The Harvest Festival

Since the activities committee callings were eliminated last year, our ward has put each organization in charge of one activity a year.  The October activity, The Harvest Festival, was the responsibility of the Relief Society.  Although Li'l Sebastian was not in attendance at our festival (much to Matt's disappointment), it still turned out to be a great activity.

We decided to have a ward trunk-or-treat and potluck chili supper.  The three wards in our building always hold a tri-ward trunk-or-treat, but they always do it on Halloween.  That bugged those of us who feel we should be out in our own communities on Halloween night, seeing our neighbors, and handing out candy to the kids.  I, particularly, feel quite strongly about this, but I won't get on my soapbox here.  Our activity was on Friday, October 28.

 At 3:00 the Relief Society presidency met at the church to set up tables and chairs and help the Primary decorate.  We were in charge of the activity and asked each organization to help with one part of it.  I am so thankful for all of the help and effort the other organizations put into the activity.  We couldn't have done it without them!

 The Primary did a great job with the decorations.  I especially loved the giant roll of brown paper they used to cover all the tables.

 Our supper also happened to be a chili cook-off and pie competition.  The winner of the chili got the coveted golden spoon that has been passed around the ward for several years.  They also got a chili mix and cornbread mix.

 The winner of the pie competition got the golden pie server and a pretty, red pie plate to keep.

 Three winners were chosen for the best decorated trunk.  They had their choice of these three candy bowls filled with goodies.

 My job was coming up with these prizes and I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

 The activity started at 6:00 with the trunk-or-treat.  You might notice that we did not decorate our trunk.  I had too many other things to think about and didn't have the will or energy to plan/collect/bring decorations.  I did bring our Phineas and Ferb pumpkin and got a lot of compliments on it.

 The kids looked so cute in their costumes.  I even had Audrey carry around a gingham-lined basket to collect her candy in instead of her usual monogrammed ghost.  Matt's costume looks great too.

I ran out of steam with mine though.  I did get that awesome flannel granny gown, but I didn't think of buying slippers until it was too late.  I tried borrowing a wig, but with my hair pulled up it was too small for my head.  I looked for gray hair spray but it was nowhere to be found, although I did put my hair in a bun for the occasion.  I should have gotten some old lady glasses but I didn't think of that until it was too late either.  I still think our costumes turned out pretty cute.  Heck, I got to wear pajamas, so who can complain about that?

We got very lucky with the weather.  A couple of hours before we were supposed to go set up I heard a strange noise.  (Insert sarcasm.)  It seemed familiar, like something from another lifetime, but I knew I'd heard it before.  I looked out the window and saw that it was raining.  Hard.  

You see, it rains here in Washington a lot.  A lot.  But it doesn't rain rain very often.  We get a lot of drizzles, sprinkles, and mists.  But rarely does it rain hard enough for you to hear it on your roof.  But on the Friday of our ward activity it was raining hard.  I think all of us in charge said a few prayers that day and sure enough, the rain cleared up just in time for our trunk-or-treat.  It was wet outside, but it wasn't raining.  We can deal with that.  This is Washington, after all.

 I was pretty busy the entire night so I only got these three shots of the activity.  I wish I had taken some of the gym once we moved in there.  After the trunk-or-treat we went inside for chili, cornbread, hot dogs, and pie.  It was delicious!

 I think everyone had a great time and the activity was very well attended.  It was a lot of work and made for a long night--I was at church from 3:00 until after 9:00 and my kids were there for almost as long.  Matt was so great.  He was pretty much in charge of the kids from the moment he got there.  He even took them home after the activity and put them to bed while I stayed and cleaned up.

I've already got some ideas for next year!   Maybe I'll even have enough steam to try decorating our trunk.

The best part is that we got to celebrate and socialize with our ward and then on Halloween night we were home to trick-or-treat in our own neighborhood!