Pumpkin Painting Party '10

I convinced Mom and Dad to add an extra day to their visit so that they could be here for Alex's Pumpkin Painting Party on Oct. 22nd. What they didn't know when they so enthusiastically agreed to stick around was that "being here" for Alex's party actually meant, "being here to clean, move furniture, run errands, cook, do house repairs, and obey my every command so that I'd be ready to host" Alex's party. Suckers.

I made invitations...naturally...but I was a total slacker and ended up sending invites via email, then hand-delivered the paper ones to people when I ran into them.

I decided to serve dinner and asked the guests to bring their favorite Halloween snacks, so we ended up with a ton of food.

The kids arrived and divided their time between the train table and the dinner table.

Guess who ate his weight in cupcake frosting.

We decided to have the party in the garage in case of rain, so once the kids were satisfactorily hopped up on sugar, we herded them into the garage to paint pumpkins. One of the great things about having a Halloween party at your house? Dust and cobwebs are just part of the decor! Ah, I just love when my wretched housekeeping skills work to my advantage.

Onto the "Pumpkin Painting" portion of our "Pumpkin Painting Party"...

Each kid had his/her own pumpkin painting kit with art supplies, a little pumpkin, and a tin of water, as well as communal paint, stickers, and googly eyes to embellish their pumpkins with.

One of the things in their kit was a garbage bag "smock", so Alex and B demonstrated the proper procedure for smocking oneself with a garbage bag.

Once the kids were all smocked up, they got to work.

The googly eyes were a hit. I mean, what's not to love?

I think all of us parents were surprised at how long the kids painted, seeing as how most three year olds generally lose interest in anything after a few minutes. When they finally finished up, this was the final product:

What better way to clean up after a messy pumpkin painting party than sticking your hands in Wiggly Worm Pond? I wasn't sure how the kids would react to my vat full of slimy spaghetti, but they all dug in with both hands. Not they needed an incentive, but they were happy to discover that Wiggly Worm Pond was full of hidden Halloween treasures.

I made the mistake of including the word "annual" to the invitation, which means I am tied into this pumpkin painting thing every year for the rest of my life. Or at least until Alex's friends think that pumpkin painting is lame.