Richards Review: Preschool and playgroup Halloween party

Friday, October 31, 2014

Preschool and playgroup Halloween party

Eliza started preschool at the local high school at the beginning of October (more pictures and information coming about that later.) She really enjoys going to preschool, and having parties and activities that her brother gets to go to makes her even happier. I love that she loves her brother so much that she wants him to go to everything with her. For the Halloween party, all family members were invited - parents and siblings. Zabien was particularly excited to put on his "Roar!" (tiger) costume. He wasn't a big fan of the tiger hood, but he wore the costume all day, only taking it off for bed. He didn't stop there, he wore it for a couple more days after Halloween.

Eliza was a cute little bumblebee. Here she is trick or treating to various classrooms with her high school buddy, Sam. When Eliza first starting attending the preschool, she really didn't say much to anyone. By the end of the month, she chatted her buddy's ear off. The entire time they were trick or treating around the high school, she told her "buddy" Sam all about her costume, why she chose it, her brother's costume, what she was hoping to get from trick or treating, and even that she was going to have a baby.

After trick or treating, we went back to the classroom and had Halloween treats. I took the kids out of their costumes because it was so warm in the classroom, they were both starting to sweat. Each parent signed up to bring a treat of some kind, so there were about 16 different things to choose from. Eliza made sure that Zaby had a seat right next to her.

When snack time was over, the kids broke open a pinata. For some reason, pinatas absolutely terrify Eliza. She doesn't want to see them break (or anything break for that matter) even if they are full of treats. She stayed at her table instead of going over to the rug to participate. Eliza and Zaby were the only ones not circled around the pinata. I kept trying to coax them over closer to the pinata and explained to them that lots and lots of treats were inside. Finally, after all the other children had a turn hitting the pinata, Zabien decided to give it a shot. He loves to swing and hit things at home, but in front of a crowd of people, his shy nature seems to come out. He tapped the pumpkin one time with the stick and called it good.

After much persuading, I finally convinced Eliza to give it a shot. I have no pictures of her hitting the pinata because she would only try if I was holding onto the stick with her. It's hard to take a picture of someone hitting a pinata when you are helping them hit it. I would have liked a picture because I was impressed that she finally decided to participate.

When the teacher finally burst open the piñata for everyone to grab treats, all the kids piled in the middle and excitedly filled their bags with treats grabbing handfuls at a time; all the kids except mine. Zabien picked up 6 treats, then quickly retreated to the table. Eliza carefully sorted through the treats, only picking up the ones she liked. She put 6 or so in her bag, then looked at me and told me that she was going to pick up 5 more treats for Zabien. Seriously, how thoughtful is that. I assured her that Zaby had his own bag, and could pick up his own treats. She could take as many as she wanted. She carefully chose about 6 more, and said that she had enough. As long as she was happy, who was I to complain that she didn't take more. I ended up putting a few more pieces in Zaby's bag because I thought he would actually want more when it came down to eating them. The got a lot of candy, but not as much as they could have gotten had they been a bit more aggressive. I must say that I am actually glad that they are not overly aggressive when it comes to things like this, but I do want them to participate.

After the piñata, there was a little bit of free time before dismissal. Zabien made himself right at home with this wooden scooter bike. It was difficult to get him to leave when the time came. He is sad that he hasn't been able to go to preschool with Eliza everyday.

The very next day was Halloween. I hosted a Halloween party for our playgroup at my house. The kids came in costume, and participated in a variety of games and activities. We had a bean bag toss through a cardboard Jack-O-Lantern. We also had a pumpkin ring toss (top left picture). The kids liked his one but preferred to set the rings on top rather than throwing them. We also did pumpkin bowling (the bottom pictures). Zabien particularly enjoyed this one. Earlier I pasted black eyes and mouth on 10 milk cartons to make them look more like ghosts; however, after the first bowler, all of the eyes and mouth popped off. I was hoping to use them for porch decorations later, so I ended up swapping the milk jugs for toilet paper rolls. They actually worked better for this bowling activities, they were just lacking the ghost like decorations I had on the milk cartons. We ate Halloween treats, played Halloween bingo, made a few crafts, and made popcorn glove hands.