Apr 18, 2012

P is for ... Party Games of Survival

My little brother was born on Halloween. When we were little, we'd have his party, then get dressed up and Trick or Treat. But at around ten, he didn't want to Trick or Treat, but we all still wanted to get dressed up and eat sugar. This began big Halloween parties with lots of candy and danger.

First party was in our old farm house with 10ft ceilings. For the game, they put prizes into balloons stapled to the ceiling, which we popped with the aid of metal rods with a nail on the end.

The balloons popped, candy and quarters rained down on us. No one lost an eye, but there were a few light stabbings. Well, light pokings. Some Scrapings. Holes in costumes... But we did alright! No one got tetanus. Good time for all! Oh, and there were also a bunch of holes in the ceiling after that. Whoops. Every little kid loves being given a tiny sword with a really long handle to stab the ceiling with. It was AWESOME. Everyone remembers this game.

A couple years later we had another party, this time in the barn. Mom and my aunt spent a week decorating and converting the barn(it had four rooms) into a haunted house/birthday party. Not just for all the many cousins this time, friends came too! It was actually very impressive. I'm still impressed with what they managed to do to the barn that week. But what everyone remembers is THE GAME.

Open rafters meant a new game. Popping balloons had been a hit, so they tried a new game: spinning metal wheel with balloons tied to it. And a bb gun. For the kids to shoot at the metal wheel. Well, to be fair, they tried darts, but it didn't work so they switched to the bb gun(forgetting the wheel was metal).

After the first shot, which ricocheted, each shooter wore safety glasses and mom shouted... DUCK AND COVER YOUR EYES! Then we'd hear POP... PING! ... OW! (bb's sting even after bouncing off a few surfaces). In short? Another hit! We loved that game too. But I think mom feared having to top it--we stopped having big dangerous Halloween parties after that.

8 comments:

  1. She sounds like my kind of mom! I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month. My alphabet is at myqualityday.blogspot.com

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    1. Yep, she's a good mom. She had to be the sane parent, since Dad was such a ... mad scientist/Wile E. Coyote type :)

      Thanks for visiting. I'm definitely getting back to everyone who comments, so I will see you soon!

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  2. Thank goodness you didn't loose one or both of your pretty eyes, back then;) Growing up we had a friend who lived in an old Victorian mansion which they turned into a hotel/restaurant. We had some pretty awesome Halloween parties up in the very huge, very old attic and also in the carriage house out back. My most serious injury was going home and getting sick because I swallowed too much nasty water bobbing for apples;)
    -Debbie

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    1. Ohh attic party sounds very cool. Attics are creepy already. Somehow they are creepier than basements to me, and I really hate basements. I bought, lived in, and sold a house with a basement I *never* entered. Spiders down there! And I'd have been a rotten pirate, so I'm glad I kept both my eyes too.

      Bobbing for apples should be renamed: Bobbing for Nausea.

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  3. Hahahaha - your mom sounds AWESOME. What kid wouldn't love to be let loose with a long poking stick or a gun? The most excitement we ever had was during a few rousing games of pin the tail on the donkey when kids would completely lose all sense of direction and start trying to jab a tail into whoever was nearby...

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    1. Pole with a nail on it? BEST. TOY. EVER. Those things morphed to later be used for cleaning up the yard and along some of the country roads near the house where heathens littered. Who wants to go pick up litter? No one? How about if you get to use the pole with a nail on it? YAY!

      I don't think I've ever actually played pin the tail ont he donkey, though I've seen it on TV a lot. Just wasn't dangerous enough. We needed Extreme Child's Party Games. Yup.

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  4. Oh my word, that is hilarious! Yay for fun moms who are not afraid of a little danger. (Did I just say that?)

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    1. Yea, danger! And we picked up a useful life skill. Shooting balloons with a bb gun ... which I'm sure will one day come in handy. If this was a book, that experience would totally would in handy later. :)

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