Since Sophie has recorder lessons on Monday nights, I contemplated having her stay home, so we could start our Halloween festivities earlier. But instead, I just worked really hard to get most things ready before we left. It worked out well, and I am pretty sure everyone had a great time.
I almost ditched our party plans completely when I heard how many Swiss kids from town were going trick-or-treating. A few even called our kids to see if they wanted to meet up and go together as a group. In the past couple of years, it has been very sparse, and I felt silly ringing doorbells of people who had no idea we would be coming. But it seems that this year, and last year, were big for trick-or-treating again. If the kids hear lots of talk about going next year, then I think I will drive them up there, and we can have our spooky food either for lunch, or afterwards.
As we were driving home from recorder lessons, and Sophie was listing off all the classmates that would be going trick-or-treating, I asked her if she wanted to go, fully prepared to let her. Her answer? “No, I think Halloween at home with just our family is more fun than going trick-or-treating. Besides, I already got a bunch of candy at the carnival.” So not the answer I was expecting. We did have fun, though!
First, while I was putting the final touches on dinner, the kids painted their pumpkins we had bought earlier in the week. 
There just hadn’t been time to do it any sooner, but it ended up being the perfect activity for that night. We may make it the new tradition!
This was Noah’s version of Professor Quirrell. It has become his standard choice. 🙂
Sophie made hers into a girl that looked jsut like her, and the blue purse on the right side is her trick or treat bag. So cute.
And the big surprise this year, was Nick deciding to actually carve his pumpkin!
The kids have always had issues with the slime factor, hence why we paint instead. But he decided to try it one more time. We used the cookie scoop Tom and Kathy sent us for Christmas several years ago. It was the perfect thing to scrape out the gunk, without him having to touch it too much. The other kids liked his results so much, they decided that next year they want to carve theirs as well. 🙂
In the afternoon, we had made and decorated some Halloween sugar cookies for our neighbors.
We found the cutest sprinkles while we were in the States, and the kids were so excited to finally be able to use them. Unfortunately, they melt if you put them on before baking the cookies, as we quickly discovered. But the melted shapes made a nice sugar glaze that was actually quite tasty!
For dinner, I tried a new recipe that I saw on the internet; Mummy Pizza!
It’s just regular pizza dough, with the normal toppings put on the inside. It was a big hit, and everyone agreed that I should make it every year.
We also had our usual Bloody Fingers and Witch Knuckles as well. 
And we washed it all down with some Poison as well. (It’s known as hot spiced cider in some circles.) 
Hooray for Halloween! (I really, really want a cauldron to put the poison in for next year. Wouldn’t that be awesome?)
We told our usual Halloween story, complete with cool sound effects and then there was just time for dessert before bed. How does a little dirt with worms sound?
It was the best dirt we have ever tasted. 🙂
The fun about doing this, is to see how strong the power of suggestion is. I didn’t think the food looked that particularly gross or even much like the funny names I gave it. But the kids totally got into it, and at one point Alexandra even asked me to stop calling it that, or else she couldn’t eat it. heehee