Thirteen Days of Halloween - Day 1: Friday the 13th

Halloween is my absolute FAVORITE holiday ever! When I was younger my family had an annual Halloween party the Saturday before Halloween where I was allowed to invite my entire class for a wonderful costume party. We would have wonderfully creepy food, my parents would play the best Halloween themed music from across the generations (Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell could have been followed by Micheal Jackson's Thriller).

As a child our house was considered the "go to" house when Trick or Treating as well because my dad (a bread route delivery man) would bring home racks and racks of snack cakes to pass out for treats. When my own kids were younger we always celebrated Halloween BIG in our house with lots of decor, and a wide range of treats (though never anything as awesome as what my dad did when I was a kid) and making sure to help host awesome classroom parties. Now that my own kids are way too old for classroom parties (colleges tend to frown on such things as room moms) I celebrate big with my club kids.

This year I made the wonderful discovery that if you count back thirteen weekdays from Halloween it just so happens that you land on Friday the Thirteenth. I can't tell you how happy this made my dark Halloween loving heart. 

So, to kick off the Thirteen Days of Halloween we're watching on of my most beloved childhood Halloween memories - Disney's Halloween Treat (you can follow the link <--- to watch this most glorious show in its entirety on youtube).

We're also decorating our club with a wonderful Halloweeny atmosphere and I'm taking inspiration from the intro music for the Disney Halloween treat:

Calling one and all tonight It's hopping at the ball tonight Drop in at the ball tonight Disney's Halloween Treat Creatures on the prowl tonight Creatures fair and foul tonight They'll meet you at the ball tonight At Disney's Halloween Treat Black cats and bats and ghosts Make most attractive hosts They're dieing for a dance with you So play that haunting refrain Tricks and treats to try tonight You'll be riding high tonight Your spirits gonna fly tonight Disney's Halloween Treat Disney's Halloween Treat It's a scream!

So, we're decorating with black cats and bats and ghosts (and pumpkins and spiders too!) We have created a Bat Cave in our art studio with lots of bats and ghosts and our library is a pumpkin patch with a few black cats scattered about. Decorating photos will come with more Thirteen Days of Halloween posts!

What are your favorite Halloween memories? How do you celebrate with kids now? Let me know!