Thousands of trick-or-treaters, Voodoo Doughnut truck, Elvis back from the dead, Thriller flash mob, News crew…. just your typical Halloween night living on the Best Block in Portland. Crazy and wonderful.
Thousands of trick-or-treaters, Voodoo Doughnut truck, Elvis back from the dead, Thriller flash mob, News crew…. just your typical Halloween night living on the Best Block in Portland. Crazy and wonderful.
The first sunny weekend in October we pulled out the box of decorations from the basement and started at it. This year Carson had a goal of being the 2nd Spookiest House on the block. Because as he put it, “There’s no competing with the Holiday House.” Located a few houses up, they’re the reason it’s the biggest night of the year in our neighborhood drawing thousands of trick-or-treaters. {this year includes an Elvis impersonator from Vegas and the local news broadcasting live on their front lawn.}
But without a huge collection of Halloween decor we started deciding what we should buy. “Mom, there’s no reason to buy decorations when we can make our own!” Ahh, I love my DIY kid.
Ghosts hung from the ceiling made of cheesecloth and clear plastic Christmas globe ornaments:
Before: empty glass bottles saved from the recycling (soaked in soapy water to easily remove the labels).
Add a few layers of matte black spray paint:
A few cobwebs and plastic spiders… A spooky display for the mantel:
A cardboard box turned zombie:
Yogurt container, pipe cleaners and duct tape becomes a scary spider greeting porch guests:
Plastic containers, construction paper and our endless supply of duct tape. Presenting Carson’s zombie ghost village {beware!}:
Using Mason jars, we added tissue paper and Modge Podge to create some spooky candle holders.
A messy but fun spiderweb project:
We did break down and buy a couple of skeletons for our raised beds turned coffins:
BOO!
Since Halloween is a big event on our block each year {we usually have just shy of a thousand Trick or Treaters} we didn’t want to miss out so we headed back to our hood to party with our neighbors.
We did a family theme, Jason and Hadley opted for Jedi while Carson and I turned to the The Dark Side. We were a blended family 🙂 I’m still rubbing off those face tattoos.
Neighborhood friends reunited:
Happy Halloween!
As long as you embrace struggle and mistakes, you can learn anything.
–Salman Kahn
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.
– Henry David Thoreau
There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.
– Hodding Carter, Jr.
{ daily chatter }