Punkin Pandemonium 2013

It all started back in 2012. October 31st, 2012 to be exact. It was a balmy day, about 20 degrees warmer than today, but with a light breeze. Something about the impending night of candy and costumes had me feeling nostalgic. Nostalgic for the old days of pumpkin carving, kids playing and neighborly fellowship. 

So I wracked my brain for a solution. What to do? I had a few hours before the kids got out of school so I thought I would run to the store for some good old-fashioned punkins and throw together a shindig. It turned out like this, as you may remember.

This year I had experience on my side, time to plan. I stocked up on punkin carving paraphanalia post-halloween at low, low prices and took some time over the year to collect nostalgic wares for the day.

What I failed to foresee was the apparent "Flower-Plex Punkin Shortage of 2013".

I waited until the day before to get the punkins so they wouldn't be moldy or rotten inside. 

Side note: I know I have been spelling it 'punkin' and not 'pumpkin'. Thank you for noticing!

On the day before Halloween, there were no punkins left in our neck of the woods. None. Wait, no...there were some at that punkin patch but this was after closing time and I had no time on Halloween to get some. 

I checked the top two grocery chains-3 stores each. All out.

The mecca of discount groceries and their red-bullseye counterpart: no mo' punkins.

I went to warehouse stores, hardware stores, even natural grocery stores. I called Corinth, Denton, everywhere!

Finally I found some at the Market Street in Coppell. Yep, this is an endorsement. Because they saved my Punkin Pandemonium. Thank you Market Street.

So, punkins in hand, I forged ahead. I opened the event up to other friends in case they had a little time and a spare punkin, then gathered candy, snacks and beverages-all in the Halloween palette of black, orange, purple and green.

 

I threw down a tarp, set up a "gut-bucket" and waited for the kids. We also planned a pot roast and salad thingy for post-pandemonium-pre-trick-or-treat nourishment. That isn't fun to look at so I didn't take pictures.

The kids came and ate. Spooky music played. Punkins were carved. Only one little mishap with a scraper. A quick triage and a few bandaids and we were good to go. Back in the game.

We did discover that the more detailed the carving, the more people had to work on it. Our family wound up with four punkins instead of five, but they all looked fine.

When I asked them each their favorite part of the soiree, all three kids, independent of each other, made the comment, "That was a good idea to just tape the number over the 2 so you didn't have to paint a whole new sign." Sooooo, that was the take-away? Sigh...

Well, I think it was successful anyway. There was plenty of laughing and fun. We will do it again. and next year, I will start the punkin hunt earlier. At least a day earlier anyway!