This year, I gave my children something they have wanted for years upon years upon years. A halloween party. Now, I suffer from extreme party planning anxiety based on high, unrealistic expectations. So, I don’t throw parties. Two days before Halloween, when I realized I was completely unprepared, I decided to let go and just have fun with it. Several friends talked me down from the ledge. Thank you friends. I realized the party was for the kids, so I got them involved. They shopped with me, they cleaned with me, they decorated, they helped choose games, and they absolutely BEAMED each time a friend showed up to the house…
But first, the night before Halloween, we were invited by a client of mine who works for Nickelodeon, to attend the Nick friends and family Halloween party at the Burbank studios. What an amazing experience this was! They transform the offices at the studio into spooky or silly or fun halloween mazes. They were INCREDIBLE and so entertaining to walk through. I wish I had taken more/better photos of the set ups. I didn’t, but you can see a few here. At the end of each maze sat an employee handing out copious amounts of candy. There were no “choose two” rules here. It was more like “take two huge handfuls kids!” All four of them were basically stoked beyond belief.
I enjoyed the white boards that were all over the offices. All of our favorite Nick characters were doodled all over the place. Jeff and I were drooling over the creativity at every corner. What an amazing place to work.
The free cotton candy, hot dogs, hot cocoa (with marshmellows), caramel apples, soda, and face painting blew the kids minds. The face painters were set up at this adorable station with colorful scarves on their heads and pretty glitter and paint all over. When we walked in, I saw them and thought to myself that I couldn’t wait to take photos of the kids and the table while they got their faces painted. My battery died while we were in line, just after I took the following shot of Anna’s candy bag. ERG.
The next day was party day. We woke up and started cleaning and decorating. Jeff and I went as each other. We swapped clothes, flip flops, and accessories. It was the most fantastic thing we have ever done. We laughed all day long.
The party was geared towards the kids and their friends, but several of our friends came too. We had a questionably straight cowboy, a kitty cat, Juno and Paulie Bleeker, and Zap from American Gladiators. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in YEARS, and being in costume and seeing my friends and what they came up with was really fun. I highly recommend it for next year to anyone that feels a little grumpy about Halloween. I am pretty sure the Jeff and Tara costumes will be coming out again as tradition.
The party went well, and after a few hours of games and pizza, we headed out for trick or treating. Each of the kids filled one of our cloth grocery sacks at least halfway with candy. One of the kids counted 263 pieces in his bag before his mom came to pick him up. Meaning I probably have close to 1000 pieces of miscellaneous candy floating around my house right now. Lucky me!
xo
Tara
Daily life is good.
Your costumes ROCK. Love them!
Sounds like fun!! Great photos as usual, but I love, love, love the shadow of Anna!
oh my crap I am laughing so hard at the pictures of you and jeff together! that is just so absolutely frickin’ perfect!!!! LOL
and on a side note — i love love love the bag you are carrying in the pic of you with anna and mckenna…..any details you can share on where you got it?
That is hilarious!! I LOVE your and Jeff’s costumes!!! That is such a great idea, you guys look awesome. I want Jeff’s skirt. haha!
I LOVE that you two dressed as each other. I am so stealing that next year for my husband and I. LOL!
Those are the best costumes ever…you guys look so great! That should definitely be a tradition!
So so cute. Glad the party turned out well! You guys looked PERFECT.
you and jeff’s costumes COMPLETELY crack me up… LOVE IT!!!
I am cracking up over your costumes, hilarious!
loooove love love all these pics. i spent ages studying each one closely as i miss you all so much! xx
Ohh My gosh.. this is so wonderful I love the costumes
tara,
i love looking at your blog – you are an amazing photographer. i love how you capture beauty….it has opened my eyes to beauty around me that i might have missed.
awhile back you posted a blog entry about your square ikea frames. would you mind posting a picture of how it turned out with pictures? i’d love to see what you did!!
many thanks!
Love! We are all very cute I must say.♥
It was a blast! xX
wow. i totally *heart* your house. the chalkboard cabinets. the square photo wall. awesome.
OMG I vote this the best post EVER! I’m a halloween FREAK, so I would have FLIPPED having the week you had! I LOVE that you did a low key party, with the kids involved, not you going crazzzy planning it.
You are one cool momma! Kids looked great. : )
LOVE the b&w of the kids. LOVE your house too!
p.s. Still laughing at Tara/Jeff and Jeff/Tara!!
FUNNIEST thing EVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!
i have big fat tears dripping down my cheeks! the pics of you and jeff are hilarious! you need to have that one blown up and hang it in your house! classic!
ceresa, you can see a smidge of the square IKEA photo wall in these photos. but to see them full on, you can go to this link: http://tarawhitney.com/2008/06/opam-may-08-photo-wall-in-living-room-after/
I love that you guys went as each other :) I think Ben and I might have to do that next year…
I love the pictures of you and your husband. LOL
daily lurker of your blog
What a FUN looking party – and the Tara and Jeff costumes are brilliant – I had to do a double take to realise it was you, i thought maybe it was Jeff and a brother at first lol!!
I LOVE the Tara and Jeff costume idea. What a great one. The execution is excellent as well. And here I thought my husband and I were the only weird ones.. LOL. My DH and I are quite different in height and shape so it always, ALWAYS, makes me laugh out loud when he wears my clothes. LOL. I’m laughing just thinking about it. Love that you went with it and love that it turned out well. Isn’t it great when your expectations are exceeded?
so fun! i ALWAYS get party anxiety too! looks and sounds like it was a huge success to the kiddos…and that’s all that really matters! :)
i love your wall, tara!!! :) you have a beautiful family.
thank you so much for posting the link!!!
those “jeff and tara” costumes are the funniest things I’ve ever seen!!!!!!
you & your hubby’s cosutmes…brilliant! I am de-lurking…I am not sure if I have ever commented before, but I have been a faithful reader for several years. Thanks for the inspiration, Tara.
LOVE all of the costumes, but really love the trading spouses:) The Nick party sounds just amazing!
That was freakin’ awesome. Love the Jeff and Tara costumes, and the Paulie Bleaker and Juno ones were inspiring! If I can talk my husband into short shorts next year…
Tara,
I suffer from party anxiety too and also from having friends over, thankfully my girls have each other to play with and don’t even ask for friends, or I would be in trouble LOL!
I threw mine a Halloween Party in 2006, but I had my friend, Ellen (nanny of 4, mother of 2 and ultimate party thrower) come run the party and help me out! it was awesome and my kids beamed with pride & happiness, so I know the feeling!
good for you for doing that for them! that’s awesome!
shows how much you love and treasure them!
and HOLY CRUD, you and your hubby are hILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!
tara pp
oh my. the tara/jeff swap? by far THEE coolest ever. that is so funny, i lol’d!
i love jeff – please tell him that for me K?
omg. how fun….and funny of you and jeff. Can i borrow the skirt he is wearing? I am glad it all turned out well. I will be over soon to help you eradicate the twix and nerds from your pile o candy.
I am laughing!! I love the pic of you and Jeff posing in your costumes with his hand on your ‘chest’. That’s awesome! lol
Your costumes – dressed as each other – are absolutely classic. Nice job! :)
Love, love the chalkboard cabinets! I’ve been trying to add some chalkboard into my house somewhere. :D
Loved this post! I heart your family!!!!!
Love Anna’s shadow. Oh my. Jeff/Tara Tara/Jeff. Too funny.
The witch silhouette is genius!
Great idea on being each other for Halloween, your kids will never forget that!
The Jeff/Tara switcheroo is genius. Pure genius!
between your photos and your writing i feel like i was right there with you and your kids. such a wonderful family you have :o)
I LOVE this post, the 2nd B&W of the kids is my favourite, I think the image of the candy bag pic & your description of what the next pic would of looked like worked out perfectly! In Australia we halfheartedly embrace Halloween, I think anytime you can get your family & friends together should be embraced.
We had a party and I cooked & gathered food for 2 days prior. The kids I didn’t give birth to all wanted to live with us forever and it was determined by the adults, next years will be bigger, with more decorations :)
You are inspiring, thankyou sososo much xx
Oh my gosh! The kids look so great! And I love the idea of going as each other!!!! That is hilarious! Had me laughing out loud! Really the best Halloween idea ever! Love your blog Tara!
Tara – I LOVE the Jeff and Tara idea. That is just awesome…I can’t wait to share with my husband…that is something we would do…not sure why we haven’t. LOVE IT, thanks for sharing!!!
I always love your pictures Tara…but those Jeff and Tara costumes are hilarious! What a fun party you must have had.
The shots of you and Jeff are just PRICELESS. What a funny idea.
The kids of course are beyond cute.