Halloween Night 2014

Tis over. *sniff* BUT, had an awesome Halloween night. Mom and Sam came over to help. Mom dressed all up in her Trelawney finery to wave at kids through the window, and Sam geared up in a dementor costume and periodically roamed the yard. We had lots and lots of trick or treaters. I had made 200 wands for the trick-or-treaters. And we ended up with 16 left over, so....182 trick-or-treaters! A record! Fortunately the patronuses also held out and we still had maybe 10 left when we closed up for the night.

Some of the best moments:

Sam's: "Spending two hours in a dementor costume roaming a Styrofoam graveyard was alllllllll worth it when some tiny adorable angel mouse child bravely held out their wand and stuttered EXPECTO PATRONUM and I shriveled back and ran and everyone clapped for the child, who couldn't have been older than five or six. Our house definitely had the most fun this year."

Mine: 

• One of my favorite moments was when a small little girl asked me skeptically (upon being handed a wand) "Is this REAL?" "Of course!" "...Really?" *nods*. She went back and forth "What is it made of?" (Magic!) "Will it work?" (unless you're a muggle. You're not a muggle are you? *shakes her head* Well, then it should work.)

• One older girl (upon getting her wand): *sniff* "I'm so honored!  I LOVE Harry Potter...I'm like obssessed!"  
• One of the first trick-or-treaters (appropriately well dressed like Harry Potter) knew who I was and was all slightly stuttering about it. "So you're....and then that's your portrait!...OMG I LOVE HARRY POTTER!"
• A dad mentioned that he loved my "spoiler alert" sign for the graveyard.  I explained I didn't want to ruin the books for the next generation. "I love that you even thought of that!"
• A nearby neighbor came up to see what the fuss was about (his house was getting passed over as the kids made a beeline for our house).  He had no idea what Harry Potter was, but sensed it had something to do with magic.  He seemed impressed regardless. 
• Overheard: "Is this the Harry Potter House?!?" "Is this where we get a wand?!?"  (Apparently the word had been passed through the trick-or-treater grapevine)
• One mom who made a point of thanking me for participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project--and for raising awareness for kids with food allergies.  
• Several people/groups came back to look at all the details they had missed.  One family sent their grandmother back over, insisting that she see the house.  She mentioned that among her various family members they now had 7 wands. 

Lots of Harry Potter fans out there.  And only maybe 1 or 2 kids wondered about the candy, but most were thrilled about getting a wand.  And we got a lot of takers on taking their photos with our photo ops!  At several points there was a line forming.  

Farewell Halloween 2014!