The 9th Monster Mash

'Sup players.

The DeBoers rolled in around 3pm to hang out before things got started.

We've been building up to this moment for the last month now. Weeks of picking things up off of Amazon and in stores - costume pieces, party supplies, food, booze, etc.  - weeks of planning, weeks of decorating and cleaning. It takes a lot of work to feed and entertain sixty-some people for eight hours, guys. A lot of frickin' work.

But the end result? Totally worth it: the Houghs' Annual Halloween Party.

This party has become an annual staple in our tribe, ranking alongside Collierpalooza (their epic Memorial Day blowout), and whoever ends up hosting Christmas, Friendsgiving, and the SuperBowl - though hosting duties for those latter three shift among families from year to year.) Since 2016, though, Halloween has always been a Hough/Johnson affair: we hold the annual costume party the Saturday before Halloween, and the Johnsons host a smaller, driveway hangout on Halloween itself for Trick or Treating. Folks have come to expect this from us, and every year we've done our best to rise to the occasion.

Before 2019, our parties were pretty smaller in size, just inviting a handful of families and keeping things simple. Starting that year, however, things changed considerably; aside from 2020 (which was, well, a weird year), our parties grew in size and complexity. We began to set official 'themes' to our parties, beyond our traditional 'family costumes. 'Most folks that showed up adhered to the party's theme: The '80s, The '90s, Heroes and Villains, Dream Jobs, and, now, Famous Couples. 

This party brought back the usual Costume Contest, which is decided by the forty kids (seriously) who were in attendance this year. We nixed the Scavenger Hunt, though - the teens no longer wanted to do it, preferring to just hang out in the basement and 'vibe' down there (whatever the hell that means.) We kept our drinking games, because we try to give the masses what they want (and our friends do love themselves some drinking games): Slap Cup, as our closing activity (because it has a tendency of destroying wives), and Beer Pong, which we turned into a legit, bracketed tournament this year.

So yeah. Hell of a lot working putting all this crap together, but damn - it's a LOT of fun.

Behold . . .

Kris made about thirty pounds of cheesy potatoes for this party, and it was all devoured within the first hour, I didn't even get to try it.

Dad and Cindy gave us these old burners from the last time they had Qdoba catered to the house. They worked out well but we had to double up all the pans so they wouldn't burn.

The main course (for the adults) was sliders (cheeseburger and Italian) and the aforementioned cheesy potatoes. We also had bacon and cheese pinwheels and an spinach artichoke dip, along with cases of Miller Lite and White Claws for the drinking games. We made some mummy dogs, buttered noodles, and various desserts for the kids downstairs (we always set up a table in the basement for the kids - way easier than them coming up and rubbing elbows with the grown ups.)

Alayna and Kyle spray paint Amelia's hair in the backyard as we approach the start of the party at 6pm. Despite Alayna starting to get ready at 3pm - and her friends showing up around 4pm - she didn't finish getting ready (and consequently hogging the main bathroom) until a half an hour or so into our party. Teens suck.

The Italian Sliders.

Cheesy Potatoes.

Pinwheels.

We always have to borrow a few folding tables for these parties of ours (one for food upstairs, one for food downstairs, and another table in the garage for drinking games.)

Kris made two of these large table decorations this year, and they turned out so well we're going to hold on to them for future parties. She took a few pool noodles and cut them down to various lengths, dribbled some hot glue down from the tops (to simulate melting candle wax), spray-painted it all black, then bought some LED votives (with flame-flickering effect) to top it all off. A little time consuming, but it's a huge decoration - about two and a half feet high - for $10, thereabouts. Just took a little bit of time and effort (none of which I provided, by the way.)

The Larsons were the first to show up (dressed up as characters from Pixar's Up), and immediately got their family picture taken to get it out of the way - they were seeing Vitamin String Quartet at the Center for the Arts, and so could only stay long enough to get some food, get their pic taken (for the Costume Contest, of course), before heading out. They would be returning after the concert, though, around 10pm. 

Our state's biggest rivalry - Michigan State vs. University of M - was on tonight (for college football, I had to ask the guys.) As such, I offered to hook up a TV in the garage so the guys could watch it in the background while we hung out. Little did any of us realize, at the time, that this process would take over an hour: we had to download some kind of NFL app that was connected to Mitch's Spectrum account (it's not like I'm gonna pay for some sports bullshit), and he couldn't figure out his login info and how to connect it to my smart TV.

My baby brother Jeff, his wife Carissa, and my four nieces and nephews rolled in this year for their second year in a row.

The Griffins. Stephanie knew right away - as soon as Kris and I made the announcement a month or two ago - what she wanted to do for 'Famous Couples.' She made her and Lonnie Big Balls Peanut Butter and Jelly shirts (using a Cricket, some felt, and other stuff.)

(Note the bread on the back of the shirts.)

The Johnsons. Courtney as Princess Peach and Erik as Mario. Once again, my brother Jeff used the same costume as someone else in attendance - last year it was him and Morgan as lumberjacks.

Colliers and Bardens arrive.

Our kitchen can definitely get cramped during the initial feeding frenzy.

The Nadgaudas (who came as Aladdin, Jasmine, Trump and Harris) drove up from Indiana for this party. See? I told you this was a big event around these parts.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, Alayna took a selfie with Amelia (they went as Harley Quinn and The Joker.)

The Nadgaudas (well, half of them.)

It had been almost an hour and a half, and Ryan, Lonnie and Mitch were all still trying to figure out the TV situation.

The MacLeods, as Maverick and Goose from Top Gun.

The Joker and Harley Quinn.

The Houghs (v.2.3) as Luigi and Mario.

Tom and Susan showed up as Al and Peg Bundy from Married with Children.

The Houghs 2.0. Our family - again - failed to come up with a group concept, but Kris and I did pretty good on our couples costume: Westley (a.k.a. Dread Pirate Roberts) and Buttercup from Princess Bride. Alayna we've already mentioned here a couple times, but Abby there went as Bruno Mars (from one of his album covers.)

Kris' costume she managed to buy off of Amazon (except for the tiara, which is from our wedding.) Mine, as usual, I had to piecemeal together: I already owned the pants, belt, and sword, but had to buy the shirt, the bandana/sash combo, gloves, and mask. These pictures mark the only time I actually wore the gloves at the party, as they were very hot (being genuine leather) and prohibited me from using my SLR.

The Johnsons again. . . this time with their child, who collaborated with Abby on the costume thing again (like they do every year.)

Still messing around with the TV. Eventually Rob showed up and just hooked up his ESPN (or something) login info with my TV - and that did it.

Down in the basement (where we banish the kids around these parts), the karaoke setup is still just as popular as ever with the kids. Towards the beginning of the party party it was dominated by the age 7 - 11 crowd.

Owen and Levi (my nephews), Makayla, L.J., Teagan and Myles.

While this was going on, the older teens - and Kim, keeping an eye on Makayla, as they had just arrived - sat nearby eating.

The Colliers. Myles went as that person-abducted-by-aliens thing you see sometimes, Elie as a prisoner, Teagan as Coookie Monster, and then Collier and Mees and Popeye and Olive Oyl.

Kim and Makayla, as Wednesday from The Addams Family aaaand. . . her mom. I forget the mom's name.

The older kids commandeer the karaoke setup downstairs. . .

My niece, Scarlett, helped me with assigning teams randomly to the brackets for our Beer Pong Tournament. I wrote numbers down on slips of paper and used my trusty Viking Drinking Helmet for people to draw out of. Scarlett carried the hat around to all the dads for them to draw forth their assigned position in the tournament, then afterwards walked around with the helmet on for awhile.

Rob, Tom and BP await their assigned positions in the tourney.

The Cannonball gets a selfie with Ella down in the basement.

Mees decorated a can coozie for Collier that was supposed to resemble a can of spinach (you know, because that's what Popeye eats when he needs to get all jacked up.) Well, turns out Mees doesn't know how to spell 'Spinach'. . .

Preparing for the first round of games. . .

While they set up the two tables we'd be using for the tournament, Alayna requested I get a pic of Lexi and her boyfriend, Kyle, who dressed up as Lex Luthor and Superman.

Our voting setup for this year, nearly identical to last year's. While I took nicer pics of people with my SLR, Kris took individual shots of people with one of the girls' old Polaroid cameras. She then paired them up so kids could see who the couples were when they voted.

We omitted ourselves from the competition this year. Figured it'd look bad if we won again at our own party (like we did two years ago.)

Kids continue to vote in six different costume categories.

Meanwhile, the tournament gets underway in the garage.

Jeff and Carissa square off against the Johnsons.

The high schoolers get ready to vote.

. . . and Jeff's kids.

At the other table, the MacLeods went up against Kris and Amy (Kris and I decided to split up and pair off with two single people in order to make things less awkward - I ended up with her friend, Kim, whose husband couldn't make it.)

The DeBoers, as Hank and Luane from King of the Hill. I neglected to get a 'proper' pic of their family this year, we all forgot about it.

Kris and Amy defeated the MacLeods in the first match, and Jeff and Carissa beat the Johnsons.

Another Round 1 game, the Nadgaudas played the Griffins.

The Colliers jumped in after their bye to play Jeff and Carissa.

Jeff and Carissa are pretty good at this, they beat the Colliers, too.

The Nadgaudas prevailed in the end.

The DeBoers played against the Keyes once the Griffins were defeated, finishing up the first round of games.

Kris gets a selfie in. Because it's Kris.

Sam wasn't super enthusiastic about playing in the tournament, but she was a good sport about it.

The Keyes did a full-family costume theme this year, which is impressive considering they have four or five kids or something.

The DeBoers ended up clinching the victory. . . but ultimately lost to Yours Truly and Kim in the second round.

The Bos family gears up to play.

Meanwhile, the middle school teens hang out in the living room.

I was so busy getting the tournament going - and taking pictures of everyone, and running the music, etc. - that I neglected to get pics of all the food we had on hand towards the beginning of the night. When I finally thought about it, a lot of it was picked through and several used up dishes were tossed in the trash.

Those potatoes didn't last long.

Most of the food on this table was already pillaged and tossed.

Rylen, Delia, and Audrey.

Amy delivers the finishing blow to the Boses.

To the victors go the spoils. Heading into the semi-finals, it was Kris and Amy, Jeff and Carissa, Yours Truly, and the Sheahans. The Hough blood is strong in the arts of beer pong, apparently.

The Keyes, as people from The Grinch.

Kim and I lost against the Sheahans (Susan is insanely good, for whatever reason), but Jeff and Carissa easily bested Kris and Amy.

While the last semi-final game was going, I had The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring playing on my workbench DVD player (the volume was down a bit because we had a party playlist blasting on my JBL speaker.) It's always the right time for this epic classic.

Abby takes a selfie with Lexi and Kyle in the basement.

With the tournament just about wrapped up, Kris and Sam set to work tallying up the kids' votes for the annual Costume Contest.

Mitch, Lonnie and Omkar hang out in the Study.

In the Championship Game, the Sheahans squared off against Jeff and Carissa (while my nephews learned the game on the neighboring table.)

Carissa is a stone-cold killer.

Baby Jeffy signs off on The Sheahans' death sentence.

Kris presents Jeff and Carissa with the tournament 'trophies' that she made (as a novelty prize - she was definitely in full-blown 'crafty' mode this year.)

The 2024 Beer Pong Tournament Champions.

Awaiting the contest results.

I'm glad Kris and Sam spearheaded the tallying of this. . .

Deanna and Omkar.

Collier, Lonnie, and Erik grazing in the kitchen.

With the votes tallied, we gathered everyone (minus a bunch of the kids, who were scattered in the basement, backyard, and everywhere else in between) for the reading of the results and the distribution of awards.

Some surprises this year, for sure - some couples realized that they needed to cater their costumes to a younger demographic in order to rake in more votes, and those that did so clearly reaped the profits.

Jeff takes home yet another frickin' championship trophy.

The Adults -- minus the Larsons, who arrived about ten minutes after we took this, and Kim, who we couldn't find.

A couple of the kids got a pic taken while I tested out my flash setup. Kinsley, Abby, Ella, Harper, and Scarlett.

Some of the kids. There were twice as many in attendance, but we couldn't wrangle them together, so this is the best we got.

The Larsons return to discover that they've won the Best Couple trophy for this year.

Our 2024 tournament bracket, detailing the series of battles that went down this evening (and also including Hindi script of some kind - Omkar got a hold of the marker at one point.)

The Holtys, who went as Addams Family characters as well.

With the Costume Contest and Beer Pong Tournament out of the way, and people still hankerin' to compete in something, we broke out Slap Cup in the garage. . .

A little quieter in the kitchen by this point in time.

These four weren't feeling quite up to jumping into another drinking game just yet. . .

(This game has a tendency of cutting through wives like Sherman to the Sea.)

Catching up with Omkar, who has been down in Indiana for the last three months.

The Knights of Pokemon. BP and his fam headed out shortly after we took this - like last year, they rented a hotel room in town so they wouldn't have to drive all the way down to Grand Rapids in the middle of the night.

Kids staring at electronics.

Kris and Courtney, taking a break from slapping cups and chugging White Claws.

Folks started to trickle off after midnight - the Keyes, the DeBoers, the Holtys, the Boses, the Sheahans, Jeff and Carissa, etc.

We held out with the Griffins, Larsons, Nadgaudas, Colliers, Johnsons, and Amy for another hour or so.

(Danielle's a big fan of this game.)

Brings out the awesome in everyone.

(I'm assuming they're discussing who's driving home - all of the couples I know that came had a similar conversation at one point or another.)

Danielle, Kris and Courtney.

The Real Housewives of Midland (sans Alicia, Kelli, and Susan.)

Aaaaaand this picture really sums it all up, gang. Everyone threw in the towel around 1:30am, and Kris and I spent about 45 minutes cleaning up debris and putting away food, at least enough to the point where we could go to bed without anything spoiling. This year was probably our most successful party to date, and, while we know of a couple things that we'll have to tweak for next year's party, everything went off without a hitch. Until next year, folks. . .

- Brian