Every Halloween since we've lived in our house (since 2016), we've picked a theme for the yard based off of a favorite children's Halloween movie. We had a huge list of candidates in August to pick from, but decided on Monsters Inc! Traditionally you wouldn't think of Monsters Inc. as a Halloween movie, but they do play it on "31 Days of Halloween" on the Freeform channel every year so we think it counts!
To add a little more of a Halloween element, we dressed Sully, Mike, and Boo up in Halloween costumes. Mike as a vampire, Sully as Frankenstein's Monster, and Boo in her purple monster costume from the Monsters Inc. movie. Needleman and Smitty (the two Monsters Inc. Company workers) we had looking out at the street as if all the children walking by on Halloween were scaring them. Its a big plot point in the movie that the monsters in Monster Inc. think that human kids are toxic and one touch could kill you! Our last character, Randall, is slinking around Boo's pink and flowered door in the background, blending into the door to sneak up and scare you! The orange and blue doors behind Needleman and Smitty are our actual bedroom closet doors. They were painted by our good friend, Vic, to create a background to the secondary characters. Andrew installed red reflectors with remote controlled, glowing lights behind them so it looked like the doors were "powered on" just like in the movie.
Andrew kicked butt this year creating the Roz and Celia shadows for the windows, the "Happy Halloween from all of us at Monsters Inc." sign, and Mike and Sully foot prints up the driveway to the front door. He also did all of the character/door installation so they remained standing all month, as well as back projecting the Monsters Inc. movie in the garage!
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The scarecrow, who does not fit into the Monsters Inc. theme, is just there as fall decoration! His Robin Hood hat is a new addition from our craft room after he lost his original hat and hair in a wind/squirrel attack a few weeks back.
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Two of our friends who attended the Halloween party were kind enough to share their short videos of our lawn set up - love it in motion especially with the trick-or-treaters in the background!
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Inside the house we are a little more traditional with our fall/Halloween decorations. The Monsters Inc. theme stays outside and the cozy fall and cutesy Halloween stays inside. All-in-all, I think I only bought three new decorations this season - that's a miracle! Most of the decorations, especially the fall ones, are from our wedding two years ago. You'll notice in the fall wreath a special easter egg, our pumpkin bride and groom cake toppers!
What is a Halloween party without some fun food?! Andrew made some delicious slow-cook chili and quesadillas. Since we had people arriving at all different times throughout the evening, the chili was always warm in the crock pot and the quesadillas were able to be made on the spot. Now on the dessert front, we had a lot of fun. We made a few treats that were easy to handle when we were short on time. The vanilla chocolate covered Oreos were a simple red and yellow dye mixture in the vanilla frosting covering a double stuffed Oreo. The stems were an easy addition dying the vanilla green and piping fun shaped stems. Lastly adding the jack-o-lantern faces with black gel piping gives it that perfect Halloween feel. In honor of Monster's Inc., we did give a few of the pumpkins one eye.
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I have been going bundt crazy ever since my sister-in-law gifted me a bundt pan for my birthday this year. Its just so easy to use and create beautiful cakes. No crumb layer frosting required! This Halloween themed bundt cake came out a little less spooky than anticipated. The inside colors were supposed to be orange, neon green, and purple, instead they turned out like an Easter pastel rainbow. No problem though, now I know what to make for Easter! We got extra fun with sprinkles this year as well. In a last minute decision we decided on adding fun sprinkles to both the inside and outside of the cake. We thought the inside sprinkles may make a funfetti type feel and the sprinkles on the outside added a nice texture. (The cookies to the screen left of the full bundt are store made - sorry! we can't make everything!)
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Here's to a successful Halloween party from our friends to yours!
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In case you don't get Andrew and my costume reference...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!