It's PUMPKIN TIME! *Pumpkin Station Pumpkin Patch Giveaway*

I will admit it. I have Halloween decorations up already. Not too many...but a few. I usually try to wait until October 1st, but this year after a quick trip to Home Goods that netted me a beautiful little headless horseman and a gorgeous black "Halloween Tree," I buckled and started putting a few things up here and there. 

But now Fall is officially here so LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.

Pumpkin Station is now open! If you haven't been in the past, Pumpkin Station is a kid's Halloween dream. Rides, pumpkins, a petting zoo and a corn maze - it's fun Halloween craziness. It's the perfect fall outing - and right now BuyWithMe has fantastic offer to save on the fun - 12 rides for $15! That's up to a $30 value. 

$15 gets you 12 rides at four Pumpkin Station locations (up to $30 value).

Loaded with kiddie rides, Jack-O-Lanterns-to-be, petting zoos, and more, Pumpkin Station is the perfect choice for Halloween-themed fun the whole family can enjoy. Little ones will love the giant slides, pumpkin jumps, and inflatable play centers, not to mention the colorful main attraction – the pumpkins, of course. From the smallest baby pumpkin to their famously enormous Bodacious Pumpkins, there’s one to fit every stoop and satisfy even the most intense Halloween fanatic. Pumpkin Station hours and attractions vary by location (Del Mar, Mission Valley, El Cajon, and Chula Vista), but parking and admission are always free. So get in on the All Hallows’ Eve fun while you can – they’re only open ‘til October 31!

I know my kids already saw the Del Mar location off the side of the freeway and are already asking when we can go.

While this deal is a great one - I have a BuyWithMe deal package to giveaway! 

To enter, leave a comment below telling me what your favorite costume (yours or someone elses) of all time was. That's it!

The contest will run through Friday Sept 30th at 5:00 PM.

What a great way to kick off the Halloween season!

CONGRATS NICOLE! Enjoy your time at Pumpkin Station!

RAVE: The Post Office and HaloweenCostumes.com

While we always seem to find time to rant about things that irk us, simple, good experiences, are often never shared. Today, I actually had 2 good experiences with a situation that I screwed up. 2 people went out of there way to help me, and they deserve a BIG OLD KUDOS!

On October 10th I ordered Zoe's "AWICE IN WONDERWAND!!!!" costumes from www.HalloweenCostumes.com. Simple and sweet without being princessified with glitter and tulle, I fell in love with this particular version of the popular costume for Zoe. Planning ahead (as I often try to do, but hardly ever really do) I ordered it in time to still get cheap shipping. Unfortunately, I ordered it quickly, not realizing the online payment system still had my old shipping address associated with it.

2.5 weeks later I tracked the package to see that it seemed to be stuck at the Encinitas Post Office, hoping for it to be forwarded to our new address, I waited, and waited. 

Because something finally hit me over the head that it wasn't going to be arriving at my door without a little effort on my part, I called up the post office and explained my dilemma. The man who answered was very nice, not at all postal, and looked all over for my package, which in turn wasn't there. He apologized and told me it was probably headed back to the sender. 

Post office employees usually get the shaft when it comes to accolades. But this postman was very sweet and helpful. So, KUDOS #1 goes to the Encinitas branch of the US Postal Service. 

Step number two was to call HalloweenCostumes.com and see if the package had been returned yet. 'Tis their season, and thankfully their phones are staffed 24/7 at the moment. I was on hold less than a minute before an associate answered my call. I explained MY MESS UP to her, and while the package had not yet been received back to her location, instead of saying "Oh, well. Sucks for you." like I half thought she would, she said she would ship me out another costume ASAP, all I need to do was re-pay shipping.

DEAL. DONE and DONE.

So KUDOS to HalloweenCostumes.com for their very nice customer service. It's always a crap shoot when you order things online, and it's a great thing when you find a company that you can trust. 

Oh, and it's not too late to order your costume from them either!

Spooktacular Sextactular

If you have kids, then you know that the Halloween planning and preparation normally starts sometime around mid-July.  Doing for Halloween what the Toys R Us book of toys did for Christmas, the arrival of the Chasing Fireflies Halloween costume catalogue on July 21 kicked off the unofficial Halloween season at our house. 

Gathering on the couch, the kids and I browsed through the 1000 or so over-priced and elaborate costume options thinking about what we all go as this year. I love nothing more than family themed dress-up, but both of my kids are too adamant about their choices to bend to the desires of the other. After seeing that initial catalog, Lucas is firm on being a warewolf, and Zoe is determined to be "AWICE AND WONDERWAND!!!!" ("Alice in Wonderland", for those who don't speak 2 year old). In fact, I capped the words there to express exactly how excited she is - throwing her hands up in the air and EXCLAIMING her anticipation with as much enthusiasm as a 35 lb body can muster.

The sad part is, both kids want to do family costumes. Lucas suggested that we go as the "Twilight Family" (yea, I know he's 6) and Zoe is insisting that we all morph into the various Wonderland characters. At first she told me that I needed to be "DA QUEEN" then yesterday she asked if I would prefer to be the "Sheses Cat." (Chesire Cat).

Let me set the scene a bit better. Our good friends throw an annual trick or treating party each year. And each year, they go all out. At first us adults wore black and put on a hat to compensate, but honestly, it's FUN to dress up. The kids love it and it's a fun family thing to do. But note the KEY words here - KIDS and FAMILY and TRICK or TREATING.  With that in mind, let's check the internets and see what my costume options are!

Um. Well. Okay. We can immediately rule out at least one of these choices since I'm not A POLE DANCER.

Well, let's check out the Chesire Cat costumes.. I bet they have something that covers a little more skin - I mean, it is a CAT.

Well, maybe slightly better? At least option #1 has sleeves of some sort and option #2 are full tights. Maybe I'll be the mad hatter - or the late rabbit - I know they are male characters, so maybe they won't show both tits AND ass.

Shut the front door.

Really? These are my options? I'm trying to find costumes from a classic children's book and Disney cartoon, not to wear as I strip my way through medical school (because all strippers are just trying to earn some extra money for college - right?).

When did Halloween become less about actually dressing up and all about wearing nothing at all? 

Boo! Zoe is TWO!

I couldn't resist the Halloween birthday party. Last year I wanted to make sure that her 1st birthday was a seperate occasion from Halloween. First birthdays are big deal, and being a Nov. 1st baby will mean she will have a lot of celebrations that bleed into each other. Last year was one thing - but this year I just wanted to have FUN.

Personally, I love Halloween. I love the decorations. I love dressing up. I could not wait and started collecting decorations months before. Being a paper addict, I tapped Jess at Polka dots and Pirates to do the invites, banners and cupcake toppers again this year. Jess is amazingly talented and if you can plan far enough in advance - try and get on her 2010 wait list. Yes, she has a wait list - she is THAT good. 

The stamps are from the Martha Stewart line at Michaels and the skull stickers are from my happy place, The Paper Source. 

As always, I went a little overboard with the decorations. Using the "candy theme" that was popular this past year, and inspirations from various magazines and blogs, I chose basic Halloween colors and the Candy Corn as my main starting points. 

I like using cupcake toppers on more than just cupcakes. I use them all over as various decorations. Instead of renting the cupcake stands, I bought black cardboard ones from the Halloween section at Michael's. Since this was a 2 year old girls party, and I was trying to keep the macabre out of it, I added bows the skeleton's heads. I also did the same with Miss Party Bones in the corner...

Cupcakes came from Cupcake Love in Solana Beach. I'm such a sucker for cupcakes.. I always go a little overboard with them!

I made some foaming lemonade concoction for the kids that  I found online (it didn't really work out all that well!) but instead of boring cups, I served it to the kids in "adult" plastic martini glasses. Since they are used to only Mommies and Daddies getting the fancy glasses, they were very excited about them. 

For activities, I rented a bounce-house, had a decorate your own pumpkin craft, read a halloween story, and we played musical chairs to the monster mash. Hint for musical chairs - kids don't want to be out, so I offered a lollipop to each child as they were out, which then prompted the older kids to try and get out since all they wanted a sucker!

Book is "Shake dem Halloween Bones!"

the birthday girl, herself!

Lucas Kai-walker.. ;-)

It really was a wonderful day. 2 things I did differently this time is that I had someone else take pictures (one less thing to worry about during the party!) and I hired one of my babysitters to help. She was great at helping to organize things and also clean up. At the end of the party, all the trash was thrown out, dishes washed, kitchen wiped down.. and my sanity still in-tact! 

*Thank you Patty from Petula Pea Photography for some amazing shots!!