Since we had the pandemic last year, it had been two years since we had any guests at our house (outside of plumbers and roofers) but that came to an end October 9th as our 11th Halloween party took place.

James had college classes this day so he did not show up till 4:30 from Wayne County Community College, but once their he became the “balloon guy” filling up helium balloons for all the kids.
Once again, the most popular item was the magic mirror (this was our third time using it) and guests got to take home a souvenir picture of themselves.

Since many of the guests were St. Albert Alumni, we also had St. Albert pics and the new book available in the garage for pickup.

A great time was had by all and it appears we will be having at least one more Halloween party next year.
Continue reading “2021 Halloween Party” →

The Haunted Garage Sale was held at the Dearborn civic center next to the library on Michigan Avenue. James could not attend because he was in Saturday classes at Wayne County Community College but Dad went and picked up a few things.

Perhaps the neatest display was the apothecary display of various witches potions and spells all in bottles that looked like they were hundreds of years old when in fact they were probably only a few days old.

The event was well attended but still seemed not as busy as it used to be, perhaps its the pandemic or perhaps its just that the new venue is so much bigger than the other auditoriums.

Continue reading “Haunted Garage Sale 2021” →

Driving around we found that a Halloween store was open so we took a quick visit to see what was new. Their display this year featured an assembly line that was maintained by the skeletons. It was pretty cool. We bought a couple small items but the store assured us that there would be much more in stock in the near future. We think this might be the earliest one of the Halloween stores opened as it is not even September yet.

Anyhow it was a fun way to spend a hot summer day. Continue reading “First Halloween Store Opens 2021” →

We visited Novi (second time in two days as the Wounded Warrior fund raiser was the day before) for their Halloween convention. All sorts of celebrities were there signing autographs, most of them we did not know but it was nice to see fun they were generating. We ended up getting several items including a Zombie Girl prop for our upcoming Halloween party in October.

The event was held at the Sheraton on 8 mile in the Farmington/Novi area and was a great break in the action for the family who had not been able to go to events like this the past year due to the pandemic. Continue reading “Novi Halloween Convention 2021” →

Halloween during a pandemic is a little different. We wore gloves and poured candy directly from the bag into a big bowl and placed the bowl on a small table right between the two halves of the front yard. James then set up a chair for himself six feet behind the table with the candy and as the trick or treaters approached James would instruct them to take one or two candies from the bowl. It was a sort of self serve trick or treat. The turnout was very good and probably 100 kids at least came by and received candy during what we hope will be the last year of the pandemic.

Continue reading “Halloween 2020” →

James’ tenth Halloween party came during the pandemic and rather than trying to have only a handful of people at a time, we decided not to have anyone over but have a virtual event that we would record.

While the virtual party was all video, we made sure to take plenty of pictures before, during, and after the virtual party.

We also had a great spread of food to enjoy this day, just like we do when we have a live party.

Continue reading “2020 Halloween Party (Virtual)” →

The wait is over and despite the pandemic two Spirit Halloween stores opened near us so we stopped by to see what was new. Without a doubt the inventory was low as they only had about 25% of their inventory in but it was still fun and we purchased a hat, a hanging banner, a couple styrofoam tombstones, and a pennywise mat which looks like pennywise is looking up at you through a sewer grate.

We look forward to when they have all their inventory in but we were very impressed with the scenery they have put up already especially the large flaming things which were (unfortunately) not for sale.

Continue reading “First Halloween Store Opens 2020” →

Once again we continued a tradition and went shopping for after Halloween specials. We had a lot of success but felt the pickings overall were smaller than they had been in recent year. Perhaps the retail stores did not order as much this year as they had in past years (or maybe they all had a banner year and there simply was not a whole lot that did not sell during the Halloween season).

Our stops included Spirit Halloween, Halloween City, Walmart, Home Depot, and Michaels and despite there not being as much as previous years we believe we have one of our better hauls which included a creepy doll, a John Doe prop which rises up, snoopy in a pumpkin, another slimer, several Pennywise items, and a net full of skeleton fish for our skeleton boat.

Lots of fun and a good start to the 2020 Halloween season Continue reading “After Halloween Sale 2019” →

We had one of our best Halloween turnouts this year and the weather, despite weather alerts, held on long enough for a great evening of spooks and goblins. While there was a little rain, it was light and very manageable.

For the second year in a row James helped hand out candy and did a really good job getting into the festive spirit of the holiday. James had only a half day of school today so he took the time to carve a pumpkin which was really haunting and truly the icing on the cake for this years display.

As we had done in the past we brought out more decorations from the house for the trick or treaters and we received many compliments on the display.

Continue reading “Trick or Treat 2019” →

James just hosted his 9th Halloween Party and everyone had a blast. Once again the Magic Mirror was the big hit, along with a creepy rocking horse. Some of the new items this year were the skeleton boat (which took up the whole back room), the new Pennywise (just like in the movies, a new Pennywise comes out every 27-30 years or so), and a flying witch (who we named Rhiannon after the Fleetwood Mac song). The party went on most of the afternoon with people coming in and out all day so it never got too crowded. Playing the “IT” movie also kept some of the kids upstairs which also freed up space in the bedroom. We noticed that if there was a theme this year, it would be “IT” as a couple kids dressed up as the clown, there was an IT cake, and the movie played three times upstairs (to different audiences). I guess its true, everyone loves a clown.

James hopes to see everyone next year Oct 17th, 2020 for the big 10th party! Continue reading “James Halloween Party 2019” →