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Let me hug you for a moment. Good. I'm not in the mood. Oh, let's start from the beginning. Hello, I'm Anna. I'm the " most ordinary" mom in the world, and as you know, I love to delegate tasks to my kids that are usually done by adults and let them make decisions for our family, just to see what happens. For the sake of the experiment. So, you know we usually have a Halloween party? Yes. I know it's a little early, but I'm already in the mood for Halloween. As soon as school starts, I'm ready to celebrate Halloween, and I usually plan everything out, and I usually choose a theme for our costumes. I decided to have an
early celebration. I want to throw a party. I want to let the kids plan it from start to finish, and I want to see what happens. You choose everything for Halloween, costumes for our party. I want to do it tomorrow. Tomorrow? Tomorrow. Thanks to my friends at LG for sending me some products to help plan a great Halloween party. If you remember, a long time ago, when I was pregnant with Henry, I let the kids plan my baby shower, and they made it a poop" theme. The cake looked like a cat litter box where they had put something like Tootsie Rolls candies. It will only get better from now on. Is this perfect, or perhaps "what- perfect"?
What do you need, Lenny? What? I need a notebook. Oh, you need a notebook. Down. No, Henry, this is your school notebook. No, no, no, no, no. I have another notebook. Put this back in your room. I hope they choose a theme, any details regarding decor, food, something like that. I would like them to choose a theme for the costumes we will all wear. So, you have to choose a topic. Hey, a theme for the party, a theme for the food, a theme for the costumes. And I won't fix it. A Yes, that's exactly what I said. I like it. We can make, for example, a haunted house. A or a spooky cemetery?
I want to dress up as a ballerina. A ballerina? Okay, haunted house or ballerina? Ballerina. He is, as we just said, a sea monster. Like those big poops. What if we had a sea monster party? Okay, now for the decor. Well, those things that hang down, and we can take the blue, shiny ribbons. You mean serpentine, right? Now that I have a plan, I need to figure out how to even throw a sea monster Halloween party. I've never heard of such a thing.
I've only heard about children's birthday parties in the "underwater world" style. How do I add monsters there? Can I do this? Underwater "sea-r- r" world. Underwater marine? This is for a haunted house. Oh, is this going to the haunted house? Yes. Beloved. It's dark there. No, no, no. Okay, don't blind yourself. What would a sea monster eat? Um, seaweed. Oh, seaweed.
Sea urchin. Um, sea urchin. I don't know if I can find one. Mom, I did it, Mom. And then a Pina Colada? I want a pina colada. I need apple pie. I need a green apple pie. Everyone is acting too crazy right now. I think this is too much for all of us. While these challenges help me get to know my children better, allow them to express themselves creatively, and try new things, they have also made me less vulnerable to stressful situations, so there's little that can derail me. I'm just going with the flow. They have sushi, seaweed, crab, sea urchin. I don't know where I'll get it.
Pina colada. Mussels, edamame, pina colada cocktails. What is this? Lots of bruschetta. Enough for you. Who's adding a bunch of bruschetta, Wyatt? How are you guys? I once taught him how to cook it, and now it's his whole personality. So there we have it: A sea monster- themed Halloween party with mussels, crab, sushi, shrimp, and bruschetta. Good. Wyatt, do you want to choose a costume theme? I don't know. There aren't many options when you have to do it yourself. It opens up a lot of possibilities when you do it yourself, Wyatt.
How are you going to make a costume that looks like it's from "Spirit Halloween" or something? Well, every year we shop at Spirit Halloween and someone else has the same costume. Who is your favorite character from the movie? Oh, maybe we'll choose our favorite movie characters? That would be cool. Yes. Favorite movie characters, Lenny? I want to be a character in a horror movie. You can be a character in a scary movie. Okay, so did you write down the costume theme? Who do you want to be for Halloween? Who is your favorite character in the movie, Lenny?
Barbie. This is a good choice. I will choose Barbie. Ballerina Barbie? I want to be a cat for Halloween. Do you want to be a cat? I thought you wanted to be a ballerina Barbie. I want to be a TV. Good. Let's think about our suits, because I need to start looking for them secondhand now. How about doing it tomorrow? Good. So the first thing I want to do is head straight to the thrift store to try to find us some suits.
Remember, these are movie characters. I would like you to guess who it is. I think it would be interesting to see if we managed to embody our images. We're trying to get out to go costume shopping, but we have a little argument. That's where we disagree-on shoes, okay? You'll have to wear regular shoes, sorry, honey. You can't wear that. Right now we only have a rough idea of what we want to be, but we like to go to a thrift store and let it guide us because you never know what you'll find.
We're at our first stop, and we decided to just let the store suggest what costumes we could put together. We have ideas, but here's your inspiration. She looks creepy there. So, we arrive at the store, and everyone goes their separate ways. We're all here with our own tasks, and I can't find anything. All you found was a Nerf blaster. Yes, that's what I found. She took the toy. You took Cool. A T-shirt. Well, a T-shirt with the band on it, but I also took a green shirt. Then you found nothing. This fits the sea monster theme. $35 for a second-
hand dress? Delirium. What is going on? We carefully go through everything, trying to find quality items that can be reused. Slowly but surely, the others' costumes began to come together. The first stop was quite successful. We found most of Henry's costume, most of Lenny's, some for Wyatt, some for Jackson. I found absolutely nothing. But my God, the prices. $12.99 for a shirt? This is just madness. If your second-hand store hasn't started inflating prices yet, write about it in the comments. Actually, no. Keep it a secret. Don't tell anyone. We don't want to spoil it for you. Every time we go to the thrift store, Lenny wants to buy some disgusting broken toy that still has the $8 price tag on it. We are going to stop at one more place to
try to find the rest of our things. I still have no idea what I'm doing. Sorry. Come on. I decided to make one last attempt at a thrift store and I did indeed find this peasant- style top. I don't know what else to call it. And that gave me a great idea for a costume. So I feel very good. I don't even know what kind of material this is. It does not have a care instruction tag. I'm too afraid to wash him because if he sits down even a little, he won't get on me. I feel like I'm squeezing myself into this shirt. I have a bunch of all sorts of things that need to be washed. How do I do that? No, this is not a mirror. This is my convenient, as I call it, magic closet. This is the LG Styler. And that's why use it to do so much with my clothes. It
eliminates odors. Performs steam disinfection. Smoothes wrinkles. Refreshing. All those clothes that you don't want to wash in the machine often can be put here to make them smell nice. She will remove the wrinkles. It even has a section to turn the arrows on your pants. This is done using steam technology, and it's great if you have clothes made of specific fabrics or you use dry cleaning and don't want to use all those chemicals. Disinfecting used clothes is my main concern when it comes to secondhand clothes, and it's just a huge relief to know that they're clean and disinfected. So, let's take those secondhand things I bought for the costumes and put them here so they're
nice and clean and ready for tomorrow. I have started the intensive refresh mode, steam is being prepared. And you can turn on the dehumidification if it gets too humid inside. This thing is just incredible. With the LG Styler, I don't have to spend countless hours ironing, which makes my life much easier, and now I can focus on what I need to do next. Now that everything is ready, I can go to the baseball game because I'm in charge of the music for the players to come out to the team, and it will do all the work for me so I can come back and find all the costumes ready to put everything together. Now that we have costumes, it's time to choose jewelry, and I decided to just take the kids with me. Where are we going? To the dollar store. They
will all beg for some treats. Yes, they will beg for toys and snacks. That's why I took all my savings, $9. My God Oh, look at this. We are buying decorations for our sea monster party. I have a feeling we'll find the cool stuff we need here. But the thing is, when my kids go to the dollar store, they feel like millionaires. Look at the crazy things I buy. Mine has a blue color. Mine has a blue one. What is this? There is a blue color there. I always wanted this.
I would say about 80% of what we bought wasn't Halloween decor, but it's actually really fun to bring kids into a store like this and say, " Go ahead." " Take whatever you want." Because in the end it comes out to a maximum of 20 bucks. So, it's time to start making decorations. I had a brilliant idea: take paper lanterns, cut them in half, and hang them with rain and glitter to make them look like jellyfish. I haven't really thought this through. Let's take a look. The topic of sea monsters is becoming increasingly ambiguous. I don't quite understand what that means. I have visions of underwater creatures in my head.
. So if I take a paper lantern and attach ribbons to it, it might look like a jellyfish. And they look like sea monsters, right? They can sting you. So cute. I just made this one silver. I think they look very nice. And then I think: if I hang a jellyfish, I can take balloons and, instead of an arch, make giant tentacles, like a giant squid, and that will be the entrance to the dining room. Honestly, I'm pretty proud of my idea, but here's the thing: they work in my head, but whether they work in real life is unknown. I need to show them my "Stand By Me". I'm going to waste time watching this show. "Stand By Me" makes stressful things relaxing. I
can have the show on in the background while I work, reducing the stress and mental strain of planning this party. "Stand By Me" travels with me: from room to room, from case to case, it's on wheels. You just roll it with you wherever you go, and that's the best part for me because I take this thing everywhere. I even take it with me to the bathroom. Luckily, a friend lent me a balloon pump. This is the only way to inflate them, because your girlfriend has asthma. I'm not blowing up any balloons these days. I have amnesia about balloons, and every time I start to blow them up, I get covered in snow. Oh, I hate this. It's always difficult for me. This is the worst, and then I've already started, I've already taken on it. So I'm
stuck. But I'm hanging one and I'm done for today. It's already two in the morning. Time to sleep. I'm done for today. Yes. Probably a good idea. So, the next morning, um, I wake up. All of this completely blew away overnight. I have no idea what it was supposed to be. This seems so ridiculous. It doesn't look like a tentacle at all. They are deflating. They fall. Everything is collapsing. I secure one side, and then I have to secure the other. I don't like balloons. Oh my God. Oh, that was so scary. You don't like anything that bursts, do you? Anyone who knows me will tell you that. I hate popping. I hate them. I can't open a bottle of prosecco or champagne.
Literally, I'll give it to Matt and leave the room. I can't even be in the room when something explodes. I don't want to do this anymore. Do I really need them? They don't even look like tentacles. Yes, similar. No, I do n't need them at all. Everyone saw how exhausted I was from making these ornaments. No one says a word to me about this. I think they're afraid it'll throw me off balance and I'll just have a nervous breakdown. No. I'm done with them. I'm getting rid of them. All. Get rid of them. Ah. I've had enough. No balls. I'll start from the beginning A.
Why did I do that? The beginning is not very good, but today is the day of the party. So I need a change of mood, and to be honest, throwing the balls was a little bit of fun, you know? That really made me feel a little better. And I don't even have time to whine or cry because I have to start cooking. We are doing the last things because we need a few more ingredients and then I can start cooking and preparing the kitchen. Do you know why we are here? What? Shrimp cocktail. What did we choose for the party? All. You know, you're angry with me. Well, Lenny chose cupcakes.
No. Maybe we should add some candy? Good. I'm at home, she's in a bad mood. I still need to cook. And it's a good thing my assistant is with me. I take it out and say to the kids, "Hey guys, can you do me a favor? Can you make a welcome sign for a party in this art app? This didn't work out very well either. There was no cooperation No. That's it. Click "OK". What is our rule when we use this? Please. No fights. Let me hug you for a minute. Okay, let's try again. I'm not running it. I'm running out of strength, so I'm starting to feel very stressed. Okay, we need to start cooking. And one thing I'm so happy about is that they're
fighting through these classes and not rotting in front of the TV. Needless to say, Lenny needs to get some sleep before that. She doesn't really want to cooperate. But I have a block of cream cheese. I have crab meat. I'll just do this, this, a little cheese, a little garlic powder. Don't pick your nose, please. If given a choice, children will almost always choose seafood. They adore them. So, of course, there's sea urchin, sea bream on the menu. Where can I get sea bream?
Crab, scallops, shrimp, Jackson's famous bruschetta. And I had another interesting idea for the menu. I was at an estate sale and found these vintage baking shells. I learned a lot about them: they're real shells, they're safe to bake in and eat from, they're great for crab. What's that called? How was it? Crab. Yeah, but the crab.I don't remember what they called it, but something like crab mixture or scallops, something like that. So I'll start with eight, and then I'll make four more and bake them in the evening. I decided to make a crab meat and cream cheese filling to fill these shells and bake them. Mm, crab claws. So, now let's just mix it all together. What else do I need to prepare? Oh, combs. As I start planning the order of
cooking the dishes, I decide to order sushi. I'm not going to go looking for sea urchins, cleaning them, and splitting them. I do n't even know where to find them. I know exactly where to get them, at Henry's favorite sushi restaurant. So I order sushi with salmon, sea bream, which fortunately they also have, and sea urchin, and it's no longer my concern. Claws of a hair crab. Let's see what you can get for $37. Oh, wow. I think I should just boil them. I have a small dish of butter-breaded scallops that I want to put in the oven, and once it's there, we'll get started. I have wild- caught sea scallops. I'll rinse them.
I'll make sure they're well dried. I have some melted butter. Wow, that's a lot. It's breadcrumbs, parmesan, and a bunch of spices. Yes, I should make my own cupcakes. Yes, I know. Was I in the mood today? Not particularly. After the bullet fiasco, I'm just going with what's easier. So, the food is in the oven. Time to put on costumes. One thing about parties and other things I throw: I hate the fact that I have to get ready because it takes up time that I should be spending on other things. Since I couldn't find a purple waist scarf for Wyatt's costume, I'll just cut off the bottom of this one and he can tie it.
It cost $2 secondhand. Purple Easter eggs. Let's get dressed. Mind you, I've already put all these clothes in the styler, so they're deodorized and smoothed out. Technically it's called an LG styler, but I call it my magic closet. Not only did he clean this silk shirt to perfect condition, but he also smoothed out all the wrinkles at the same time. I always have last-minute alterations. I have to cut off Wyatt's sleeves. How much shorter should I cut the collar? Probably so, right? Let me see what it should look like. OK. So, Lenny changes clothes about six times, and then finally settles on a very pink, fluffy dress. And now for the costume show, but I
won't tell you who they are. I would be happy if you would comment and guess who is who. Remember, the topic is movie heroes. So, they are all characters from movies. All that was left was to arrange the rest of the dishes, and I had such a lovely table setting. I received so much help from friends and family. Honestly, I borrowed so many things from friends and family so I would n't have to buy everything at once, throw a nice party, and then have to store a bunch of everything. I thought this vase on a leg looked like an anemone, or some kind of anemone mushroom, but I like the way the table looks. They came out so cute.
I'll just add some green onions. The sushi has arrived. Oh, and I still need to pick up the mussels. Do you want it now? Wait. Do you want some kapa maki? Is that all? Kapa-maki. I got some sea bream for Wyatt. I'm going to throw them in. Like this. Do you see this? Time for guests to arrive and celebrate. The food was simply a hit. I, I'm so surprised that the crab legs turned out just incredible.
I don't know how to cook them. I don't know what I did. Everyone liked it. Everyone found something for themselves. Everything was so special, quite exquisite, to be honest. It was ideal to cook food in small batches so that there wasn't too much of anything at once. And everyone had a great time. I've received so many compliments about the jellyfish. We forgot about those special drinks and I just sprinkled coconut cream everywhere. So, we have ice cream. They asked for a pina colada float. Oh my God. Where do you need to go? Cheers. We're having a little party. There were n't many people, at first there were six of us. So remember that all invitees are added to these six. But nothing crazy.
What better way to end a party than with some good old karaoke? I have a cheap little karaoke speaker with microphones. It's so much fun because kids love it too. Lenny loves to sing duets with me, or we do it like this: I sing and she dances. Oh, this is just so much fun. We had to end the karaoke night. Eat this. No, I'm kidding. Eat this. And then slowly throw it away. We clean up after the party and he's still loading clothes into the steamer. He has a whole pile of clothes that he hasn't had time to wash yet. That's all for today. I'm Anna and I'm so curious what you think about planning a kids' Halloween party? And how do you think I did it? Write in the comments or you can write to me
on Instagram if you would like to see anything else in this series. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go and shave this pathetic semblance of a mustache. Until the next meeting.
