glasses & grenades: Halloween Pumpkin Carving Party

Dustin and I carve pumpkins together every single year without fail. (Side note: This is our 9th Halloween together! We should've gone as ghosts. Ha!) If there's one thing we do for Halloween, it's carve the shit out of some pumps. We had our first Pumpkin Carving Party back in 2010 when we were newlyweds still living in good ol' Palm Coast. Life got pretty bumpy that winter and needless to say we haven't had another party since. Not until now that is. I wanted to move from our last place for many reasons but one of which was more space. Our old house felt cramped when we invited one person over, let alone a dozen. But now that we have a bit more room (and open floor plan) we are able to have more than one person over at a time. PARTY! Jesenia mentioned that we should have a Halloween party back in September and I then I proceeded to throw around the idea with Dustin. I immediately thought of how much fun our last one was and was totally down. Dustin was too. We both purchased our costumes over a month in advance because that's how we roll. I sent the Facebook invite to our friends and then begged October 19th to hurry up so we could get this party started.

And then just like that, the day had arrived. We cleaned our house top to bottom. I even swept and mopped the back porch which I've never done because I never go out there BECAUSE IT'S TOO DAMN HOT. It was really dirty and took forever to get as clean as I wanted. I even had a pretty blister on my hand as proof of my labor. Note to self: Clean porch more often. Lesson learned. Then me, Dustin and Erin took turns in the kitchen whipping up sweets, dips, and a homemade pizza. Erin also helped me decorate! Dustin decorated by leaving little bags of "meth" (aka blue rock candy) in random spots throughout the house. I got to help Erin with her makeup and hair for her 80s attire. I was all like "more blue eyeshadow!" HA! We had a blast!

I didn't know what anyone was going to be (other than me, Dustin, & Erin) so opening the door for each of our guests was so much fun! It was surprise after surprise. Sam and Pat got there first (on time). Everyone else strolled in later. We drank punch, enjoyed the dips & pizza, and took a bunch of photos. Then we moved out to the back porch to get to carving. Most everyone couldn't remember the last time they carved a pumpkin. And Michelle said this was her first time ever! (She ended up making a kitty lite-bright our of hers. So cool!) We all sat on the tile porch and laughed hard over inappropriate jokes. I'm sure we kept our neighbors very entertained. Ha! We all took turns with the candles I had to light up each pumpkin. Every time there was "oohing" and "awwing" for each one.

Dustin didn't participate in the pumpkin carving and instead stayed inside catching up with Pat. (Party poopers. Although he promised he'd carve it on Friday. Wait for it...) Since he hadn't seen who carved what, he was chosen as the judge. He picked Josh as the winner. We gave him glow in the dark poop and bubbletape gum as a prize, which he just ended up forgetting at our house. So you better believe we're having the time of our life with that fake poop and gum.

We all moved back inside and scattered amongst our furniture. There wasn't enough room for everyone so a few of us sat on the floor. Dustin shared his ~~meth~~ rock candy with everyone. I haven't had rock candy in years and it reminded me of Nerds (another candy I haven't had in years).

Before everyone arrived, Erin thought of an evil/hilarious trick to play on anyone who went to the bathroom. She placed a plastic spider on the roll of toilet paper. She hid it so that the person couldn't see it when they walked in but got a fright when they started to pull the paper from the roll. She got Sam! She got someone else but I can't remember who. And DAYS later...she got me too! And I already knew about it. I'm such a wuss! Jennifer thought the cup in our guest bathroom was hilarious and kept dragging people to look at it. So funny!

The first game of the night was (Sour) Apples to Apples. It was the largest group I've ever played ANY board/card game with. (14 people!) It got confusing here and there but mostly I just had fun with it. I hope everyone else did too. Sam ended up winning! High five girl! Then we moved onto Catch Phrase which got crazy loud. Jesenia gave clues for the "FHHI Team" and I gave clues for the "Ashley Team" (I have no idea what to call my team. Maybe 'The Gryffindors' or something awesome like that.) Anyway, my team was pretty much in the lead the entire time we were playing but then FHHI ended up winning BECAUSE THEY CHEATED BY SMACKING ME IN THE KNEE WITH PART OF THE GAME. Rematch! Haha. HA.

All in all it was the best time. As Dustin and I were about to go to bed that night, he kept saying how happy I seemed all night. "You were really in your element!" Ha. I like playing hostess. I like a good party. And I like hanging out with awesome people. So yeah, I was totally in my element.

A HUGE thank you high five to Dustin and Erin for helping me pull it all off.

You guys rock. You guys are my rock.

ALSO, I might have entered all of your girls in a costume contest that Jeremiah's Italian Ice is having. I feel like at least one of us should win because everyone's costume was so fantastic! Good luck!