Going to DW is cheaper than another Halloween Party PTR Updated 10/10/08 About This Page:

[wyomom]

Trip reports are new to me
Even though this makes trip #3
To the world of Disney we four will go
I will start from where I know.

Disney World is our favorite spot
For family fun it shall hopefully end not
The kids are still young as DH and I are too
At least young at heart, I shall prove.

Halloween has to be one of our favorite themes
Our parties are well known by all it seems.
To be different, to be gone, to be out of town,
For the snow will fall and the ground turned brown.

For 10 days I shall surprise my family
With gifts, and even a ride with Petty!
DH works so hard and takes good care of us
Not to mention dealing with my DW obsessiveness!

So, on with the show, on with the report
Not sure if it will be too long or a bit too short.
Take it or leave it as you please,
But then again, it is all about Disney!

The perps:
Jason (DH)
Alex (DS 10)
Julia (DD 5)
Karen (Me!)

Scene of the Crime: Starts in Wyoming, with a future man hunt in Florida.
Motive: The need to escape the pressure of hosting another fabulous, elaborate, time consuming, and very expensive Halloween party.
Alibis: None! We cannot account for anything we do!
Time of crime: Premeditated in 2007, planned out early 2008, taking place October 25th-November 3rd, 2008.
Background Check: It all started in 2004 when we moved into our dream home. It is a 1980’s custom built contemporary, three stories, high ceilings, large corner lot, with a built in sauna to boot. This house has quite the reputation and even more so since Jason and I have made a name for our lavish Halloween parties. The way the house is laid out makes it prime for social gatherings. Two wet bars, fireplaces on all levels, huge kitchen always stocked with food…well, needless to say, we have a steady stream of friends and family staying with us!
And with us being in this amazing house, we wanted to have annual parties like many people do. It seems everyone was already having the Christmas parties, New Years, Super bowl, but not too many in the way of Halloween. Ok, I guess it is Halloween we will turn our house inside out for! Oh, you are thinking that I exaggerate! Trust me when I say, we actually turn our home into something unrecognizable….but I will get to that here in a minute.
“Normal” and “average” are not words in my vocabulary. When I plan these parties, it is over the top in everything. The food, the beverages, the décor, the entertainment, the party gifts, the costumes, etc...There is no stopping me!! *evil laugh*
Normally, I will start shopping and planning in April. By July, the UPS man hates me! End of August DH and I are making numerous trips into the attic and the crawlspace for our décor and September 1st is when the home we know turns into a dark and creepy nightmare! All family pictures are replaced by haunting portraits better known as “gortraits”, china is packed away and out comes the mad scientists laboratory that consists of antique surgical knives, books, and of course, the jars of brains, hearts, fingers, eyeballs, etc. The mad scientist theme runs through the dining room, kitchen, then on into the laundry room where a corpse lies on surgical cloths, and one has to wonder what the heck that reddish goop is in the laundry room sink! Bloody white sheets adorn the walls, hooks and other questionable “surgical” pieces are strewn amongst the cauldrons of witch brews. All lighting is changed out. Recessed lighting is changed to red/amber lights, about 20 black lights are strategically placed throughout, and candles and fire in hearth give off the only decent glow. All food is prepared by me. At least 25 different hors d’ Oeuvres that are carefully selected out of my favorite cookbooks shall take up at least 2 weeks of preparation time.
The main living room takes on the biggest transition as we made “rock” walls to separate the entry and living room, to give the area a different feel. The upstairs is the master suite with a loft style living area in which DH and I use as our office. This is where psychics read palms and do fortune telling. Belly dancers put on a great show and of course, there are the best costume prizes.
The outside is equally decorated with a grave yard, haunting music, strobe lights, black tiki lights, gray dyed tattered cloth that hangs from outside windows, and hanging bodies. Inside and out we go through about 20 bags of cobwebs, 30 flicker light bulbs, 150 yards of dyed cloth, dozens of rats, snakes, birds, skeletons, three coffins, black 8ft columns, an electric chair, 5 fog machines, and over 100 candles. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea!
Needless to say, children are not welcome to these parties! Must be 21 and older to attend. One year we hired 8 babysitters to watch 35 kids in our downstairs living area, but decided not to do that again!!!
As you have been given the 3 minute tour of what actually takes place behind the scenes, I am sure you get the gist of the painstakingly hard work and efforts that goes into these parties.
Preparing a party for 60-100 people can take a lot out of one! I needed a break. My husband needed a break!

EDIT #2: PICTURES IN LATER POSTS SHOW UP SO KEEP READING!

main living room near fireplace


another view of main living room. look up on loft to see where palm readings take place.


outside. That is one of my sea hags on the deck...not me!


Please stay tuned for more pictures and reasoning on going to DW......The manhunt continues!!

EDIT: Cannot figure out why my pics won't show?! I can see them which is odd. If anyone has pointers please share! thanks

[lissybri]

Great start. More please.

[dsteiny23]

WOW...quite an effort!! Can I come to next year's party??!!

(I just can't see the pictures )

We'll be there 10-30 to 11-9. Maybe we'll run into each other.

[Tigger1221]

Great start, I wish I could see the pictures, but I just see a box with a red x in it. DD and I are there 11/8 - 11/12 so I will just muss you!

[Lemap760]

I'm on my way to Wyoming next year for Halloween.
I can't see your pictures and I desperately want to.

[wyomom]

Dang! I will see what I can do to fix the pics! Thanks for telling me!

[wyomom]

main living room with faux rock walls and pillars


front of house..yes, there are lots of stairs here!!!


another view of main living room looking in from faux walls




Ok, can you see these ok? Thumbnails is the best I can come up with at this time. I will work on some bigger piks in the future!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Karen As for the pictures, click on the thumbnail, it will make the picture bigger. Copy the URL of the picture that comes up in the new box. Close that box and now edit your post. Paste the URL of the picture into your text. Make sure to use the mountain/sun icon which is for images. Click the icon and a new box will come up. Paste the URL into that box, click OK, and your picture should be there!

[bsblady01]

I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Your photos are amazing!!

[Tigger1221]

Wow, you really put a lot of time and effort into you Halloween party and decorating. Awesome photos!

[KandJluvdisney]

great start karen
pics are great
can't wait to hear more
hurry back with more please

[wyomom]

The gore cake.



Belly Dancer

Ok, still working on the pictures, but here are a few more. I had a lady make a cake one year and it was pretty fun. Each organ was a different kind of cake mix, with different color fondant. The ribs were made of white chocolate and she threw in a couple gummy worms and crumbled brownies for the added ground effect!

This belly dancer was great! She was so nervous as this was her first time to perform in public.

[wayneava81]

What a party! sounds like a whole lot of fun! Can't wait to read about the trip!

[wyomom]

Being Wyoming Natives, we have yet to see a Halloween where the temperature is over 45 degrees! All of you who live in the colder states will know what I am talking about when it comes to trick or treating. What’s the point of wearing a costume when you have to bundle up in coats, snow boots, hats, gloves, and snow pants!!
And if the cold wasn’t enough, the wind and three foot drifts of snow add that special touch when a child is trying to make it to your door for a mini sized candy bar!

My children, bless their hearts, have put up with me and three major Halloween parties. All they see for 2 months is ghouls hanging from walls, tattered cloths hanging all over the house, gory corpses in coffins, severed heads, jars of body parts, and people coming and going to “help”. A weekend meal may consist of sampling new appetizer recipes while watching Halloween shows on Travel Channel. You know when you have an obsession when your 2 year old daughters favorite toy is a plastic rat and insists on me tucking it into bed with her at night! Ok, kids need desensitized! They need happy, normal, and clean Halloween fun!

With so many people doing their best to bribe me into holding a party this year, I knew we needed a good excuse to get out of town. I cave when it comes to friends asking something of me. “Oh, Karen…what are we going to do for Halloween if you don’t have your party?! We will help you! Please! Pretty Please!!” They offer “help” but that help becomes more of a hindrance as I like to do things MY way. Besides, if everyone got to see how the house gets transformed, then the element of surprise is gone. I want people to walk through the door and be awed!!
And if these reasons aren’t enough, the title of this trip report says it all. I won’t give you exact numbers, but I will clue you in on what we put out for a Halloween party.
As stated in the first post, I start planning in April. I am familiar with all the great Halloween sites. Horrordome, Fright Catalog, and of course, Ebay are a few favorites of mine. Typically, I spend $500-1000 per order and the UPS truck stops by here about every three/four days from August to October.
The planning of food and beverages starts in April as well. I have about 300 cookbooks (no lie) and about 20 of them are used specifically for the Halloween food. Of course, there are the favorite foods that everyone requests, but to mix it up, I add at least five new items to the menu. That equals anywhere from 25-30 different appetizers to choose from. Salmon cheesecake with red caviar garnish, hot crab dip, olive bites (green olives coated in special dough), curry mustard meatballs with pineapple, Thai chicken wings, marinated shrimp with basil mayo, homemade tomato basil brushetta with crostini, etc. We’re not talking chips and dip here! The shopping for food is continuous. Every time I go to the store, I purchase a few items for the party food. That way it doesn’t seem like such a huge blow to the bank account! Food costs anywhere from $1500-2000.
And the real fun is the witch brews! Eight caldrons are filled with different concoctions.
We serve a dozen different wines and also had a martini bar set up. Hot cider and hot brandy cider are on the stove, whiskeys of all kinds are there for those who don’t like the sweet stuff, for those who are more inclined to drink beer, a pony keg is there for the tapping! This is just a portion of the booze, but I would estimate $2500 for beverages. Oh, BTW, DH and I used to tend bar many moons ago…if you haven’t guessed already! And for piece of mind, we have non- alcoholic beverages,designated drivers, cab numbers and of course, the couches are always available!
Gift bags…lets make this one short! Each bag has about $20 worth of goodies in it, including jewelry for the ladies and key chains for the guys. They are filled with classic candy that we enjoyed as kids, along with cheesy toys from Oriental Trading which is fun as we adults don't get that kind of stuff anymore! And when you make 100 of these bags….ouch!
Hiring psychics and belly dancers doesn’t come cheap either. They make a killing off our parties as we encourage tipping on top of the flat rate. They are worth every penny too!!
I think you all get the gist of why a trip to Disney World would be less expensive and easier to boot!!!
And I am sure some of you are asking why would I need to keep purchasing more stuff for each party? Well, I ask that of myself and my only reasoning is, I have to outdo myself every time! I can’t throw an amazing party one year, and then slack off the next! How tacky!! I do it to myself, but then again, I really having these parties. Perhaps next year we shall do it again….

But back to the kids. I really want them to enjoy normalness every so often and well, Disney is nothing but happiness and joy! We love DW and ever since DD (Julia Rose) was barely a year old, we started taking the kids every other year. This October makes trip #3 for them. The thought of the kids trick or treating in the Magic Kingdom sounded like a lot of fun! The thought of wearing a costume with no coat and snow boots gave them a bit of a shock! That’s sad!! All these parties were for me; DW will be for them!

Up next…
How we started with a 3 day getaway to DW, but ended up with a 10 day extravaganza!




Our coffin!




Julia and her friend. See, we need to seek help for our children!!



Gortraits going up to psychics lair



guest in electric chair that my DH built for me! Ahhh, what a loving man I have!