Halloween 2009, part 1, In the Beginning

Our Halloween party preparations began in earnest at the very beginning of Sept. with an inventory of all of our stuff. Yes folks, I've got so much Halloween stuff, that it needs to be inventoried each year to prevent me from going out and buy duplicates of stuff that I may have forgotten that I already have. My inventory was 42 pages long. Seriously.

We purchased these 4 panels from a prop house in Los Angeles that was going out of business. We decided that they would be the model for the rest of our ghost town. Of course even they would need some "goring up" as they were a little too cutsie for my taste.

Here you'll see that the rest of the ghost town is starting to take shape.

This piece will eventually turn into our "2 Bit Ho-Tel."

Invitations are always fun too. We like to do something unique and special each year, and of course, something that goes with the theme.

Since our theme this year was an Old West Ghost Town, it was a little tougher than in the past to come up with something appropriate. We settled on cardboard coffins....

...filled with a cowboy skeleton, complete with red bandanna, and cowboy hat. His head rested comfortably on his bed roll, which was the actual invite.

More to come soon!