Preschool Halloween Party & Downtown Trick or Treating

Happy Halloween! We're looking forward to having all the grandparents and my brother over today. ER will once again be walking the neighborhood with a full entourage! She's had so many chances to get treats and wear her costume, she's going to start thinking we do this every weekend! Hope you all have a safe and trick free time! I'll be back to share pictures from Halloween, for now, here are some from the last of our pre-Halloween fun.

The first preschool party was last Thursday, and it was rather surreal being on the other side of classroom parties. Things are done very differently at our preschool then when in my kindergarten classroom. Which I think is nice, because I imagine they are a lot less stressful on the teacher.
At our coop, each parent signs up to be on party committees and they are responsible for planning and running it. This is also nice because, while the parents can use any of the supplies on hand, any additional ones they purchase. The teacher can really enjoy the party for once. I think, no I know, that I am too much of a control freak to let parents take completely over.
I think it's a good experience for parents to work in their child's classroom and help prepare for parties or work with small groups of kids. It's been a real eye opener for several of my parent volunteers over the years. Managing five eager kids at paint easels is no easy feat for anyone but just part of the daily routine for early childhood teachers.
We only stayed for the very start of the party at ER's preschool. I'm not on this committee, but we did hang around long enough to take the class picture and one of each student in his or her costume. They all came home with a cute light up egg carton spider and a jack o'lantern art project so it looks like they packed a lot into roughly two hours.

ER was Cinderella, as expected, but this time in a dress up costume she got from her Aunt and Uncle. The real costume would be too hard for her to hold up and use the bathroom in, which we've been doing much better with. At the end of class all the parents line up in the hallway with treats and the kids get a mini candy fix on the way out the door, very fun!

We also went trick or treating yesterday, even with the slight drizzle of rain coming down. This time we went to the large university town next to ours. The kids found many orange and black balloons along Main Street to stop by.The biggest surprise for us was that ER decided she wanted to go in her Snow White costume. Ah who?! Yes it was quite shocking at first but I think she just wanted to wear that red bow in her hair.

We went with friends of ours and while it was it was damp, we missed any outright downpours. Lunch with three kids was interesting but I think some mouthfuls of healthier fare made its way down their throats. We met up with them again for dinner and were joined by more friends for a casual family pizza night. Good friends, easy meal, occupied kids, and getting to talk to another adult for more than ten seconds was a great way to end the week.