Halloween (Part 5) : Pumpkin Patch, Hobo Night

Our family loves yearly traditions, particularly as the Holidays approach. As a SAHM and the crafty one around here, this usually means that 'making it happen' falls to me.

It used to be that I could 'do it up big' without any trouble at all and enjoy every minute of it. But with a toddler at home, things have changed. For some odd reason I can't seem to pull it all together like I used to. Judah just can't keep his hands off all the fascinating new stuff that comes out this time of year by way of decorations.

I bought an interesting gourd a couple of weeks ago at the grocery store, and have found it in no less than four unusual spots around the house...all at toddler level. Same with the spools of curling ribbon and then the pie tins I'd set out to bring to Hobo Night for the dinner (in fact, I never did locate those before we had to leave).

In spite of all my advance planning and lists and errand-running ahead of time, I was still up way-too-late the night before baking Jericho's teacher's treats (Pumpkin-Pecan mini-muffins) in some cute little pumpkin boxes I found at Michaels. Jericho loves giving some sort of treat to his teachers for every special occasion, and this year he did up the 'extra special' box for his favorite teacher.

Baking pumpkin treats made the house smell like it usually does as it gets closer to Thanksgiving, stirring a little excitement about the coming Holiday season. My guys enjoyed taking those treats in their lunches, too.

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THE PUMPKIN PATCH

We managed to squeak into the Pumpkin Patch at the last minute the night before Halloween to make good on the promise to our boys that we would go to one this year. Both boys enjoyed the slide and the bounce house.

Jericho very bravely tried the Bungee ride.

This particular place had a beautiful display of different types of gourds, squash and pumpkins, corn stalks and Indian corn for decorating, which made for a really great background for our pictures.

The pumpkins were ridiculously overpriced, however, except for the scarred one I got for fifty cents (which I used for my 'gourd and squash' sculpture at the Hobo Dinner pictured below), so we went to the grocery store afterward for our carving pumpkin.

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HOBO NIGHT

Being that Halloween fell on a Wednesday night (and thus also our AWANA Club night at church) we held a big party and had a "Hobo" theme. Many of the kids came complete with bandana sacks on sticks (just like in the old cartoons) and most had gone to great lengths to look pretty convincing with ratty hair and dirty skin.

Some of the ladies from our church fixed up the fellowship hall, covering the tables with newspaper so that it resembled a soup kitchen, and everyone had "Hobo Stew" out of tin dishes. After dinner, there was costume contest, with winners in three categories receiving gift certificates to Baskin Robbins and a couple of other places as prizes. It was a whole lot of fun for everyone there. Judah won "cutest" hobo, and ran forward to give daddy high-fives when it was announced. Funny kid.

Here was the decoration I was going to have in our trunk for Trunk-or-Treat, but the parts mistakenly got brought into the fellowship hall (where it was assembled in haste just before the dinner was to begin) by accident. My sister's family enters things like this in their local Fair every year, and I've always wanted to try it, but was never inspired until I saw the gourd that comprised this little critter's head. Any guesses as to what it's supposed to be?

Afterward, just before it was time to send everyone home, the kids all got to go Trunk-Or-Treating out in the church parking lot. I've never seen so much candy in one place before. The empty sacks from all the candy filled a big garbage can...and it was stuffed full! It was then divided into bags and boxes which leaders put in their trunks to distribute as the kids came by. To say there was lots of candy was an understatement! Our church folks were very generous in their donations of candy, and we had a lot of very appreciative kids there..

My friend Chrissy took Judah around Trunk-or-Treating while I manned a candy station. Once he got the hang of it, he was about ready to say anything he could to get more candy in his bag...and even pulled out "Appy Bir-day!" a couple of times. He made a pretty cute little hobo if I do say so myself (and yeah, that would be the one on the left) though the one on the right isn't too bad if your tastes run towards bikers, lol.

My husband's hobo costume did look more like a biker, or so he was told by most of the kids in attendance. That bushy black beard that is made of the same acrylic stuff that quilt batting is made of...except that it kept shedding these hairballs of black hair around the grounds at church. A couple of times during the night, Judah spotted these clumps, and had to bend over to inspect them and alert whoever he was with at the time, "Daddy's hay-er". I laughed myself silly over that one. Big brother had the 'dred' look going on.

Because we were gone at the time Trick-or-Treaters came by, we'd left our pumpkin out with a battery operated flickering votive inside (which is what looks like teeth on the sun) and a bucket of treats with a 'Help Yourself' sign.

I think Jericho was hopeful that there might be some treats left in it to add to his stash, but naturally (thankfully!) it was empty. As if he needed any more!

The kids didn't even protest when they went to bed earlier than usual, we were all so tired and worn out by the time we got home.

Even this little fella, who we found stretched in the trunk when we arrived home.