This year was my favorite carnival so far, for several reasons. We did a much better job of dividing up the organizational duties, so no one person had to do it all. It was in our very own building, so we had more freedom to choose the time and date. And we were able to come on a completely different day to do most of the set up, making the actual date of the party much less stressful. And finally, it was the first big project/hangout since summer where I got to spend lots of time with my friends.
It was a great turnout, and lots of people volunteered to run booths. 
Including the missionaries, which was perfect since so many of the attendees are not members of the Church. Also, aren’t the decorations pretty awesome? The bats were made by a very crafty and talented lady in our ward for a youth dance a couple of years back, and she kindly let us use them for the carnival. I think they make the whole room!
You can also see the back side of Nick running our Guess How Many booth. I had so much fun decorating the jars and filling them up with fun treats. I had done it last year, and decided that rather than one big jar, it would be more fun to do lots of smaller jars, so people had more chances to win. He did a great job keeping all the different guesses separate from each other and with their respective jars. Here is a not so great front view.
Some of the booths were crafts, like this cute one to make a colored pasta necklace. And in the background was where you could order a crazy witches potion to drink, mixed for you by Miss Sour Grapes herself!
I was running my Bingo game in a different room, so Chris kindly took these shots for me. He always tries to get at least one of each child, and then a few random ones of other children he deems especially cute. 🙂
Sophie was a bit miffed by the end of the party because all the non-Americans thought she was a dwarf or a gnome. They have no clue what candy corns are!
Sarah wore the witch costume I bought for myself a couple of years ago. I also let her wear my high heels to complete the outfit. Yes, they were a bit big, but only a tiny bit! She is growing up so fast.
Noah had a part in the haunted house the Faith in God leaders were running, so just wore that as his costume to the party. I made him the lab coat from an old white shirt, and am pretty pleased with how it turned out.
The crazy, mad scientist expressions are all his, though!
It made me happy that Sophie and Alexandra decided to wear their candy corn outfits I had sewn a couple of years ago again. And even happier that they still fit! Don’t you just want to eat her up?
A bit separated from the party by necessity, since I didn’t want to try and scream out numbers over all the other noise in the main room, was me and my bingo game.
Yes, that is a child’s costume I am wearing out of desperation since I didn’t want to be a baby again, and didn’t want to come not dressed up. I had so much fun getting things ready for this game, and the kids who figured out where I was came back more than once. I think it may have been the full size candy bars I was giving out as prizes. 🙂
I even had some gum for kids who didn’t/couldn’t eat chocolate, but one of my own kids ended up with one because they liked the witch so much!
I used my many stamps to make the game cards, and then laminated them, so the kids could mark the spaces with a dry-erase markers and then wash them off when they were done. I am for sure doing this again next year, although I can’t decide if I should decorate the candy bars the same way, or try and come up with all new creatures. Probably a bit of both, knowing me.
It was a great party, and my kids came home so happy, and ready to start the mad candy trading. I can’t wait for next year!