A Haunted Ranch

If you know me, you know I love Halloween and a good scare! If you know my oldest boy, you know that he does too! We are kindred spirits :) Anyway, this year we decided to host a Halloween Party on the Ranch. I came up with a few games for the kids, and asked the adults to bring a side dish to share. It was great fun! The kids basically ran around having a blast and playing games from my past while the adults chatted and enjoyed the food.

My first game: Ghost Hunt. Object - hide 70 of these babies all around the property and then send the kids out to find them. Kinda like an easter egg hunt, only much spookier! ;-) Yes, I did make them. Yes, it did take forever. But I had great help from my munchkins.
Next, I made up the goodie bags. Inspired entirely by the font that I wanted to use for the nametags. :)
The night before the party JL and I strung a bunch of these lights in the trees around the deck. We love them! This picture doesn't do them near the justice they deserve! It's like being at an outdoor restaurant! They are fantastic!
The morning of the party, the ghosts were hid. I think I probably had as much fun hiding them as the kids did finding them!
My two partners in crime. I knew they wouldn't remember where they were by the time the party started, so they were allowed to help me hide them.
Our spooky Graveyard sign.
We added cobweb to the original graveyard look. It was awesome! Too bad I blew out the fuze so I wasn't able to have the blowie or the spotlight for the party. Perfect timing for me to do that, I know.
Our most excellent and super spooky front gate.
My pumpkin shaped brownies
Getting the table set up
The first thing all the kids did was head over to the animal pen to feed and pet the goats and pigs. The animals are always a huge hit. (Later in the night, we let the animals out for a good kid chase. The funniest thing ever is so see a group of kids (and some adults) chasing pigs and goats around and around and around.) Hilarious!
Wyatt enjoyed the Ghost Hunt. He tromped around with Finn (his 10 yr older buddy) and came back with 3 ghosts
James in full costume. He really gets into the act ;-)
Isabel as Sleeping Beauty. She calls her wig her "wiggle." It is really REALLY cute.
Wyatt came as a rough neck. I couldn't get him to cooperate when it was costume time so we improvised. You'll have to wait until later in the month to see what he's going to be.... :-)
James playing the "Witches Brew" game. The object was to move bats and pumpkins and ghosts (made from construction paper) into a bowl using only a straw. It took the little ones a few tries to get the idea of sucking on the straw instead of blowing, but eventually they all got it!
I think this had to be Rose's favorite game. She played it a few times until she was so good, she could have all 15 shapes into the bowl in no time!

Once it got dark, the kids played hide and seek and no bears are out tonight, and capture the flag, and ghost in the graveyard. They mostly ran around screaming and enjoying youth. It was exhausting to watch! :) Everyone seemed to have a great time. Perhaps I'll have to make this an annual event!