Halloween 2011: Dracula's Candy Coffin

Scary GuyWhat would Halloween be without a small scale movie set from the Harris household? This year our theme started out as a dungeon, but given time constraints, whittled itself down into "Dracula's Candy Coffin." 

Blair spent most of Sunday in the back yard, hammering and nailing away at a coffin. (The neighbors love us.) We filled the sides of the coffin with candy, but cut out a hole in the middle so "scary guy" could pop out. The set up was that Blair sat hidden beneath the coffin while my mom and I lured kids to knock on the coffin top. "Say 'trick-or-treat,'" we instructed them. They knew something was going to happen but they weren't sure what and it was fun to see even the teenagers be a bit leery of what they were letting themselves in for. Mom and I would pop open the coffin lid and Blair would shove scary guy up over the edge of the coffin with a huge "RAAHHHH!!!" 

Check out the 2 hanging flaming cauldrons...We got a LOT of kids jumping back and screaming. Even more parents. It was great. 

 I do feel bad about one little girl. For the smaller kids, I would murmer "Go easy" to Blair as they approached and he would dial back the yell and have scary guy ease up slowly versus just pop out. Or I would catch the parent's eye (the kids weren't taking their eyes off the coffin) and mouth the words, "Is it okay to scare them?" 

I did this with one little girl who was maybe four and the mom indicated it was fine. Still, I had told Blair as she approached that it was a little girl and to go easy and he did, not even doing a yell and instead doing a cheerful and goofy "Happy Halloween!" voice for scary guy.

Didn't matter. This kid took one look at the monster, turned, and ran screaming down our sidewalk. I'm trying to apologize to the mom and calling after the little girl, "Honey, it's a pretend monster. Come here and we'll show you. It's a nice monster," and this kid is across the street screaming and clutching her hair. She refused to go to any more houses and her parents had to put her in the car and drive away. 

I'm sorry, but that's just so awesome.

We had a lot of parents tell us that they loved our Mummy theme from last year and they came back specifically to see what we were doing this year. Once again, full credit goes to Blair. We don't get anywhere near the number of kids we used to and each year I drag my feet more about doing some big production. But it is fun when you hear groups of kids say as they're walking away, "This is the coolest house, ever." 

Until next year... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Smug Marrieds: What (Not) To Wear

So Blair gets out of the shower this morning, walks into the bedroom and stands in front of his closet. "What to wear, what to wear..." he mutters. 

He stands there a few minutes and I watch him, waiting to see if he pulls out the striped shirt, the dark blue shirt, etc. Finally, after staring into the closet, he makes his decision. 

"I think pants," he says, and reaches in and pulls out a pair. 

I burst out laughing. "Are you sure?" I ask. "Because you've got the legs for skirts." 

"Mm, true," he says. "But I don't like to just put it out there." 

It's almost impossible to have a bad day when you start off laughing.

Cheers,

Dena

Smug Marrieds: Spousal Insurance

Blair was going through the mail last night and I noticed him reading some official looking form. 

"What is that?" I asked. 

He grinned and waved the paper in my general direction. "Spousal insurance. Seeing what I need to do to make sure I get tons of money if something happens to you."

"I wish you nothing but the best," I said, returning to my book. 

"Actually," said Blair. "I'd pretty much be coming out way ahead money-wise if you just died. We don't really need the insurance." 

"Dude!" I said. "There are limits to what you're allowed to say to me."

We were both actually laughing pretty hard. "I told you I was sorry for that little shopping spree last week," I said. 

I don't know, you guys tell me. Should I be worried?? ;)

Update on 2011-10-23 13:07 by Dena Harris

Maybe I'm safe after all. This morning as we were getting our coffee Blair said, "About that last blog post..."

"Where I outed you and your evil ways?" I asked. "Yes, what about it?"

"You forgot one thing." He came over and gave me a big hug. "I may have a little more money, but I would be emotionally bankrupt without you." 

All together now: "Awwwww......"

Cheers,

Dena