We Came, We Saw, We Ran Out Of Candy

Ohhh, you guys. What a Halloween!! 

First a shout-out to the fact that I've been vacuuming around a Thestral in our front room for the last 2 weeks.

It was 90 degrees and absolutely sweltering as we set everything up around 5:30 Thursday night. 

Then we packed up the group:

 

... got a grip, came equipped:

 ... and then, we waited.

 

I think the heat kept everyone inside a little longer this year, because it was a slow start. We spent the time taking pictures of each other & taking turns going inside to cool off. (And also showering with bug spray. Ahhh, FLORIDA.)

Oh yeah, my headgear lights up!

Then, a little while after sunset, and almost all at once, WE WERE OVERRUN.

EEEEEEE

 This was a real Field of Dreams situation: if you build it, THEY WILL COME.

 

John ran down to the end of our block at one point and snapped this picture:

 

 You could see Stay Puft from at least one or two streets over. Ha! OOPS. (All our neighbors ran out of candy, and one asked John incredulously, "Why are there LINES in your driveway?!" I think they all got a kick out of it, though. :))

Which reminds me, here are the little Slime cups I was handing out:

Since last year we only had 60 kids, and I figured not everyone would want to play a "kiddy" game, I thought 48 slime prizes would be enough. HA. Aha. ha. [sob]

After those ran out I dashed inside and grabbed a bucket of individually wrapped Halloween cookies and gave those out... which lasted about 10 minutes. So then everyone just got an extra piece of candy for a prize. 

Thankfully our friend Matt was in charge of candy distribution, and better still, John had purchased an absolutely INSANE amount of candy, figuring we'd return the excess. Then our friend Arielle (who arrived a few hours later) brought us more. All of which lasted us 'til 8:45.

I thought we'd have to pack it up then (we usually go 'til 9), but as we were calling out to the approaching crowds that we were out of candy, they asked if they could still take photos! So the last 30 minutes was actually quite delightful, helping people pose with the proton pack.

 

 Our only ghostbuster of the night was this dad, who had his own pack! So here he's helping his son catch Slimer.

The adjustable-height proton pack worked really well, although about 80% of the kids had no idea what it was or how to hold it for a photo, lol. (Come on, parents. TEACH THE ESSENTIALS. ;p) 

Here's the range from the lowest to the highest:

 The guy in the wolf mask had us howling, he was so funny. (Get it?) John was taking the picture with his standard "Aw yeah, you're a tiger! I mean, you're a werewolf!" and the guy did this:

"Grrr."

LOL

Our friend Karen (who ROCKED IT as Dana, did you see that pic earlier??) ran the marshmallow game, and was amazing with the kids. She'd show them how to throw and encourage them to try again 'til they got it. Although a lot of kids made it on the first try! We all tried to cheer when we saw someone land a shot.

 

Our friend Alexie was the perfect Janine; I screamed when she got out of her car looking like this:

"What, like this is hard?"

Since a lot of folks didn't know Ghostbusters I was asked about my helmet a few times. 

  (This video made John spit his soda out he was laughing so hard. That's right, sweetie, THIS IS ALL YOURS.)

I told the kids it was reading my mind, and saw a few jaws drop, which was adorable. Then one girl looked at me thoughtfully and said, "You're thinking about strawberry ice cream." 

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" I asked, and she gave me the biggest grin. 

My only (minor) regret of the night is that it was so crowded I didn't get to have more interactions like that. I really love complimenting the kids costumes and seeing their eyes light up when someone "gets it." When John and I both fangirled over a little D.Va from Overwatch, her mom looked at us incredulously and asked, "You know that game?"

The wind died down later in the night, btw, so Stay Puft did great!

Plus, since it was so still, our fog looked AMAZING.

OooOOOOooooh.

This was taken AFTER we'd been outside sweating for hours, but once I realized I had both of Tully's love interests with me, it had to happen:

 

Bahahaha!

(This is John's favorite photo of the night, he says I have to frame it, lol.)

And finally, one last treat for us adults:

SUPER sweet, and super tasty! 

 We ended the night sweaty messes - after all that we had to pack everything up before coming inside - but it was totally worth it. I learned so much for next year (starting with buy more slime), and I also learned that Halloween is so much better with friends. Since most of our local crew doesn't get any trick-or-treaters, I'm hoping to make this a new annual tradition. I never want to take for granted that we get to do something special for so many kids.

Yep, we've officially caught the Halloween bug, bots. BUCKLE UP. :D

I hope your vicarious visit to our Ghostbusters Halloween was a treat! And I hope your own Halloween was just as sweet. I love you guys. Now quick, go do something silly to feed your soul.

*****
 

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