to show a big, plastic, bare butt hanging out of the back of the gown. LOL We all yelled and hooted over that one. Then there was the kid in black robes and ghoulish face w/ the big red nose; I called him "Grim Reaper does the Comedy Club" and he laughed. These kids are pretty big for trick-or-treating but the great costumes & some personality win me over. I like the way the night sounds as the kids go running up the street, calling and laughing and having a good time. It's over too soon. No quilting gets done but I do enjoy our (peaceful) Halloween.

Cheers! Ragmop/Sandy

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I don't really mind it when the "kids" push the age limit a bit (some were taller than me!) if they actually take the trouble to don a costume. But when they just show up -- they get one mini-mini tootsie-roll -- everybody in costume gets Hershey bars/reeses cup (something big) or 3 or 4 little things. One kid asked if that was all he got... I told him that was all his costume was worth and he gave me a dirty look. Another I told that his mask was particularly ugly and scary this year (he wasn't wearing one!) Oh well... I made it through without TP or eggs on the lawn!

Kate in MI

So fun KK!!! (Can't believe there's snow on the ground already! Sheesh!

Patti in Seattle