"You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Every year one of our favorite activities put on by our Sunday School class is the Harvest Party on Halloween.  It started as just a fun get-t0gether of friends and harvest themed snacks and decor and has now grown to gargantuan proportions.  
About 20 couples, and 13 kiddos, showed up for the festivities of a potluck meal, games, and the now famous costume competition.  This competition is no small thing.  For months and even a year in advance these couples are crafting, scheming, creating and designing ultra unique costumes.  Everything is very hush-hush - no one dares let slip what their theme might be, for the stakes are high.  Last year, the competitors came decked out as the Ghostbusters (complete with a little baby ghost), Pillsbury Dough Boy and his wife with a "bun in the oven", Marty and Doc Brown from Back to the Future, a Rorschach Inkblot test, and Han Solo and Princess Leia (John and I), to name a few.  It is not for money or prizes that we compete, but for the fame and glory of winning the title, having stood toe to toe with other worthy opponents.

This year, the standards were raised yet again, as new levels of creativity emerged.  Here are the contestants:

"Are You My Mother?" (children's book) with baby bird, tree and Snort!

Goose and Maverick (from Top Gun)

Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman

Dusty Bottoms, Lucky Day, and Ned Niederlander (The Three Amigos)

  

Steve and Holli were 60/70's throwbacks, Maddie was Princess Mulan, Isabelle was a monkey

 Link and 8-bit heart from Zelda - won Most Original Award

Sunshine, Rain Cloud, and little Weather Station (complete with rain gauge and thermometer) - incidentally, Rusty (the rain cloud) works for the NOAA Weather Service and LOVES weather!

 

The other side of their sign read: 5th Grade Sweethearts, with "Kousins" scratched out under "Grade"; she had fake tatoos on her chest and on the tops of her feet, and would hand the "baby" to Ryan by the arm and say "Here, take the kid."  They won the Funniest Award.

Shaggy, Velma and Scooby Doo

Kyle and Becky came as Mom and Dad, complete with dark circles under their eyes.....this also doubled as their way of announcing to the class that they are now expecting!

The Tin Man, Dorothy and Glenda the Good Witch - won Most Accurate

Classic kid shot - not a single one looking at the camera or smiling!

Our costume this year included a new addition - one that we were proud to feature now that we are a family of 3!  In a very appropriate representation of our family, we decided to be chefs and Ben was our little gingerbread boy!  He spent the good part of the year in the oven, but he is done and oh so tasty for nibbling!

So, with inspiration for next year's event, we start dreaming up new ideas for when Ben will be 15 months old!