candy & paint makes everything better....

am i right?
with the change in weather, i can already feel winter closing in on us. the weekend activites have shifted to mostly indoor ones and fall seems to be slipping away. how's come my favorite season seems to go by more quickly than any other? i'll never figure it out. but while it's here, we're enjoying every bit of it.

i'd been planning on having a little friendly monster mash party for the girls and some friends.

that was before all the medical non-sense sucked every extra penny from our budget. *sad face* i won't lie, it had me quite discouraged. i had grand plans for decorating and party favors. i'd been saving pictures as inspiration as i happened upon them. these Distressed Spooky 'Drapes' and these Party Crackers were definitely on the short list. it looked cute in my head anyway. next year.

sherry convinced me, we could have just as much fun on zero budget---okay, $5 budget---and i was skeptical. but gosh darn it.......we tried it and it was SO fun. and perfect really. lowkey. just what the doctor ordered.

there was no fancy decorating and no gaggle of friends. but there were two special friends willing to go to a local trunk or treat festivity (free) and come over after for a romp on the trampoline (free) and paint wooden face masks ($1 at Michael's). i'm thankful for a husband willing to go hunting for them after seeing Torm's daughter's birthday post. he got the last 5 they had in stock. see? perfect. it was meant to be.

we already had gobs of paint. brown paper grocery sacks were cut open and taped to the table in case of spills and paint was divided out. easy peasy. cleanup was a breeze.

it was a smashing success! everyone had fun gathering treats, bartering trades, sharing, painting, laughing. no hurt feelings, no fighting.

ashlyn was sad that spidergirl chose the only vampire and had a hard time letting her disappointment go. disappointment is okay. meltdowns are not. we avoided that---thank goodness.

can you even tell it's a vampire anymore? she insists that his mouth is messy red because he just got done sucking your blood, then went and got himself in the middle of a paintball war. where in the world do they come up with this stuff!? looks more like an elephant now, i think.

i've decided small parties get-togethers on a small budget are just as delightful.

i couldn't resist using the white space in this photo to dress it up a bit with Ali Edwards' 2010 Halloween Freebie. perfect, don'tcha think? i do.

i'm off to work a bit early today so i can come home and transform my princess into a snow fairy princess. i'm giddy just thinking about it. she's gonna turn some heads, i know it. spidergirl, is going begging as just that.....spidergirl, i think. unless she changes her mind between now and 5pm, which is highly likely.

there will be pictures.....lots and lots of pictures.

i'll be back tomorrow with some card shares.