Halloween with the Rigg Kids

When our city postponed Halloween for a week I was majorly bummed since Taber and I would be out of town on the rescheduled date.  I really didn't want to miss it so we dressed them up anyway  and decided to check out trick or treating at the mall.

The girls were a lady bug and a bumblebee and Cam was the cutest little elephant to ever walk army crawl this earth. ; )

I had some face paint so I did some fun little designs around the girls eyes and on their cheeks. I thought they looked pretty cute.

We met up with Teya's bff Mia and headed into the mall.

When we got inside it was chaos! I guess since the city wasn't doing trick or treat everyone and their dog was at the mall. We waited in line at the first store for 20 minutes just to get a pathetic tootsie roll. We got in line for another store but 10 minutes into the wait we decided to ditch the mall and take our friends up on their offer to trick-or-treat with them in Massachusetts. We said goodbye everyone at the mall and headed down to Mass.

We got to our friend's house just as it was getting dark and the kids were not happy that we subjected them to picture taking before they could go knocking on doors for candy. This was the best shot of all 3 we could get. : )

The girls had a blast when we finally let them loose outside. They ran from door to door and got quite a nice collection of candy. It was pretty cold though and Brinley tapped out after about 20 minutes and sat in the car with me and Cam to get warm. It was a fun night and I'm glad we got to see the kids trick or treat.

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A week later they had trick or treating in Nashua. Taber and I were on our Anniversary trip but I told my parents about it and showed them where the costumes and the face paint were.  

 I figured my Dad would probably just do a few little designs on their eyes like I did but he found a book with face paint designs and let the girls pick the most elaborate ones they could find. 

 Teya picked butterfly eyes...

and despite Teya and my mom's best efforts to dissuade her, Brinley insisted on having an ocean face. Teya was very upset that Brinley's ocean face did not coordinate with her bee costume but you can't really argue with a 3 year old once they've set their mind on something.

The girls and their make up artist, Papa Uda.

My mom stayed home with Cam and passed out candy while my Dad took the girls trick or treating. It sounded like my dad had a blast and I'm so glad he got to enjoy some fun bonding time with his granddaughters.  : )

Rigg's Annual Halloween Party 2011

I love love love Halloween! A holiday that gives me an excuse to dress up and throw a party? I am all over that! This year I felt like the planning was a lot easier since we had a year of experience under our belts. The party ran smoothly and was a huge success but I still learned some things this year that I think will make next year even better! (Such as more costume prizes, better voting system, some new games and possibly a spook alley! Gotta start planning these things early ; )

Originally we were going to be Dora and Diego, but when my "Dora" wig arrived in the mail I realized it looked more like Cleopatra hair. Plus I've done Dora before so we decided to switch things up and went as Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. 

We had about 40 people this year and everyone brought fabulously spooky desserts and appetizers. My favorite were the candy corn rice crispy treats. WOW! those were awesome!

The costumes this year were SOOOO good!  It was tricky trying to narrow it down because everyone received lots of votes! It was so hard to just give 1st, 2nd and 3rd which is why next year I think we'll do some house prizes and category prizes too.

Here are the awesome costumes:

 Steve Jobs and the iPhone, Punk Rockers, 

Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth, and the Flintstones.

 "Bad News,"Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa, 

Carl and Ellie from UP, Static Cling and She Devil.

Settlers of Catan game board and victory journal, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra.

Dominos delivery boy and Pizza, Father Time and Mother Earth.

Candy Corn, Vintage Comic

Popeye and Olive, Adam and Eve and baby apple.

And now for the winners:

First place went to the Blanchettes for the second year in a row! Last year they were the Grinch and Cindy Lou who. This year they got tons of laughs as Sonny and Cher. I don't know how Jenn convinced Casey to dress up like that but watching him work those heels and flip his long hair all night was hysterical!

2nd place went to the Fry's for their re-creation of Russ and Teresa's engagement picture from the 80's. (background story below)

 It's kind of a big inside joke with our church friends. Russ used to be the bishop and when he posted the old engagement pic on Facebook everyone went nuts over it. The feathered bangs and jean jackets were just too funny! When the Fry's showed up dressed just like them with a wedding announcement and their iPod blasting "Take my Breath away," No one could stop laughing! 

And 3rd place went to the Nelson's who dressed up as a black and white TV couple from the 50's.  This is not a black and white photo, they just painted their skin gray! Definitely impressive and well deserving of their prize!

We enjoyed an evening of chatting, eating, and crazy minute to win it games (see post below for games). It was a lot of work to put together but soo worth it when it was all said and done. Now I just can't wait for next year, I already have some costume ideas brewing in my head.... ; )

Halloween Party Minute to Win it Games 2011

We had so much fun playing Minute to Win it Games last year that we decided to do it for one more year. There were lots of laughs and cheers as we watched our friends complete the challenges. Here are some of the games we played:

Ready Spaghetti: two players had to move soda cans from one table to another using only their mouths and a spaghetti noodle. They had to build a tower of three cans before the minute was up.

Mad Dog: Each  player had a ruler with two boxes of tic tacs glued to each end. Payers had to put the rulers in their mouths and shake till all the tic tacs came out and then their partner had to do the same all within a minute. Messy but so funny to watch!

Baby Blocking: Players had to balance a plate on their head and stack 5 blocks on top of the plate without falling. This one is WAY harder than it sounds! 2 of the 4 players got it.

Nervous Nelly: Player had pedometers strapped to each arm and leg. They had to shake, wiggle and move around as much as they could in a minute to try and get a total of 500 clicks. I will definitely be posting video of this one later, SOOOO funny!

 Rapid Fire: Players had to use rubber bands to knock over a tower of 6 empty soda cans. The cans had to be completely cleared off the table before the minute was up.

 Separation Anxiety: Players had to sort 50 M&M's by color with only one hand. If they accidentally put the wrong color in a cup they were disqualified. I actually practiced this one with Teya and she was able to do it so I tried to make it harder by using 60 M&M's and no one got it! Guess Teya just has mad skills!

Ka-Broom: Players had to set up a marshmallow on a plate on the edge of a stool. Using a broom to tip the plate they had to launch the marshmallow up in the air and catch it in a cup, 3 times. This one was intense but so much fun when the players caught the marshmallows!

We also did a game where players had to bounce ping pong balls off the ground and onto a table and try to get them to stick onto a piece of bread with peanut butter. Much harder than it sounds! We finished with one more round of nervous nelly to break a 3 way tie between some of the teams. Whoever got the most pedometer clicks in a minute won. It was tons of fun and hopefully I'll be able to get some video up because watching this stuff in action is hilarious!

All Things Halloween...

Forgive me if I've been a little absent from the blogging world. 

I've been busy with preparations for our Halloween bash which is tonight!! 

 We sent out these invitations a few weeks ago and ever since then I've been in full throttle party planning and prep mode.

We've been slowly decorating the house a little more each day. It's looking pretty spooky!

We've also been working on our costumes. 

This wig is a little sneak peak! ; )

 Also on the agenda: Pumpkin carving. 

The girls did a great job scooping out the guts.

 They helped Daddy pick out a great design and supervised him while he carved away.

The finished product. Spooky spider!

 Even better in the dark!

Last weekend I had to do some serious shopping for the party so Taber took all 3 kiddos to the pumpkin farm by himself. Brave daddy! The girls jumped hay bales for over an hour.

While Cam the man munched on apple cider donuts. 

(you can see the sugar in his eyelashes, that's good stuff!)

They brought home 5 more pumpkins which we painted on Monday for FHE. The paint has been holding up pretty well through the rain and snow from the past few days.

On Wednesday, I had a little bat cookie making playdate for the girls since they were feeling a little left out by the Halloween party for grown ups only.

 I found this idea on Our Best Bites, Here. I loved it because it was something the girls could do themselves without any help. (Even the 3 year olds!)

 Teya and her bat

 Mia and her bat

 Brinley and the remnants of her bat. 

Chocolate never lasts long around this girl ; )

 We used candy eyes and cut wings out of cardstock. I think they were supposed to have fangs but Teya wanted smiley faces.

 This project passed my two main criteria, easy and delicious. : )

 After cookies the girls had popcorn and watched a Clifford Halloween movie while the grown ups enjoyed some lovely adult conversation.

And that's what we've been up to. Now back to party prepping!