I guess for the last 20 years or so (seems hard to believe) our local library puts on a 'Pumpkin Party'. It is usually the first weekend in October and there are lots of activities- a float contest every year, costume contests for the kids by age, baking contests, scarecrow and pumpkin contests. There are also lots of games and rides for kids and lots of food. A fun filled day for children and the parents always have a blast as well.
Each year there is a theme to the party. If you want to do a float you have to stick to the theme if you want to be in the contest. A few years ago it was 'get a treasure at your library', last year it was 'get a clue at your library' and this year it was 'catch the reading bug at your library'. Usually you know the theme by the summer. At first we were going to do something with Eric Carle because he has written so many bug books- Very hungry caterpillar, grouchy lady bug, busy spider, etc. But then we thought it would just be overkill. Somehow we decided to do bees. We thought of a lot of catchy BEE sayings but stuck with 'Bee on the lookout, take a book out'. My girlfriend was a beehive last year because her daughter was a bee, so we decided to hang that from a tree. Since we used to have bees on the farm, we had a bee hut or something if you want to call it that we actually kept bees in, and the whole bee keeper get up. I wore it and had a smoker which you smoke the bees out with. We had me doing that, the kids and adults as bees or flowers, cut out and real flowers, and I drew and cut out 50 bees and threw them around. There were a LOT of great floats. The thing that stinks is when you are in the parade, you can't SEE the parade. But I was very happy, we got third place which was awesome.
Chip wanted the boys to be Vikings this year. He always makes their costumes and he does a WONDERFUL job. You can see Adam in his but Van would not wear his at all. We actually had one of our relatives wear Van's costume and he and Adam both won prizes. I am anxious to see what Chip does next year.... We usually put the kids on the float as one thing, and then take them off and change into something else. I know, a little overboard right, but that's how we do it.
All in all it was a great day. The kids enjoyed painting pumpkins, looking at large trucks and riding rides. It was a beautiful day and we are already talking about next year... :)
My next focus now is the Halloween party we are doing here for approximately 20 kids 3 and under in a few weeks. I'll be sure to post about that.
2 comments:
Ohhh, Van wouldn't wear it? Poor Chip!
Your float looks awesome!
We aren't relly the type to let the kids 'choose' things like what to wear and such when we already have our heart set on something. But in this incident, Van would have NO part in it. I mean screaming and kicking bloody murder. We said it just wasn't worth it. you can see the costume on facebook though, we had another kid wear it and he won a prize.
I think the pics don't really do the float justice. I think the pictures make it look just really busy. But I am glad you liked it and we really thought it was great too! :)
Post a Comment