Yet Another Monster Mash

Happy Almost-Halloween, Internet.

So, we've turned Halloween into an annual shin-dig at our house over the last few years (2016, 2017, and 2018, to be exact.)  Each year we take it to new level:  more decor, more lighting, more food, more drinks, more guests, more music, more photo ops, you name it.  The previous few years, we've also themed our Halloween parties, letting the girls choose the theme for our costumes and, consequently, the party itself.

In 2016, they wanted to go as the Scooby Doo Mystery Inc., with each of us playing one of the iconic characters from the old school cartoon.  Kris dressed up like Shaggy, I wore a muscle suit, good times.

Two years ago, they decided to go with Pirates, so we all dressed up like pirates, I created a custom-designed pirate/Halloween playlist, and we had plenty of rum on hand. 

Last year, they wanted us to all be Egyptians, so I once again created a customized Egyptian/Halloween playlist and we all wore a crap-load of eyeliner.  Good times, but in retrospect I probably should've worn a pair of shorts under my tunic.

And this year?  This year, we went totally '80s.

Preparing the house before the party. . .

This was, honestly, pretty easy to put together.  I already had a ridiculously awesome '80s Mix that I've fine-tuned over the years - about one hundred songs, broken up by Halloween favorites here and there to really give it the themed Halloween party vibe.  I broke out my old Atari 2600 and set it up in the living room so folks could sit down at their leisure for some old school '80s entertainment.  We also bought one of those old-school laser backgrounds - like folks used to get for their yearbook pictures back in the day.

Testing out the laser background with my flash.

Unless your parents were like mine, who never let me get that background.  Thanks a lot, Mom and Dad, I'm still scarred.

Anyway, with over thirty adults and about fifteen kids, we definitely had a full house, but it was a good time.  We're definitely going to be keeping the tradition alive for as long as we possibly can.

So here you have it, folks:  The Fourth Annual Hough Family Halloween Party.

Let's do this. . .

Once again, BP and fam were going to be coming up from Grand Rapids for the party, but unfortunately due to his kid having a soccer game or something they wouldn't be able to get here until about 8pm or so.  I texted him this picture to express how sad I was with this depressing news.

The entire weekend leading up to the party we spent picking up, deep cleaning (you know, "Company Cleaning"), food prepping, decorating, and getting our last minute things around.  We were getting down to the wire in the hour leading up to the party start time (6pm), so while Kris was doing the girls' hair (which used up the last of her remaining hair spray), she put Yours Truly in charge of getting the food dishes in order.  First order of business:  Cut the Cheese (wakka wakka.)

Creating "Mummy Dogs" for the kids' food table downstairs.

Abby pitches in to get the Houghs across the finish line.

This is where Watson hung out during this last-minute, frantic food-prep session.

Playing around with my new camera's light settings.  It's a pretty impressive piece of equipment.

Always have to be ready to pose at the drop of a hat in this family. . .

The Study, ready for guests.

Some ghoulish food offerings (we bought that skeleton this year so that the pepperoni, salami, and other such meat pieces would look like guts and gore spilling out of him.)  I think it worked out alright.

First beer of the evening:  not a bad a pumpkin ale, per se, but I've had better.

Kris orchestrated some of our friends to help her in recreating the Breakfast Club (the John Hughes classic from the '80s.)  She was Molly Ringwald's character, and she was able to get three of our friends to each assume a character from the film.  Since I already had a costume (which you'll see in detail later), she was short a person, so the Larsons had their son, Jackson, throw on a quarter-zip that loosely resembled the nerdy character's look in the film.  Before we had too many people show up for the party, we decided to snap a few pics of the assembled characters, and tried our damnedest to recreate the exact poses from the movie posters.  Here Kris and Danielle (who played the artsy outcast character - I forget all their frickin' names, I've only seen the movie, like, once) decide which poses to use.

Erik (Judd Nelson's troublemaker), Danielle (the outcast), Morgan (Emilio Estevez's jock), Kris (Molly Ringwald's rich, popular girl), and Jackson (the nerd.)  They figured the garage would work best for this.

This is pretty damn close to the actual movie poster.  Not too shabby for a last-minute group collaboration.

The Johnsons (Erik changed out of his other costume to match his fam's theme.)  Shortly after I took this for them they split to head out to another Halloween party, but they'd be back over later on in the evening.

Kris took this one of Alayna and her BFF, Maddie, screwin' around.

The Colliers, as Doc Brown and Marty McFly from Back to the Future.

The Houghs.  Totally '80s.  Kris' costume we already talked about, and for me, I just went generic '80s:  bought a mullet wig, slung on a Walkman, and bought a Member's Only jacket that will most likely work its way into my regular wardrobe.  As for the girls, Abby went for more of a Cyndi Lauper look, while Alayna channeled Madonna. 

The Larsons.

The Cannonball (this yellowish look is on account of Kris' phone overcompensating for the lack of light - the backdrop was in a dark room, so unless you were using a really nice flash - like mine - this was the result.)

This is a really good Halloween wine.  We pick up a few bottles of this every season.

Ryan brought this card table over for us to use throughout the evening, and the girls snagged it first to play whatever damn card game they were playing.  The guys and some of our other guests occupied the other rooms inside for the time being.

The spread.  We had some of the easier-to-eat (and clean up) food downstairs on a table we set up in the basement for the kids in order to cut down on messes and kids running up and down the stairs.

"Witches fingers."  Absolutely gross-looking, but they were actually bread sticks.

Friends, co-workers, and everything in between.

Morgan, bartending.

With two space-heaters going, Halloween lighting, and an Alexa Echo out there blasting our '80s/Halloween playlist, the garage worked as a pretty good hang-out room.

Tech support.  At some point one of the womenfolk asked it to play a song and messed up the device grouping I had set up.  I really need to teach Kris how to trouble-shoot this bullshit one of these days.

Danielle and Kris

Some pics in front of the laser background my parents never let me get for my yearbook photos.

More cards

We should dress up like this all the time. . .

This marked the first time I had invited co-workers to my house, believe it or not.  This is the science teacher on my team, Ms. Bryant, with a buddy of hers.

More co-workers from our 8th grade building:  Darby (the building reading specialist), Duncan (drama teacher), Wincent (another history teacher), Benkert (the math teacher on my team), and Bryant.

The DeBoers.  They showed up a couple hours into the party, dressed like characters from The Goonies.  BP was Josh Brolin's Brant (the main character's older brother), Sam was Andy, Brant's love interest, and Delia was Ma Fratelli - the main bad guy in the movie.

Some middle school teachers, gettin' weird.

Duncan and her husband, dressed like 'deviled eggs.'

Adjusting the camera's flash setting, with Ryan's help.

Emily, our neighbor across the street, with Stephanie and Meesook.

Amanda (Maddie's mom), with Kris and Cristy.

John, Morgan and Lonnie

Festive lighting adorning the vinyl.  And yes, I spun Halloween records.  You bet your ass I did.

BP and I break in the Atari, battling it out with some Tank Combat. . .

Meanwhile, in the basement.  Playmobil was pretty popular with the girls, while the boys stuck to playing videogames.  Alayna and Maddie basically just hung out in Alayna's room for the evening, not wanting to associate with the younger kids.

Abby was embarrassed to have her picture taken with her friend (and on-again/off-again crush), Jackson.

Candy Cigarettes (though they call them 'Candy Sticks,' now. . . thanks a lot, politically-correct, no-fun-anymore 2019. . .)

Sneaking into the living room to play some Atari. . .

The Davises

Hours later.  By this point in time, most of the dads had reconquered the poker table and were actually playing poker on it.  They're always down for some gambling.

Courtney, Kris and Danielle

 Kris and Danielle attempt to recreate that one dance from the Breakfast Club. . . with limited success.

Drinking some 'blood bags.'  BP brought these up with him - they look like legit bags of blood you'd see in a hospital, but they're obviously filled with fruit punch or some shit.

BP tries to recreate his Clare Primary School yearbook photo. . . because HIS parents let him have the laser background.

Doc Brown contemplates life. . .

Always a shitload of good food on hand whenever this group has a party. . . that and booze.

More Atari - I'm so glad I hooked this up in the living room.

Kris and Abby

Watson kept falling asleep sitting up - he usually likes to nap in the evening, and with all the people and commotion, he was constantly walking around and checking stuff out.

The Knights of Pokemon - twenty years later.

Kris' yearbook photo attempt.

Another attempt with BP

Amanda and Emily (Kris was taking pictures with my camera at this point in time in the evening.)

Taking an important call on the ol' Zack Morris brick-phone. . . (actually from my dad's house, from the early '90s, but close enough.)

Danielle, her daughter Sophie, aaaaand Sophie's bear.

So glad we got a picture of that. . .

Towards the end of the evening, the kids were getting bored in the basement, so they began to wander upstairs. They quickly took over the Atari.

Maddie

Delia, showin' off some ink.

Samwise

Collier and Fischer's respective offspring

The Terrible Trio:  Jackson, Ella and Abby

Kris had a lot of fun taking pictures with this laser background. . . if you can't tell.

Benkert and Yours Truly

BP and I took this to send to Kimmel, who never makes it out to these parties of ours on account of living in Chicago.

By the end of the night, most folks had left, but there were a handful of families still around.  Erik and I played a few last games on the ol' 2600 before ultimately calling it a night.

The close of yet another successful Hough Family Halloween Party.  Poor Watson. . . dude just wanted to get some sleep. 

- Brian