Halloween Fun--Part 4 The Neighborhood Halloween Party!

This has been a year of many firsts for me, and helping plan our neighborhood party was just another part of my learning experiences!  It was great getting to know a few more of my neighbors--Jen and Dawn are both great ladies, with enough fun sass to share!!

This halloween party was going to have alot going on; a cake walk, more games, a bounce house with a slide, a haunted house, a pot luck dinner, costume contest--lots of fun!  The part I was most excited about was the cake walk.  I decided I was going to have a lot of fun getting ready for that event and my kids supported me in that decision!

I baked for a few weeks prior to the party, wrapping then freezing the goodies.  The plan was to take them out the day before and have a mammoth day of decorating.  Crazy you say, maybe, but I called in reinforcements and my mom came over to help!  Have I mentioned how much I love my mom?  She is not only talented in many areas, but she's fun to be with too.  I know I don't have any daughters, but I hope my boys might feel something of that for me someday...probably not though--they're boys!! :)

Just a few examples of what we turned out that day...

I also made my favorite carmel pretzel logs--truly, they are the best I have ever tasted because the carmel recipe is so good.  If you are interested let me know and I will get the recipe to you!!  SO GOOD!!!

The day of the party we were concerned about the weather.  Our bounce house wouldn't be able to be used if it was raining, and the company we were renting from called that morning to give us the chance to cancel due to rain.  We held off and were rewarded!  As someone said, "It's a halloween miracle!"--we were extremely grateful!

Setting up for food with Sue and Shaggy.  You can't go wrong when Scooby doo is around!

Bounce house fun--a real kid-pleaser!  Check out All Pro Inflatables as they were great to rent from!

Adults and kids came in costume!

We had many winners in the costume contest.

Overall the party was a success!  The weather ended up being mild and dry making it perfect for an outdoor party.  Even the clean up was relatively painless as many people stayed to help.  The best part was the kids having fun.  Our oldest thought it was great that he could run around with his friends and not always have a parent right with him--growing up a bit, I think.  We'll see what happens next year!