The Kleiber Family Timeline

Tag: Halloween

  • James Halloween Party 2014

    James held his fourth Halloween party for his friends, this time students from his new “middle” school attended as well as the elementary school. James was much more involved in this years party in everything from the planning and decorations to the beverages that were served. James had several highlights including playing UNO with his teacher and seeing both his new teachers and his past teachers. The costume of choice for the kids seemed to be Mario Brothers and Mom got several compliments on her pumpkin cake. The favorite decoration seemed to be the Exorcist although the graveyard and pumpkin bar got several compliments as well.

    All in all a great day! James says next years party will be October 10th.

    Please note that the video below is a multiple video playlist, to play from the beginning simply click play, to view the list and jump around click the upper left corner of the playlist with the three horizontal lines.


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  • Haunted Garage Sale 2014

    We have had much success the past few years picking up Halloween items at garage sales and such. Finally we made it to the ultimate garage sale, the Haunted Garage Sale held annually in Belleville Michigan on the County Fair Grounds. Mary found out about this through a friend on FaceBook and as it turns out this was the 13th annual time they had this event which really surprises me that no one in this family found out about it until this year.

    Plenty of surprises and fun, the event was free to attend and I would suggest this to any Halloween enthusiast if for nothing else than to get some fresh ideas.

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  • After Halloween Sale 2013

    As I am sure it has been pointed out before on this blog, Dad get his Christmas and Birthday gift from Mom each year Nov 1, a shopping spree consisting of Kmart, Walmart, Joanns, and Spirit Halloween. This year was no exception, best deals we found were 70% off, but the rest was 50% off. However I think the best deal was the T-shirts, which were only a couple dollars each.

    It may take a little longer to get decorations this way, but if you pack them away then open them a year later, its no different than if you bought them just then, this way you save a ton.

    This year James got to join in on the fun as he was off from school for scheduled school admin stuff, so he picked out a few things as well including an Angry Bird Pig pumpkin carving set (you stick the parts into the pumpkin and you are done, no muss, no fuss).

    After shopping Mom took the family out to Big Boy for the breakfast bar, a great day with lots of great values.

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  • Hoover Elementary Halloween Parade 2013

    Not the best conditions for a parade as it rained all day on Halloween. The parade was originally planned to go around the block but because of the poor conditions they only had the kids march around the school. Lots of great costumes despite the weather conditions. Speaking of weather, James decided on his costume a couple days before the event, he wanted to go not as a monster or politician or celebrity, but as a weather man. We made up a thunderstorm weatherman outfit for him with raindrops falling from the umbrella (as if we needed them today) and a thunderstorm cloud as well. Due to the weather it worked out well as he was dressed head to toe in wet weather gear, simulating a weatherman broadcasting from a hurricane area.

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  • Trick or Treat 2013

    Without a doubt this was the most brutal trick or treat that I remember. The same rain the shortened the parade continued throughout the day and into trick or treat. Fortunately James was geared for the weather in his weatherman costume (he was a skeleton underneath actually so he was covered for both types of weather.

    The day began with turning on the lights in the wee hours of the morning for James bus. The look of the house changes from morning to evening on Halloween night as decorations are added and some taken away. After James had his parade he came home with his parents and we began work on some pumpkins. Once the pumpkins were finished James was ready for trick or treat and was the first one on the block to do so (due to the rainy weather he was the only kid on the block for most of the night).

    James made a pretty good haul considering the weather. The turnout was better as the evening progressed but would still be considered light.

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  • Best Decorated Halloween Homes 2013

    There are many houses near ours who do outstanding Halloween decorations so this year we went out a couple times throught the hood and snapped some pictures. Good thing we did this before Halloween because the weather really went bad Oct 31st.

    The first trek into the neighborhood we took Aunt Peg with us so she got a chance to see some of the homes in the area. The next trek we took Mom (Aunt Peg ended up in the hospital for a couple days) so you may see a duplicate home (although we did check for duplicates, but not really hard).

    Without further ado, the best decorated homes for Halloween this year in our neighborhood.

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  • Manuels Taco Hut Halloween Display 2013

    For the second straight year we visited Manuels Taco Hut a day or two before Halloween so I think that makes it officially a new Halloween tradition. We noticed a new talking skeleton that sang Thriller this year, it might have been there last year but if it was we missed it. The place was decorated from top to bottom and the line to get in wrapped outside halfway thru the parking lot. Several real cool animations and projections. The food was very good this year, Mom and Dad had the chicken burrito and James had his standby, chicken tenders and fries – the chicken tenders were shaped like dinosaurs which James enjoyed. Not a crumb was left on his plate when we left.

    Manuels does a great job and one of the things they do is wall paper the restaurant in black so that no light is reflected (sort of like a black hole where no light escapes). This gives the restaurant a true Halloween haunted house effect without having any decorations so when you add the quality animations they have you really have a great effect.

    For more about Manuels Taco Hut visit their webpage.

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  • James Halloween Party 2013

    James had his third annual Halloween Party and had a blast as several of his friends from Hoover and Tulane made it this year. We have the event from 2-6 pm so we never really got too crowded with folks coming in throughout the day. All together we had 20 guests and everyone got to chow on pizza and finger sandwiches along with cake and other things you aren’t supposed to eat (we did have a basket of fruit out as well). Kids played with Wii, pinball, novelties, and crafts.

    We decorated the entire home including the new “zombie” room where the kids can go and play video games.

    James is very proud of this event and did pretty well as host. He has already got the date for next years party which is the 18th of October. Thanks to all who came and all who helped out.

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  • After Halloween Sale 2012

    Each year Mom goes out and buys Dads birthday gifts at the After Halloween sale. People often ask where we get the Halloween props and the secret is to purchase it after Halloween when everything is 50 – 70%.

    This year we went to the Halloween store the day before to see what they had left and decided on 3 new animations that we felt would fit into our display. The next day we got there about 50 minutes early to wait for the half price sale to begin (we were third in line).

    Our 3 main items were “The Howler” werewolf to go with our other werewolf. The “Popping Goblin” which is really nothing more than one of those plastic pumpkins, except the back moves out and a Goblin pops out of it.

    The Witch from the Wizard of Oz was the final one on our list. The Halloween store had two left and when Mary lifted the top one, another person immediately lifted the one below hers so it took about two seconds to sell out. Good thing we got there early and waited.

    We also stopped at Jo Ann Fabrics and picked up some Halloween crafts and decorations at 70% off and Marshalls where Mary bought a bunch of stuff for $12.

    James came home from school and one of the Hoover teachers (we don’t know if the teacher wants us to use her name or not) gave us a haunted house cookie jar!

    Finally, KMart had one Jason left at 60% off and that concluded our after Halloween sale. Our next purchases for Halloween will be in the Spring when the garage sales come around again.

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  • Hoover Elementary Halloween Parade 2012

    James and the entire Hoover Elementary class participated in their annual Halloween Parade. James went as skeleton (as he did last year) because he figured there would be many Mario’s (which is what he is trick or treating as tonight).

    The parade went into the residential area which was different than previous years. It was also held on Halloween day, Oct 31st, which I don’t think it was in the past. The parade stretched well over a block in length and was very impressive to see.

    Great time by all and the weather, although 42 degrees and slightly wet, was good enough to get the event in.

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