Halloween - Grandkids Annual Event!

We are fortunate to have two of our children and their families living within about 1/2 hr drive.

Both of these families have a son and one of them has three daughters.

We live rural on 5 acres with a very large yard w/barns and horse pastures. I got rid of our horses last year.

Several years ago the two boys who were 7 & 8 at that time, came to me and asked if they could have their Halloween Party out here. I said, "sure" , they said well, who can we invite, I said, "you can invite anyone you want".

:) Mistake! - they both invited their classroom, their hockey team and anyone else they knew!

Something over 100 people showed up!

Our drive is about 100 yds long and we have a turn-around in front of our house and additional parking on the north side. It was completely covered with cars, on each side of the drive and any other place they could park.

Fortunately we were prepared, I had set up lights completely around the back yard and built a large fire for hot dogs and s'mores, and my wife and daughters converted the barn into a haunted barn. It had one stall with a headless horseman another with a gorilla and others with all kinds of weird stuff. Our butler, about 6' 2" with a bald head and weird ugly face was the greeter. When they opened the door, he would say in a weird deep voice - "so glaad you could coome the Master will be sooo happy to seee you!" he is motion activated, and had a deep weird laugh and other intriguing things to say.


The woods behind the back pasture was transformed into "haunted woods" with all kinds of spooks and stuff along the trail. We took them on a hay ride through the woods with my little tractor pulling a wagon filled with straw - we could put 8 - 10 kids in it.

We had several pinyata's (spell).

I had stacked about 40 bales of straw in the back part of the yard. That was the hit of the party!
They built tunnels and forts and totally destroyed that straw stack! We had straw everywhere you looked. Mercy!

Needless to say, the party was a big hit.

The next year, as soon as school started, their friends were asking if they were going to have the Halloween Party again. Soo it was already an Annual Event!

We did that every year until last year, when the boys decided they would rather go to the parties where the "girls" were. Mercy! Can you imagine that! (they are 14 & 15 now)

Along the way as they grew bigger, the little wagon didn't work anymore so we had a real big tractor and hay wagon come and take them for longer rides around the mile square.

Like I said, we didn't have it last year. So this year the girls, who are several years behind the boys, came and asked to have it for them. So of course, Pa B said, sure!

We did it again this year and the girls destroyed that straw stack just as good as the boys did!

I don't think we have the energy to do it again. Mercy! :)

We still have straw all over our back yard. oh well

p.s. After the 1st year we turned the front pasture into a parking lot with lights and boys directing traffic. We probably had 125 to 150 people each year.

It has been a lot of work - but we sure have enjoyed it!