Halloween

Oh, what an event! Our first BIG Halloween party. It took place on October 27, 2007, a Saturday night. The Theme was Hogwarts Halloween (Harry Potter). Adults and children. Families and individuals. Co-workers, friends, schoolmates, fellow church members, family. It was gloriously fun, way over the top, and worth every moment of preparation and hosting and cleanup.

Sure, we raised about $50 and got around 22 books for Page Ahead (a local literacy charity), but that was icing on the cake.

No scary costumes were allowed. People were welcome to come in all sorts of other costumes, and they did. Our little girl dressed as a Peacock. It was a creative challenge to make. She wore a peacock blue dance leotard, and at her waist, a sequined belt with peacock colored silk "streamers/feathers" and real peacock feathers attached to the back. Upon her head, a headband with peacock feathers and a bit of sparkling fabric at the back. Around her wrists and ankles, feathery bands of peacock blue trim. She was enchanting.

One little girl came as Hedwig the owl (precious -- I found yet another white feather from her costume yesterday), several as witches or princesses, one as a flamingo. A little boy came as a dragon or dinosaur (depending on your point of view). Adults came as: an explorer, an enchantress, Hagrid, a very silly ballerina with WWII flying goggles, wizards, an alchemist, and assorted "muggles".

We set the dining room table with a festival of homemade treats and candies (chocolate frogs, peppermint toads, licorice wands, pumpkin pasties, sugar quills, a cauldron of polyjuice potion...), the kitchen table with more savory and healthy fare, and the buffet with mixings for drinks. The living room was converted into the Great Hall of Hogwarts, complete with a night sky sparkling with stars, lit pumpkins floating just below. Several "classrooms" were set up: Transfiguration, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts...

As the children arrived, they were sorted into houses with the Sorting Hat. I played Professor McGonnagal and hosted the children for many activities: indoor quidditch, owl spotting, treasure hunt, dragon egg identification, witch bingo... Frank dressed as "The Alchemist" and led Potions class (a chemistry lesson). They craved more, especially the potions, and I had it ready, but there comes a time when it's time to stop and sleep.

The surprise to us all was how a simple paper mache egg lying in a nest of shrub vines could capture the chidlren's imaginations so thoroughly. I thought it would serve as a fun decoration on the way to the fire pit, but the children wanted to see it, touch it, ask questions about it, believe that a dragon had flown into our neighborhood and laid an egg in the backyard. They convinced themselves that it was going to hatch, and nothing I said would disuade them. They dragged the egg indoors, took it back outdoors, made several pilgrimages to study it. We took out the book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and read the description of each type of dragon's egg; then determined what kind of dragon must have laid the egg. Who says children don't love science? They RELISH it.

So many lessons. We could have done with much less. But I will say that everyone seemed to enjoy the over-the-topness of it all. Many of the decorations served to entertain the adults more than the children. For instance, for those few who really investigated the "books" set out in the various classrooms discovered that many were private jokes: e.g., potions books were cookbooks, one transfiguration book was a New Testament (is there any other transfiguration? Not to me. But I still enjoy the fantasy of fiction), the spell books were law texts, the History of Magic book was a History of Mexico book...

Why a big party? Why so much? Because the world has gone crazy with blood and antipathy. The children are showing signs of stress because their parents are feeling the stress of tighter budgets and the worldwide stench of fear and distrust, of "otherness" and alienation. I figured we all needed the release of pure fantasy, of a night of ridiculous frolicking, of community, of loving those we love in a big way, of reminding ourselves of fun and the light within our hearts. I wanted to hold close and love all these people. I wanted to entertain the children, to give them a great childhood memory because they only get to be children once.

At one point during the preparations, I thought to cut back and tone down, and then we got the news that our daughter might have some frightening illness involving her abdominal lymph nodes (further tests showed she is fine). We didn't know if this would be her last Halloween, her last one for a while, or one of decades upon decades of Halloweens. Suspended in that limbo, I knew I'd go over the top no matter what, because life is precious, and our time together sacred.