Halloween at Intel

This Tuesday we went to our second annual Halloween party at my work. Due to the recent changes in a global economy a few modifications took place this year. Instead of having two separate parties the week of Halloween, there was only one & there was little advertisement (I think in hopes that lesser number of people will show up).

I always like taking kids to more than one party each year, this way it feels like they get their money worth out of their costumes :-)

We had quite a bit of trouble deciding on Gabe and Larissa's costumes. They both kept changing their mind. Absolutely no problem with Jon's costume though. He KNEW he wanted to be a Darth Vader and (lucky for me) stuck with it.

I got Jon a flashlight that resembles a light saber (and happens to be red), so he could use it after the Halloween too, a black cape with a hood from the Goodwill store, and I painted a black t-shirt to mimic the pattern on the Darth Vader's chest. He already had the mask, belt and black pants, so it worked out pretty well.

Larissa was going to be a Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ (when we found the dress at Goodwill), but acted hesitant at the last moment. I suggested she could be Dorothy Zombie and I think she really liked that idea, but, again, decided to be "just Dorothy" on Tuesday.

Gabe went from the vampire to scary character from the Scream movie to his old Doctor's costume. We happened to have a fake leg he could carry around, a pair of gloves from Daddy's toolbox and he was all set too!

We got to the party almost half an hour early (I messed up on start time) and that actually worked to our advantage! We got a great parking spot and I was able to back into it. I remembered what it was like at the end of a party last year. Dark, tons of kids walking behind vehicles and a number of people is still looking for a parking spot...

As expected, parent were the one who behaved worse than kids. I don't know what it is about massive parties... Almost every parent turns into a Tigress and tries to protect their cub from harm. Parents were cutting in line, encouraging their kids to grab and extra candy or a trinket, and so on. I kind of expected it, so no surprise there...

We all went through a "scary house", which really wasn't that scary, since the party was mostly for the kids, and the entire time Larissa was clinging to me so tight, I could hardly walk. All meanwhile saying that it's not scary... right Riss!

Gabe's costume was a big hit. He actually had someone ask him if they could take a picture with him! It's that fake leg, I tell ya!

One party down, two to go?..