Neighborhood Halloween Event

We live in a fun, family oriented neighborhood. We have a social committee for our neighborhood. In our neighborhood are only 54 homes. People all have busy lives though, so often we can go months without interacting with many of our neighbors. Our neighborhood social events have really helped to bring people in these 54 homes together. Our Halloween event was our third major event this year. Earlier in the year we had an ice cream social and then we also had a back to school party.  Next year our plans are to hold the following events: Easter Egg Hunt, Ice Cream Social, Fall Back to School Party, and a Halloween party. Spring and Fall are the ideal time to host events outside in our lovely Texas weather. Yesterday the weather was perfect and the rain stayed away for the event. The Halloween party was last night. The Gays Family hosted it in the cul-de-sac in front of their home. The neighborhood association paid for part of the event ($125), which went toward supplying dinner and some prizes for the neighborhood. The ladies of the social committee: Kristen, Kristle, and I (and our families) provided additional food items for the dinner, decorations, beverages, prizes, etc.. It was a very successful and fun event that united the neighborhood together for the evening. There were lots of smiles and squeals of glee from the children. We started with the neighborhood gathering at 5:00 in costume for a dinner. We had a parade following the dinner at 5:30. Our neighbor Elizabeth Perez took some fabulous photos of the costumed neighbors. Thank you Elizabeth!

The parade route was shortened once I realized how many small children we had walking alone and one child was in a walking cast. Oh, and the wagon with my 3 kids was hard to pull with all the weight in it. It was a short parade route up and down the street, but the kids seemed to really like it!

Following the parade we had a costume contest. Thank you to Jennifer, Terri, and John who did an efficient and fair task of judging all the fabulous costumes! Awards were given for best costumes, best themed group/family, best costumed dog, best decorated wagon/stroller/bike, best driveway display, and more!

Tony and Carla’s family of pirates won the best themed group. Scott and Chelyse were a close second with their Star Wars themed costumes! Great job families! Your costumes were terrific and your themed outfits will certainly be a great memory for your children!

The winning dog was certainly well loved by the children! My kids kept going back to play with the cute pup.

The winning boy and girl costumes were cute! All the children who came in costume got a prize. We had small trophies for the winners of each category.

 

Our family won the best decorated wagon! Brielle was very helpful decorating it the night prior.

There should have been a prize for the best food! Kristen would have won for her witches hats and brooms, homemade Halloween trail mix, and homemade chocolate dipped and decorated pretzel sticks. She is so creative! Her goodies were a hit!

The best driveway display went to Billy and Crystal. They do a great job at decorating their driveway to greet trick-or-treaters. I wish I had taken a photo!! I promise to remember next year! If anyone has a photo, please send it to me! They had torches, a fire pit, chairs for visitors who wanted to stay and lounge, beverages for visitors, and lots of festive Halloween décor. Of course, the whole family dressed up too! They live across the street from us, so Justin and I spent time hanging out with Billy, Crystal, and some other neighbors following the  trick-or-treating with our own children. It was a great way to unwind, relax, and have some wonderful conversation! Thank you Billy and Crystal!!

My family and I feel very blessed to live in our neighborhood and to be surrounded by such lovely people. We look forward to our future neighborhood gatherings as well!

I want to say thank you to all who helped make this neighborhood event special and memorable! Thank you also to everyone who attended! Thank you also to our Nanny Taylor for coming, dressing up, and helping so wonderfully (as always) with my three wild monkeys.