Well, things were going well until some unexpected repairs needed to happen (plumbing among them.) This brought a grinding halt to the decor making at that time, and as we got closer to the date, we just threw in the towel and stashed what could be for next year.
We wound up having less than an hour to do anything other than eat because we had so many errands to run after the plumber was done. Being time pressed, I totally forgot about taking a photo. We also broke it down right after because they were forecasting possible rain and of what there was, half we didn't want rained on.
So...our dead basic decoration. One string of "Halloween" lights we had picked up prior post holiday and I had totally forgot about until we found them hung inside the front (French) door. We did them inside because we don't have an outdoor outlet yet, and with the wacky weather we weren't eager to have a cord running out a window anyhoo. (It was rather cold, though not as cold as right now--in the 20s F.)
I also took two pear baskets I had picked up recently and set them out at the top of the first set of stairs to our house on their sides, stuffed with fall color leaves, bits of the daylily stalks I hadn't used yet for the scrapped decor, and we attempted to use two of the dollar store glowtubes inside a glass and plastic pumpkin nested inside said basket, but they were too small and didn't light up very well. One of the tubes broke when I used the tubing they give you to make them into bracelets, and we worried they might break on the kids, so the rest of them that we had planned to give out, we kept for decor next year rather than risk it.
We also brought our porch swing to below the porch stairs, which I trussed up a bit with that old landscaping cloth I had found in the garage, and we had some "creatures" peeking out in places from our collection of props and toys. We changed the porch light to a dimmer bulb so it wouldn't overwhelm the candles we had planned. The candles, though, kept blowing out in the wide but short glass vases we had put them in, sadly.
We sat on the swing when things got rolling at 4 (we thought) with a huge fuzzy throw, two baskets (one candy, one toys/temporary tattoos), and two thermoses of tea Sean made. Then our one neighbor told us the one sign at the circle was wrong, and it wouldn't start until 5!
So back inside we went until then.
We have a street light right at the edge of our property, so there was still a decent amount of light thrown on the lower stairs. We had one heart attack, despite the numerous mermaid skirts, too-long skirts/dresse and capes, where a very enthusiastic toddler didn't wait for her mom to meet her back at the stairs (traffic up and down them was a bit clogged at times, so parents tended to stay at street level.) She did fall, but fortunately her mom caught her before she fell farther than just the step she was at. She quickly leapt into her mom's arms, and although she looked rather sorrowful, she was ok and didn't cry.
We were amazed at how many kids chose the non-edible basket (we only let them take from one), and apparently the turquoise/allergy thing isn't well know here, as many parents were surprised (and delighted) at having the option. If it wasn't for the temporary tattoos we threw into the mix of oddball small toys we had gathered (leftover from an old Archie McPhee Surprise Box), we would have run out of that basket.
We only know the rough estimate of 350-400 because we counted the candy pieces, but forgot to count the temporary tattoos. We had 3 toys left over. Even with our alternate, the candy basket had very little leftover, and when we dropped off what was left to the local spot for "Treats for Troops", it was barely 1/3rd of one of the candy bags we had bought. Next year we're going to get a lot more toys and tattoos, just in case we completely run out of candy because they will keep a year.
We had a lot of fun, and hoo boy the neighbors weren't kidding about how many kids we'd get!
