Our first Halloween party in France was a huge success. Hooray! Here are some photos, for anyone who’d like to see…
Rosie dressed as a bunny, and me dressed as a Day Of The Dead Bride. I’m not sure where I’m looking, possibly at someone else’s camera!
The night kicked off with us meeting around 70 friends and neighbors at our village town hall. There were snacks and glow-in-the-dark tattoos for the kids, and mulled wine for the adults. We divided into two big groups, and headed off around our village to trick or treat.
We are party ready!
We had some of Justin’s family visiting us from England over Halloween, which made it even more fun and special. His cousin and grandma kindly stayed at our house, armed with candy, to greet the hordes of children who would shortly be knocking on the door expecting treats.
There were so many children that they all ended up inside our kitchen, eagerly awaiting their turn to put their hand in our cauldron of sweets.
A few nights prior to Halloween, we had some friends over for an evening of pumpkin carving. We then decorated the house and garden with all of the jack-o-lanterns that had been created that night.
One of our spooky jack-o-lanterns.
It was amazing to see so many families descend on our little village to participate in the trick or treating. The streets were packed with children, and everyone’s excitement was contagious.
Some beautiful French cheeses, infested with skeleton rats.
After trick or treating, we hosted a party at our house. Our friends came earlier in the day to set up music speakers inside and outside the house, and prepared an awesome playlist of haunted music which added so much atmosphere to the event. You could actually hear the haunted music from the street in the village during the trick or treating as well.
I enjoyed making this chocolate brownie graveyard, adorned with edible tombstone wafers and sugar flowers. Behind there is a bowl of green ‘Frankenstein’ wasabi-flavoured crisps.
Setting up the buffet was a lot of fun too…
A pumpkin vomiting guacamole, and a jar of green witches fingers.
Family and friends all helped us prepare the food…
I love these ‘monster’ macarons, with their crazy sugar eyes.
Another fabulous jack-o-lantern on the buffet.
A grotesque skeleton of charcuterie, and a platter of ‘bloodshot eyeballs’ behind (made from cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and black olives).
It really was one of those nights that was equally fun for the adults and the kids, and my favorite element was the hunt…
The whole hunt took the children around 45 minutes to complete. It began with the kids receiving various magical powers (in the form of chocolate ‘tablets’) and tools (torches, carry bags, mirrors, pens) along with an explanation of the game and the first clue. Their challenge was to find the 7 missing bones of the ghost of our village, and to return the bones to his grave.
By the time the hunt began, it was pitch black outside, so we stuck together as a group and conducted the whole activity by torchlight.
This ghost was hanging from a tree in the woods. He is sensor activated so, as the children approached him, his lights turned on and he began to howl quite terrifyingly.
There were around 10 clues set out across 5 acres of land, and along the way the children encountered all sorts of spooky experiences, special effects, and interactive activities.
You can see how dark it was from this photo of the ‘sorcerer’s circle of lights’. Inside the circle, the kids discovered magical wands and another clue.
Around half way through the hunt, after having followed danger tape through a forest walk, the children came to a clearing where Justin was manning a bonfire. Along the way, the kids had used another clue to find a jar of marshmallows, and now they could spend a few minutes toasting them over the bonfire before continuing on their quest.
The bonfire, where the kids roasted marshmallows for extra ‘powers’.
It was so rewarding to see all the kids work together to decipher the clues and fully embrace the spirit of the game. Eventually, after encountering owls, crows, spiders, and ghouls, the kids discovered the grave they had been searching for throughout the hunt.
The grave, along with the missing bones the children collected throughout the hunt.
We hid the gravestone in one of our derelict outbuildings. One of the upsides to our remodel running so behind schedule, is that this barn was the perfect spooky hiding place for a gravestone. Hopefully in 12 months time, it will have been converted into a lovely guest bedroom ;-)
Together the kids returned the missing bones to the grave, and recited a spell. I love how they’re all holding their wands over the bones!
Then whoosh, as if by magic, a ghost pinata dropped from the ceiling.
The final message explained to the children that the ghost was finally able to rest in peace, and as such, they had freed his ‘happy’ ghost - the pinata. After squeals of delight, the children used their wands to bash the pinata open and collect all the candy. There was such a flurry of pinata bashing, that I somehow didn’t capture that moment on camera.
Extra kudos to Justin for his enormous costume. It was so big that he had to turn off his fan to fit through doorways! And don’t you love his tights?
It was a pretty magical evening, and something we’d love to do again in the future. It was a real team effort too, with so many friends and family contributing time, food, drinks, ideas, decorations, props, and music. One of builders, whose son attended the party, even spent the afternoon helping me rig up the pinata in the barn, and clear a safe pathway through the woods for the kids. What a fabulous community.
Posing in front of our Halloween photo booth, with my temporary facial tattoos. So much fun.