Last year, HusbandofLea (HoL) and I threw a party at my house for Halloween. And it was pretty awesome. I unknowingly told everyone it was a pirate theme (I put a picture of a pirate on the invitation, which apparently means it’s a pirate party), so we got a bunch of pirates. And Yul lost his grass skirt gradually all over the house, which was kind of amusing. All in all, it was a decent success.

So this year we were more focused with the theme. After deliberating for a few months, we settled on a Dead Man’s Party, which in this case meant a wake for a fictional dead guy, given by a bunch of people on the other side (that is, dead folks). The idea was to get people to dress as people who are dead/immortal, so nobody had to guess on a costume. I was so excited to see what people decided on.

We sent out invitations, too, with a picture of Mr. Percival Ignatius Aloysius Myron “Neckbone” Smith, Jr (HoL put in the Neckbone part), and then did this great little display on my mantle to commemorate ol’ Neckbone:

I went to the wholesale florist with a coworker on Thursday and picked up all the floral bits. This is actually still in place, because I like it so much. We also draped black cloth over all the pictures on the walls, and I pinned up my vast collection of antique photos. Those are in place, too.

That was the bulk of the party prep on Saturday afternoon, plus making salsa (I totally made it up, but it turned out great) and getting in costume, and also a bit of trick-or-treat. HoL had a blast scaring trick-or-treaters with Jennie. We knew that there were kids at the door not because they knocked, but because periodically we’d hear a crowd of screams. It was awesome.

And we didn’t lack food or drink (I ate Robin’s seven-layer dip for lunch – yum yum).

We had at the party:

Lucretia Borgia (Lea)

Satan (HoL; he made a baby cry,  but felt really awful about it)

two Deaths

Brett Favre (because he is dead to us)

a Dog-God thing

Frida Kahlo (me)

a virgin sacrifice (Jennie)

Johnny and June Cash

a ladybug

a vampire

Albus Dumbledore

Cernunnos (he had real antlers! and he brought us a pirate! it is two feet tall!)

Gaia

two monks of the Order of Snuggy (it rocked – it looked like robes from the front, but from the back, it was totally open)

Elliot Ness

Mama Cass

Annie Oakley

Doc Holiday (I think; maybe Tesla? Does anybody know?)

a slain dragon (went well with Jennie’s costume, even if he was three feet tall and ran my dishwasher; he’s only two)

a flapper

the Tropicana guy

the Blue Fairy, Puss in Boots, and a Harlequin (I think); they had another theme party to go to later on

the Hitman and a dude in a kilt (hey, can’t go wrong with dudes in kilts)

So, yeah. It was pretty successful. Alas, Abraham Lincoln and Sharon Tate (+1) were feeling unwell (separately – they don’t actually know each other), so we missed them. We also missed Billy Mays and the Tub of OxiClean, but Katy came earlier in the afternoon with a bottle of wine. So that was cool. She also introduced me to mascara facial hair, which made a great Frida eyebrow. The husband has been working late hours, so he came home late, ate some dinner, and then crashed in our bedroom, oblivious to the party.

The most exciting part was when we were telling stories about Neckbone, and then Crazy Yelling Guy (the drunk, crazy neighbor) came to the door and yelled at us incoherently, demanded a beer, and refused to leave until the Devil came and showed him out. Apparently he came back again at 2 am or so and stood on our lawn, yelling at the house. He does that.

Here are some photo highlights (taken from friends’ Facebook pages):

Yul, in his rockin’ Dog God costume. His eyes glowed red! It was awesome.

Man, I remember when I could sit under tables like this. I miss that.

Me as Frida, the Siblings of Snuggy, and Mama Cass. This is what happens when SCA people do Halloween.

The ChickenGoddess (of Snuggy) got really warm in all that fleece, so I put her in the peach sari. Bizarrely enough, she looked lovely in it. I envy her this, just a bit. I mean, the sari is really really weird (did I mention that the sequins are holographic? well, they are). I think it’s just her certain charm and obvious good looks.

Well, I suppose this is the natural outcome of a virgin sacrifice.

Another Frida photo, because I’m stuck on myself like that. The flowers stayed put, awesomely enough.

All in all, it was pretty great, and it is nice to have a full house every now and again.

Thanks, folks, for a great Halloween.