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!