Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
Hope you all are having a safe and fun Halloween!
Well tonight here in Oz - knock at the door - goes to door 'Trick or Treat' - hmmm sorry kids I didn't even know it was halloween & I have nothing to trick or treat you with - hmmm - thats ok mister byeeee
30 mins later - ding dong - ding dong
I ignored it for a while but giving in I grabed a plastic box full of my wife's best choc coconut slice cookies - freshly baked & my all time favs & figure at least I can give em a couple of the cookies - DANG, there was a horde of the little buggars - DANG says I, "hey kids just one each", "thanks but I'll have 2" says 1 little monster - then they proceed to feret half the total - "these are my favorites" I cry in anguish, "well let you know" says another little monster.
Hmmm says I - who in the hell brought that durned American custom to this country - curse em says I.
But I still have a few cookies left
Happy Halloween to youse in the US of A - hope they eat you out of house & home
Cheers
DSM
30 mins later - ding dong - ding dong
I ignored it for a while but giving in I grabed a plastic box full of my wife's best choc coconut slice cookies - freshly baked & my all time favs & figure at least I can give em a couple of the cookies - DANG, there was a horde of the little buggars - DANG says I, "hey kids just one each", "thanks but I'll have 2" says 1 little monster - then they proceed to feret half the total - "these are my favorites" I cry in anguish, "well let you know" says another little monster.
Hmmm says I - who in the hell brought that durned American custom to this country - curse em says I.
But I still have a few cookies left
Happy Halloween to youse in the US of A - hope they eat you out of house & home
Cheers
DSM
xPAP and Quattro std mask (plus a pad-a-cheek anti-leak strap)
-
Sleepless on LI
- Posts: 3997
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 6:46 pm
- Location: Long Island, New York
We get over 250 of the little monsters (and princesses, and super heroes, etc.) at our door each year.
This is the first time we aren't doing anything elaborate. In past years we've scared kids (and their parents!) so badly that when we run out of candy we just go pick up what they dropped while running away and hand that out. No, I'm not pulling your leg, Lori.
First year I was sick, so I put on black pants, long-sleeve black shirt, pulled a blackout mask over my head and put these really weird silvery vinyl gloves on my hands. I sat in a chair, limp, with a bowl of candy in my lap. Kids thought I was a stuffed dummy until I would move.
I'd time my movements so most wouldn't see, but one would get freaked out. Had one young teen boy so shaken he ran to the sidewalk and sent his much younger sister to come get candy!
Next year I made a table with cutouts for my head and hands. We put a bunch of masks and fake hands on the table, plus a mask over my head and monster gloves on my hands. We bought a cheap plastic bowl and cut the bottom out, so my hand was coming up into the bowl of candy. I'd grab at the kids when they went for the candy.
Following year we made a guillotine. We put a stuffed dummy on the top and I was lying in the box underneath with my head in the basket, suitably made up. With the makeup my head looked fake, until I'd open my eyes and look around! One kid told his mom she had to see this, so she leaned over commenting on how great this was just as I opened my eyes. She screamed, grabbed the kid and ran before he could get any candy. She wouldn't let him come back for it, so my wife had to deliver it to them down at the bottom of the drive!
After that was a 30' long tunnel of terror out of PVC pipe for framework covered with gardening cloth. It was hung with monofilament to feel like spider webs, fake spiders, black lighting, strobes, fog machine and it curved to the right. At the end on the right we had an alcove where I was made up to look like a demon handing out the candy. People would guess something was on the right and edge to the left. We had a slit in the cover on the left and my wife would reach in and touch them on the shoulder. We had people running away without taking candy that year. And some who came back again and again, saying they didn't want more candy they just wanted to go through the tunnel again (often bringing friends from far away).
The it was "Doctor Death". I was the mad doctor operating on my patient. My wife was seated at a table with an extension around her head and a dummy lying there so it looked like it was her body. Pantyhose and red-dyed spaghetti looked like her guts. I had to reach through that for the candy, which was often covered in the slimy spaghetti! A big hit!
Next year was the "Mouth of Truth" (Rome, Italy, as seen in the movie "Roman Holiday"). We built a large 3-sided box (6' tall, 4' wide and 2' deep) then carved the Mouth of Truth into foam we glued on the front. In one eye we mounted an infra-red camera, in the other a strobe. Behind the nose was a red lightbulb and the outlet from our fog generator, so backlit red fog would come out the nostrils. People had to reach in the mouth for treats, and I was inside watching all on a TV monitor fed by the camera.
Last year, I know we did something, but my apnea was getting quite bad by then and I really don't remember.
This year we haven't had time to even buy a pumpkin! I know some kids are going to be disappointed, but we probably won't have as many come to the door so maybe we won't run out of candy for a change.
This is the first time we aren't doing anything elaborate. In past years we've scared kids (and their parents!) so badly that when we run out of candy we just go pick up what they dropped while running away and hand that out. No, I'm not pulling your leg, Lori.
First year I was sick, so I put on black pants, long-sleeve black shirt, pulled a blackout mask over my head and put these really weird silvery vinyl gloves on my hands. I sat in a chair, limp, with a bowl of candy in my lap. Kids thought I was a stuffed dummy until I would move.
I'd time my movements so most wouldn't see, but one would get freaked out. Had one young teen boy so shaken he ran to the sidewalk and sent his much younger sister to come get candy!
Next year I made a table with cutouts for my head and hands. We put a bunch of masks and fake hands on the table, plus a mask over my head and monster gloves on my hands. We bought a cheap plastic bowl and cut the bottom out, so my hand was coming up into the bowl of candy. I'd grab at the kids when they went for the candy.
Following year we made a guillotine. We put a stuffed dummy on the top and I was lying in the box underneath with my head in the basket, suitably made up. With the makeup my head looked fake, until I'd open my eyes and look around! One kid told his mom she had to see this, so she leaned over commenting on how great this was just as I opened my eyes. She screamed, grabbed the kid and ran before he could get any candy. She wouldn't let him come back for it, so my wife had to deliver it to them down at the bottom of the drive!
After that was a 30' long tunnel of terror out of PVC pipe for framework covered with gardening cloth. It was hung with monofilament to feel like spider webs, fake spiders, black lighting, strobes, fog machine and it curved to the right. At the end on the right we had an alcove where I was made up to look like a demon handing out the candy. People would guess something was on the right and edge to the left. We had a slit in the cover on the left and my wife would reach in and touch them on the shoulder. We had people running away without taking candy that year. And some who came back again and again, saying they didn't want more candy they just wanted to go through the tunnel again (often bringing friends from far away).
The it was "Doctor Death". I was the mad doctor operating on my patient. My wife was seated at a table with an extension around her head and a dummy lying there so it looked like it was her body. Pantyhose and red-dyed spaghetti looked like her guts. I had to reach through that for the candy, which was often covered in the slimy spaghetti! A big hit!
Next year was the "Mouth of Truth" (Rome, Italy, as seen in the movie "Roman Holiday"). We built a large 3-sided box (6' tall, 4' wide and 2' deep) then carved the Mouth of Truth into foam we glued on the front. In one eye we mounted an infra-red camera, in the other a strobe. Behind the nose was a red lightbulb and the outlet from our fog generator, so backlit red fog would come out the nostrils. People had to reach in the mouth for treats, and I was inside watching all on a TV monitor fed by the camera.
Last year, I know we did something, but my apnea was getting quite bad by then and I really don't remember.
This year we haven't had time to even buy a pumpkin! I know some kids are going to be disappointed, but we probably won't have as many come to the door so maybe we won't run out of candy for a change.
The CPAPer formerly known as WAFlowers
-
rested gal
- Posts: 12883
- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2004 10:14 pm
- Location: Tennessee
-
Sleepless on LI
- Posts: 3997
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 6:46 pm
- Location: Long Island, New York
Laura,
I think he's EVIL, with a capital E!!!
We have someone who does things like that every year on our block, too. Last year, he did the thing where everyone thought he was a "dummy" sitting in a chair until they got onto his front porch, by the door and then he'd come to life. Not funny...okay, maybe a little. You just have to know when NOT to do it, like when you have little 3 year old kids coming trick or treating who will forever have nightmares from that kind of prank.
My daughter, who will be 13 in November, is asking to go by herself this year with her friends. Umm, I guess we have to cut the cord some time, but I am NOT happy...
In any case, have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
I think he's EVIL, with a capital E!!!
We have someone who does things like that every year on our block, too. Last year, he did the thing where everyone thought he was a "dummy" sitting in a chair until they got onto his front porch, by the door and then he'd come to life. Not funny...okay, maybe a little. You just have to know when NOT to do it, like when you have little 3 year old kids coming trick or treating who will forever have nightmares from that kind of prank.
My daughter, who will be 13 in November, is asking to go by herself this year with her friends. Umm, I guess we have to cut the cord some time, but I am NOT happy...
In any case, have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
L o R i
Gee Bill,
That's amazing!
I want to come to YOUR house!!
Your place must have been famous! The only drawback to that is that every year people expect great things from you. Boy are they gonna be disappointed this year!
One of my friends, he and his wife live in a rather gothic looking house, perfect for Halloween. They try to do something every year too.
One year, Michael kept it simple, stuffed himself into a huge trash can in the front yard near the front door, and he would pop out of it and scare the tricker or treaters. But your schemes are wonderful!!
Can we all come and visit next year? All us cpapers would love to come see what you do next!!
Linda
That's amazing!
I want to come to YOUR house!!
Your place must have been famous! The only drawback to that is that every year people expect great things from you. Boy are they gonna be disappointed this year!
One of my friends, he and his wife live in a rather gothic looking house, perfect for Halloween. They try to do something every year too.
One year, Michael kept it simple, stuffed himself into a huge trash can in the front yard near the front door, and he would pop out of it and scare the tricker or treaters. But your schemes are wonderful!!
Can we all come and visit next year? All us cpapers would love to come see what you do next!!
Linda
We've always been very concious of impressionable young children and offered alternatives for them (we had something tamer along with the Tunnel of Terror, for example). Slightly older children (6-9) just got a hoot out of what we've done.Sleepless on LI wrote:You just have to know when NOT to do it, like when you have little 3 year old kids coming trick or treating who will forever have nightmares from that kind of prank.
The funny thing is inevitably it was the teens who were terrified (or kids parents)! Those "I'm too cool to be scared" teens would practically wet themselves as they ran away.
Evil? Maybe, but I figure teens with attitude are fair game!
Yeah, that's tough. Been there, done that.My daughter, who will be 13 in November, is asking to go by herself this year with her friends. Umm, I guess we have to cut the cord some time, but I am NOT happy...
All y'all are invited to my place next year -- we'll do something special again. In the meantime, be safe, have fun, and give away all that candy 'cause we sure don't need it!
The CPAPer formerly known as WAFlowers
It helps that my wife and I both worked in community theatre (me as carpenter and stage manager, her as set design, set decorator, asst. director, etc.). We learned lots of tricks of how to build impressive pieces out of nothing but bubble gum, bailing wire and gaffers tape. Lots and LOTS of gaffers tape!
The "Mouth of Truth" was thrown together in an afternoon, including carving the foam, painting the foam and particle board sides to look like stone, etc. Actually it had no gaffers tape -- I used real countersunk screws!
I remember last year! I was a snake charmer. Wife made a snake hand puppet and I had a fake hand on my lap. How could I forget?
Imaginative kid? I was a real daydreamer -- it was the only way I could harness my run-away brain! (This was before the advent of gifted programs, even having me do grades 3, 4 and 5 in 2 years wasn't enough of a challenge for me.)
Puddles on the porch? Nah, they don't stand there long enough. Instead they leave a trail through the grass as they run away screaming! .
The "Mouth of Truth" was thrown together in an afternoon, including carving the foam, painting the foam and particle board sides to look like stone, etc. Actually it had no gaffers tape -- I used real countersunk screws!
I remember last year! I was a snake charmer. Wife made a snake hand puppet and I had a fake hand on my lap. How could I forget?
Imaginative kid? I was a real daydreamer -- it was the only way I could harness my run-away brain! (This was before the advent of gifted programs, even having me do grades 3, 4 and 5 in 2 years wasn't enough of a challenge for me.)
Puddles on the porch? Nah, they don't stand there long enough. Instead they leave a trail through the grass as they run away screaming! .
The CPAPer formerly known as WAFlowers
Aw Lori...did you have to bring that up??? I actually broke down and ate some candy today...now I have to feel guilty about it....NOT!!!Sleepless on LI wrote:
Happy Halloween to all. And remember our Friday weigh-ins when you're chomping down those Snickers and peanut M&M's!!!
(someone has to play the role of your conscience today...)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy....BOO
yawn wrote: Aw Lori...did you have to bring that up??? I actually broke down and ate some candy today...now I have to feel guilty about it....NOT!!!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy....BOO
Which is worse, a candy bar or a cupcake?
Ok, ok, ......... I gotta step AWAY from the cupcake...... NOT!!!
er, it's not the cupcake that will kill me, it's the pizza and the french fries I had before.
Linda