Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Dreaded Annual Halloween Carnival

We have had kids at our beloved elementary school for more than five years now.  And I say beloved because it really is beloved, not just because I'm on the PTA and being coerced to say so.  I really do love it.  But it was in the first year, right off the bat, that we discovered that we are not big fans of the annual Halloween Carnival.  It's only once a year but we dread it for months.  It's hectic and crowded, the hallways crammed hip to hip with children and parents, many of whom have ignored the "no weapons" and "no masks" rules.  Of course, those rules are only really problematic when the 6'5" father of a kindergartener is the one breaking them.  Then it's completely freaky.  You find yourself wishing you could whisk yourself away to someplace calm and peaceful like Target or Walmart on Black Friday morning.

And then...I went and joined the PTA and became the lady who has to beg and plead with all the other parents to come volunteer at this nutty event.  For two years I spent Halloween Carnival sweating in the conference room trying to organize the arriving (and heaven-sent) volunteers while panicking about the spots I wasn't able to fill.  Simultaneously my husband plus Peter and Sheri (who were magically here to help two years in a row) were out in the madhouse halls trying to keep track of the kids and meet all of their desires and expectations.  It wasn't always that fun.  For anyone. Except the kids who adore it, thus our continued attendance.

Now I am in my third year of filling this Volunteer Coordinator position and people keep asking me WHY WHY WHY I keep doing it.  I'll tell you. It was a really steep learning curve those first couple of years and now I want to actually do what I have learned how to do.  Make sense?  Not really?  Well, let me give you an example.  How about....the dreaded annual Halloween Carnival.

It turns out that I actually learned a few things over the past two years and this year it wasn't so bad. Did you hear me?  It went from DREADFUL to not so bad!  That is a huge improvement!  It still isn't my favorite event of the year (which begs the question...which event is?  Ask me later). But my kids adore it.  We had fun.  I was organized enough that I actually got to leave the conference room for large chunks at a time and watch my kids compete in the costume contest (I never knew before that is one of those "everybody wins!" kind of things) and take them around to a game or two.  I even made sure I had a cute niece to help my kids when I was busy so that Troy didn't have to come and suffer through the whole thing.  It was great.  At least comparatively.

Okay, I sound like a spoil sport, like the Grinch of Halloween.  Well....Bring it on.


My Medusa!

With a best (and creepy) buddy

Fuzzy shot of the costume contest

Best In Show Costumes - couldn't get over these guys.  I think they made national news.

Cake Walk Winners!  (That thing is still sitting in our fridge with just a couple of slices missing....)

Hanging in the Conference Room with my friend's adorable chubby son
My friend Emily puts a ton of work into her family's costumes every year, and though this isn't a great shot, you can see some Monster's University players there.  What an awesome family.


Huh.  I just noticed that Stomper escaped my camera completely.  Now that he's a big old 5th grader he doesn't need a lot of leading around - he just took off and chased cute 5th grade girls all evening long.  Sigh.  I have fond memories of doing just that long long ago before I got bitter and old about Halloween....maybe all that's changing!  Maybe one of these years I'll be spirited and dress up and everything!  Never mind, I take it back.  Can't see it happening.  But in the meantime, if carnivals go as smoothly as this one did I will come back year after year.

1 comment:

Misty said...

You go, Miss PTA! Love it. :)