2008 marks the seventh anniversary in our new house, and therefore our seventh Halloween in the neighborhood. I thought it might be fun to recap each one and summarize all the crazy (and often time consuming and expensive) ways that we have scared the neighbors and their kids.

• 2001: The Thing – Our first year was pretty basic. We lit up the house with crazy colors and hung a giant spider on the garage. I dressed up like a cow and Andrew was the grim reaper. Our friend Mike Mogan came over in a full camouflage suit that he hand-made, and pretended to be a bush until the kids (or parents) walked past. Then he would stand up and follow them until they screamed and ran away. See 2001 pictures on Flickr.
• 2002: Blacklite Ghosts – We carved several pumpkins this year and made our front kitchen into a ghostly scene. Blacklites illuminated ghosts hung from dental floss as well as a skeleton scene complete with Tarrot cards. We don’t have too many pictures, and didn’t know how to take good ones at the time… But trust me, it was cooler than it looks. See 2002 pictures on Flickr.
• 2003: Hand-carved Tombstones – This was a very sad time for me, and I wasn’t feeling particularly joyous. I hand-carved six tombstones out of styrofoam and painted them with grey and black latex paint. Andrew dug a hole in the front yard and we had a skeleton coming out of the grave. We carved several pumpkins that turned out really cool. Overall it was a solemn year, but the pictures are great. See 2003 pictures on Flickr. Also see my scrapbook page of 2003 here and here.
• 2004: Haunted Maze – By far, the most awesome Halloween we have done! We actually build a haunted maze in our garage. A full blown obstacle course with dead ends and a monster inside (aka Andrew). Mom and Dad stood out front directing the kids and daring them to go through it. Andrew followed them around inside scaring the crap out of them. I was at the end on the garage side yard handing out king sized candy for those brave enough to make it through. This year cemented our house in folklore for years to come as kids excitedly exclaim “Oh yeah, I remember THIS house!” as they run towards our home on Halloween. It was freakin’ awesome! Too bad it cost us several hundred dollars and took about 8 weeks to build, or we would do it again. See 2004 pictures on Flickr. Watch the Haunted Maze video on YouTube. Read my short blog entry about Satan.
• 2005: Zombie Prom – We made a sweet music mix with songs like “Pretend We’re Dead” by L7, and hammed up the dancing fun with an awesome scene in the garage. We had a real mirror ball and lots of fog machines, disco music and a skeleton party scene. It was so much fun! See 2005 pictures on Flickr. Read my blog entry on Zombie Prom.
• 2006: Haunted Graveyard and Flaming Pumpkins – Having just finished all three of the Wilton cake courses, I decided to make a haunted graveyard cake with Andrew’s help. It was a huge hit at work and was as delicious as it looked! By far one of the coolest cakes we’ve ever made (except for Optimus Prime, of course). We had a major scene going on with dozens of strings of lights, a lightning effects light machine, several fog machines and tons of extra decorations. As we were putting it all together on the eve of Halloween, around 10pm we went outside to put on finishing touches and someone had stolen everything right out of our yard. About $300-$400 worth of equipment and lighting was gone. We were absolutely crushed. We posted a sign on the garage about what happened, and torched the pumpkins with kerosene. It just knocked all of the Halloween spirit right out of us. See 2006 pictures on Flickr. Watch the Flaming Pumpkins video on YouTube. Read my blog entries here, here and here.
• 2007: Witch Kitchen Jars – Lucky, our solid black kitty, joined us in August of 2007. Inspired by him and the Harry Potter series, we did a Witch Kitchen scene complete with dozens of disgusting filled jars. Each one was labeled to perfection and organized in a disorderly fashion surrounding me in the kitchen. Dressed up as a witch in full garb with a bubbling cauldron and a broom, I sat in the kitchen and scared the kids by poking at them through the screenless window as they walked by. See 2007 pictures on Flickr. See my blog entry about Lucky.

Well, there you have it. This year will also be spectacular, I’m sure! We’ve got our very own copy of Hallowindow and plan to scare the kids like crazy. We are also planning some really cool confections for the coworkers that are sure to please everyone.

Get ready for a Happy Halloween, 2008!