Halloween 2013

Halloween isn't really one of my favorite holidays, but involves two of my favorite things: candy and costumes. I like dressing up more than candy, so when I can, I like to wear a costume on Halloween, just because it's fun. 

This year, Carson had to work, which was a bummer. I worked in the morning and we were allowed to wear costumes (yay!), but I was otherwise free that evening. I've never passed out candy before, so I really wanted to do that and so I invited some friends over to pass out candy and spend time together. These lovely ladies are all members of our community group, and it's always fun getting to see them outside that context. 

The night before Halloween, Carson helped out with my "real" costume. I wore a different one to work the next day because I didn't want to scatter glitter all over the place at work. 

He spent two hours creating the masterpiece you'll see later. 

At work, I was Ms. Frizzle from the kid's show The Magic School Bus. My costume wasn't the BEST representation of that, but people seemed to know who I was. My coworker Rebecca was a cat/fox.

Before my friends came over, I snapped a picture of Carson off to work. He had this blue jumpsuit on hand so we made him into an astronaut. I made the NASA badge out of cardboard and didn't have time to make the other patches before he had to dash off to his job. 

I mixed peanuts and candy corn for one of my favorite fall treats.

And made a toffee caramel dip that was simple and great with apples:
8oz softened cream cheese
3/4 C brown sugar
2 T vanilla
1/4 C Heath toffee bits

Mix all but Heath bits together, forth in ball, top with toffee bits and refrigerate until ready to serve!

And of course there was a huge bowl of candy. 

We had LOTS of trick-or-treaters! I was surprised by how many showed up, since it was actually rainy and windy that night. Trick-or-treating began at 6pm and went until 8, but we ran out of candy and had to close up shop a little early. 

Deanna, the 50's sockhopper, and me. 

 Probably didn't mention this, but Carson's delivering pizzas a few nights a week, so we ordered one and he delivered it to us.

 And here's our little party: Jen is a donut (a terrific last-minute costume, complete with halloween sprinkles), Deanna is a sockhopper (she even had the shoes), Malea is wearing her Guatemalan outfit, and I'm Tinkerbell.

 Our party got a little wild. We played Life, the board game.

 And Malea was the last to leave, staying to chat a few hours, until Carson got home.

All in all, a lovely Halloween. I'd wanted to have a party, and it turns out that last minute, very small gatherings are some of the best! 

Oh, and there is glitter EVERYWHERE. Fairy dust is actually a huge pain in real life.