Our neighborhood is small (just 31 houses) and this makes it easy to keep lots of nice traditions going. When we moved here 12 years ago, there were quite a few "middle-aged" children. Most of them have graduated and gone to college and beyond and quite a few of the families have moved away. New families have arrived and we now have a big group of young children on our street.
One family hosts a pizza dinner with games before the trick-or-treat parade around the circle. Most of the adults also dress up (I wore my witch hat but that's about as creative as I got this year). This Medusa head was one of my favorite adult costumes.
It's a lot of fun to see all of the little ones in their costumes. Egyptian princess was a popular choice this year.
I particularly like to see the tiniest children in their costumes like this sweet bumblebee...
...and an adorable little penguin!
This banner was made by a couple of talented neighbors - can you spot the Cricut cuts that were used?
The older children try to eat donuts that are hanging from strings. Here one of the Dads demonstrates the trick for the younger children. They start with the donut on their forehead and then have to pick it up with their pinkies and eat it using nothing but their pinkies to hold the donut!
After dinner and the games, it's time for a group photo in the driveway. The hill makes it easier to see everyone in the "serious" photo...
...and the silly one!
One of the most unique aspects of the celebration is the parade that is led by another talented neighbor who plays the bagpipes!
Everyone is moving pretty quickly - because the kids know that after the parade they can start trick-or-treating.
The banner needs a little bit of adult supervision to keep it off the ground and prevent tripping.
Everyone marches around the circle - right past the gardens and mailbox house that we fixed up last summer.
It's hard to believe that two days ago we were in the midst of a hurricane. It's sad to realize that lots of kids are not having a "normal" Halloween this year due to the damage and power loss caused by the storm.
Back at home, I have the "candy buffet" set up because there will be little ones at the door right away after the parade.
With so many younger children, we keep the decorations pretty friendly - only happy pumpkins and not-very-scary ghosts!
I did manage to cut out the Trick-or-Treat sign and add it to the leafy wreath on the front door. I'll do a separate post to show you how it turned out.
I hope you had fun for Halloween - now we can start thinking about Thanksgiving, with Christmas soon to follow!
Since I am a little off schedule - comments on this post will still be included for the October giveaway. I'll post the name of the winner on Friday to give you time to comment on this last post for the month.
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Wow, I love how your neighborhood goes all out for Halloween. So many great traditions the kids will always remember. Shari (cricutrookie)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful neighborhood you live in. This sounds like the perfect Halloween.
ReplyDeletePS I forgot, I love your Medusa hat.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your Halloween traditions with us. I'd love to live in that type of neighborhood. Ours is very nice, but we don't have that closeness of a smaller little group.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to celebrate a fun day. I love all the costumes big and small and your goody table looked yummy.
ReplyDeleteI always love seeing your Halloween pictures each year. We both live in the same type neighborhood. We only have 18 homes and we are the oldeset couple. We have 29 little children on our block and they are all adorable. My husband is the popcicle King! Thank you for sharing your darling photos.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great Halloween your neighborhood has!!! Our neighborhood used to go all out but as my son-in-law said last night we have turned into an aged neighborhood. Most the kids that were here are grown and have kids of their own in other neighborhoods. In fact I only had 5 little trick or treaters this year and two of those were my daughter's friend children that went out with my grandson's. I miss the days of past.
ReplyDeleteWould love to help my daughter in law start what you have. SHE SOES trick or trat with a small group but it woulf be niceto add all the neighborhood kids, We didnt have many TorT thia year. a handful of older kids came around. Thanks for sharing,,,
ReplyDeleteDawn RI
Wow! Great traditions...and I LOVE your Longaberger baskets!!!! I collect them as well ;-)
ReplyDeleterissaflor atyahoo dotcom
Great Halloween traditions sure to bring many happy memories. Your entry is incredibly warm and welcoming!
ReplyDelete