We bought tickets for the Phantom at the Detroit Opera House way back in September so we had pretty good seats for the sold out event. You never want to sit too close as you can miss some things with the Phantom the the candles in the floor and the chandelier, however you do get the orchestra pit which is cool.

The whole family enjoyed the show and I noticed some things had changed since the last time I saw the show – the chandelier was completely different and the rear projections for thunder and lightning. The last time we saw the Phantom was at the Masonic Temple and Dad has seen the Phantom also in Toronto, New York, and Vegas.

After the show we went to Bubbas 33 for a great movie and finally home to watch the superbowl. Despite the superbowl being a lousy game, it was a great day on a cold February day. Continue reading “Detroit Opera House Phantom and Super Bowl 2026” →

The month of October is always a fun month for us, since we also host the Halloween party.

The grand finale is always Halloween night as all the neighbors hand out trick or treat surprises and the atmosphere is incredible. The Trick or Treaters add to the atmosphere with their incredible costumes and spooky decor.

Once again James handled the trick or treat handouts and did a wonderful job, handing out just enough treat so that we did not have anything left over. The last treats went out with the last trick or treaters a little after 8 pm.

A great evening and we all enjoyed a nice spooky movie afterwards.
Continue reading “Trick or Treat 2025” →

Gorgeous weather added to the event this year as we had two parties going on, one outside and one inside.

The Halloween setup starts early in the morning as it takes 5 hours to turn on all the props. Then we have to go to Walmart to pick up fresh fruit and ice for the 3 coolers (caffeine, non caffeine, and beer). After the visit to Walmart we go and pick up the cake. The graphic for the cake we made in photoshop and sent to the cake shop about a month earlier so that it would be ready on this date. We then pick up some of the kids who do not drive, then come back home and finish turning everything on.

Its a lot of work but it is a labor of love. We really only host this one party so why not go all out for it.
Continue reading “Halloween Party 2025” →

The weather was perfect for Halloween Trick or Treaters this year. As usual, we had at least 100 kids show up for their treats. James handed out most of the candy with Mom giving him breaks during the evening. We saw a lot of creativity in the costumes this year as many people decided to make their own which made it a lot of fun.

After all the trick and treating was done, we settled in and watched monster movies for the remainder of the night. Dad had the next day off to tear everything down so we could stay up a little later than normal.

Once everything was down, our front lawn was transformed into the political landscape of the day.

Continue reading “2024 Trick or Treat” →

Everyone had a wonderful time at this years Halloween party, some felt it was the best ever. Lots of food as many of the guests brought food in addition to what we had (thank you very much). Once again the weather was great and we were able to have the back yard (garage) open.

What really makes this party fun is seeing folks I have not seen in decades and once again this year it happened again as I met up with a couple friends I had not seen in ages.

This year we made some major changes to the displays, the back room became a skeleton room, the living room became a carnival (or carnevil if you prefer), and the kitchen became a Beetlejuice display since the new Beetlejuice movie had just came out earlier in September.

A great time, not many pics of the party folks this year as we were very busy with the guests, although many of the attendees did have their pics taken by the magic mirror.
Continue reading “2024 Halloween Party” →

It seems to happen earlier each year as we went to the first Spirit Halloween store to open near us today.

This year their theme was Carnival or as they like to say, Carnevil.

We saw a gruesome looking spider that we liked, but other than that it was mostly clowns… again.

We didn’t buy anything because we did not have any coupons (you can usually pick up a 20 percent off coupon at their website once the stores open but in this case it was too early even for their website.

Even though it is early August it is still nice to see the upcoming Halloween decorations.

Continue reading “First Halloween Store Opens 2024” →

Its hard to think of Halloween in the middle of Spring but we do it once a year. Once again this event was held in the Saline/Ann Arbor area and we made our trek out there early. The line went fast and we enjoyed everything we saw. We did not buy as much as we did last year but we did buy a few items.

We went through one of the small haunted houses they had there and that was alot of fun. We enjoyed the vehicles they had on display, its hard to believe they do so much for just one day.

We went home to meet James for lunch, then Dad drove back out to pick up another item. We also won something in their raffle – a couple scary DVD’s so that was a nice surprise. A great time was had by all.

Continue reading “Halfway To Halloween Sale 2024” →

Trick or Treat was on a beautiful autumn day in Michigan. We had a great turnout of children and James handed out a ton of candy and chips. This year we used the flexible trashcans that say toxic waste for the chips and that made the look of the house that much more spooky.

We had a car in the drive and noticed that the skeleton’s shadow were being cast on the car from the display and that really created a cool effect. I think we took a pic of it.

Lots of compliments from the Trick or Treaters and we really did not miss the giant spider and skeleton horse which were sold at a garage sale earlier in the year. We did add a fountain and creepy bird bath to the display but we liked the display so much better without the spider and horse as it was too cramped in the past.

Continue reading “Halloween 2023 Trick or Treat” →

The Halloween party was a blast this year. This was the year of football at the party as there were several big games (OSU/Penn State, Michigan/Michigan State) and we had several tv’s throughout the house, basement and garage tuned to those games.

This year we ordered pizza from the new pizza place, Detroit Pizza Factory and used Mattis Deli for the sandwiches. The party went overtime due in part to the late start of the Michigan game (Michigan won 49-7).

This was the 13th Halloween party that we have had at our home and will certainly go down as one of the best. The house never got too crowded as we had a pretty constant flow of people coming and going throughout the day (we figure our home can comfortably seat maybe 25 people at a time max in the party area)

Continue reading “2023 Halloween Party” →

Mom and Dad went to the annual Haunted Garage Sale in Dearborn Michigan. James had classwork and could not attend, but Mom and Dad represented the family well. We noticed that several people recognized us from past garage sales, both here and the ones we do in the summer to help raise money to buy more Halloween stuff.

Mom and Dad made several trips to the car with goodies and everything we bought was very reasonably priced (which is why we attend, its only $5 to get in).

There was a giant skeleton raffle going on for all attendees but unfortunately we did not win (we never won any of their raffles).

Continue reading “Haunted Garage Sale 2023” →