Ghoulish Guests: My Insanity

I can't tell you how honored I am to get to be here on Brooklyn Limestone today! Aside from Mrs. Limestone's impeccable decorating sense, she is my Halloween and graphic design idol. I aspire to be as cool and as clever as she is one day, but for now, I think I might at least claim to be as crazy as she is! If you've seen her Halloween decor and parties, you know she has to be a little crazy to pull them off, and I'm crazy, too! That is why my blog is called "My Insanity." It is where I share my crazy ideas about parties, home decor, holidays and life with kids. Today, we'll talk Halloween insanity!

I think in themes in all aspects of life, and Halloween is no exception to that rule. My children and I also have a bit of a flair for theatrics, so we can't resist the lure of dressing up to celebrate Halloween. Fortunately, they have been game thus far in their lives to coordinate our costumes and dress-up as a family each year.

Last year our Halloween theme was "The Family Circus."

I use a combination of acquired, handmade, borrowed, and mostly hand-thrown-together costumes to pull off a family ensemble. Above you see our little trapeze artist, strong man, and clown. I was the gypsy fortune teller and my husband is sort of a puppet-master/ventriloquist, ring-master/balloon animal. My baby wasn't the most cooperative dummy--he didn't want to wear his wig and rubbed off his wooden mouth make-up, but he's still awfully cute, right?

But we didn't stop at the costumes. Our church had a trunk or treat party in the parking lot. We turned our car into a miniature and slightly spooky circus.

Here's the bigtop we suspended from the back of the trunk, made from a gauzy canopy we had at home, with black satin ribbons and a handmade banner that reads "Family Circus."


I made a crystal ball from a basic light fixture and a flashing battery powered light. I made up silly fortunes and dispensed candy from my treasure chest to the trunk or treaters. But as awesome as that was...

...my ringmaster (husband) and his balloon animals were the hit of the night. We had long lines of trunk or treaters all night long, at our car, waiting for a balloon animal. (My husband is a man of many talents.)

We have a long history of family costume insanity. Here are just a few highlights...

My mom made our cute costumes because my two year old was heart-set on being a lamb.



If you couldn't tell, I am a lamppost. My husband is...er..C.S. Lewis? (Nice try, right?)

We had a great time as Toy story characters a couple of years ago. I put a little Costume Parade Post on my blog where you can see all of the crazy costumes from the last several years!

My insanity doesn't end with our costumes. There is always gruesome food and/or highly-decorated desserts...

Like these brain cupcakes, or my hand-painted witch cookies.
I haven't had a big Halloween bash at my home for a while, but often get involved in the planning and prep of other people's parties, like when I designed and made these bat-shaped invitations for my sister's Halloween party. A little crazy, but they were way less work than the year I put Haunted houses with doors and windows that opened on each invitation (see? Insanity!).

There are lots more ideas on my blog. I'd love to have you visit and hope you will check back soon for some big changes that are coming to my blog. They should make it easier to find all of the insane posts you may be looking for.

Thanks Mrs. Limestone for letting me crash your place and give you all a little glimpse into My Insanity. I'm dying to see what fabulousness you have come up with for Halloween this year!