Halloween 2018

How was your Halloween? Like last year, we had a ton of people over and thousands of trick-or-treaters stop by for candy. Halloween in our little southern town is HUGE, and people go all out with their costumers and decorations. We had a blast with our family and friends, but would you believe we didn’t take a picture of not only ourselves all night, but also the trick-or-treaters/party we threw? Maybe that’s the sign of a good night: when you’re too busy having fun to whip your phone out and take pictures for later.

We did take pictures before, however, and it was honestly such a perfectly fall day. The weather was cool, but warm, but cool. It was partly sunny at times but mostly overcast, and we kept the windows and doors open all day as we set up for the party that night. There were fallen leaves everywhere, but they were so beautiful we decided to leave them.

We didn’t dress up this year and we aren’t mad about it. We spent the night as ourselves and wouldn’t have changed a thing. What did you dress up as?!

We set up the front of the house as a graveyard, complete with black crows, tombstones, pumpkins, and two chairs to sit in while people took turns passing out candy.

We put cobwebs over the front porch windows, though we almost had enough actual cobwebs to use as decoration before we cleaned the porch this past weekend. Oops. We also had this talking head that was surprisingly scary since you’re not expecting it to start talking to you out of nowhere when you walk past it. Scary, but also annoying, so we moved it to the back porch to scare people when they got their drinks haha.

Inside, we were cooking and stirring all day, making chili and cheese dip and buffalo chicken dip. PJ’s mom made the sausage and cheese dip and Thomas’ mom brought her chili, while we made the buffalo chicken dip and more chili.

We also had Halloween cupcakes and a Halloween funfetti cake thanks to Thomas’ sister Sydney, and cookies thanks to his brother. PJ’s sister Montana was the biggest helper and passed out candy all night with her friends, which was such a huge help while we mingled with everyone inside. Hocus Pocus played on repeat in the living room and we we had spooky Halloween Radio going on Pandora inside and outside to get people in the spirit.

Thomas and his family celebrated Halloween for many years at this house when he was growing up, and some of his fondest memories are of people stopping in for a bite of chili, going to the neighbor’s houses to see their decorations, and just enjoying all the magic that comes with this time of year.

People were constantly in and out all night. Some would pop in for some chili and a drink, say a quick hello and then leave, while others stayed a while longer to help pass out candy/keep everything in check. We caught up with people we hadn’t seen in forever, passed out candy to all the little trick-or-treaters, and soaked in a perfect fall day in an imperfect life that’s filled with family and friends.

What would we do without our family and friends? What would we do if we didn’t live in a small town that loved Halloween and all the spooky, cozy feelings it brings with it? What would we do if we didn’t love Halloween so much?!

We hope we never have to find out.