Halloween 2012: Zombie Apocolypse

Halloween is never dull at our house.  Each year Eric says he isn't going to put on such a production the following year, but then he forgets and it turns out like this:

Eric: the mastermind behind it all.

We had a lady drive past the house the morning of Halloween, Eric had just put out the police line tape and body bag, she truly thought there was a crime scene.  Later that afternoon she came to our door quite relieved and to tell us what a great job we had done.

We also had a few people really concerned that there had been a real car wreck.  Yes, the windows were truly boarded up.  Eric built a shadow machine in the garage so the door with the sign "Dead Inside" had shadows coming out from underneath it like there were lots of people milling around in there.  The cage on the other garage rattled when the zombies shook it and they would often reach their hands out and grab at the trick-or-treaters.

Woodson and Patrick Parker keep Carson company in the containment cage.

Eric gets all the credit for the idea, scenery, sound effects and coordination, but he couldn't pull it off all alone:

Lani and McKenna:  Dinner Crew

Eric and Keri:  Make-up Crew

Uncle Steve:  Technical Crew
Responsible for car wreck and fog machine

Harmony Ward Deacons:  Motley Crew

Austin and Mandy:  Candy Crew

Eric had a playlist of sirens, emergency news broadcasts and zombie sound effects that put a chill down your back.  The Deacons didn't break character and did a great job making people feel they needed to be a little wary about coming to the door.  Mandy made sure she was close by to give candy to any of the little kids that wouldn't come too close.

Zombies, zombies everywhere! (Chad Richards) & Ethan McKague

Austin Sork, Ethan McKague, Woodson & Patrick Parker, Austin Seo, Carson Sork and Chad Richards

Gruesome Threesome:  Austin, Carson and Chad

Brothers beyond the grave

Remember, it's all fun and games!

Then there was the sweet side of things:

McKenna:  Rag Doll

Of course we had after parties:

McKenna and the girls had to share the downstairs with Eric and the Zombies 

This was McKenna's last year of trick or treating, she and her friends got to go without an adult as long as they were back to the house by eight for hot apple cider.  They had a good time sorting through their candy and swapping with each other before they all went home.

Austin and his friends had the upstairs for a movie and treats

Austin had a group of friends come home for lunch.  The menu was fried worm burgers, garbage dip with vegetables and witch's brew.  They then came over in the evening for a scary movie and some desserts.

Oh, yes and we carved pumpkins before all this.  I made sure to get it done early so it wouldn't be a big mess on top of all the commotion:

Of course they all went rotten before Halloween night, but that's okay the moldy, collapsed pumpkins worked well with the theme and added a lot to the scene - fruit flies included.

Besides the pumpkins, this was the only casualty of the month - I did have to ground Eric from using the glue gun after this incident.  With this wound, he fit right in with the zombies and their peeling skin. Today, he is happy to report that the skin is starting to grow back in and should be totally healed in a few more.

Happy Halloween!