GENERAL PLANS
- COSTUMES -- Of course, we're all going to wear costumes! Remember, your costume should be something that is easy to move/run in. This year, something a little spooky might be good because of our plans for a Haunted Walk (see next thing on this list!). If you already have a great costume planned that is NOT spooky, don't worry! It will be just fine.
- HAUNTED WALK -- We are going to make a spooky experience for our neighborhood's kodomokai kids, who will be coming by our house in their trick or treat event. They will probably be coming through the garden between 6:30 and 7:30. The idea is to make a kind of "haunted walk" from our parking lot up to the house and out the back gate. Please remember that these are ELEMENTARY school kids (sometimes with their very young brothers and sisters) so we can't be TOO scary (OK, Jojo?!).
- FOOD -- at our Halloween parties in the past, we didn't usually have a big dinner, but this time let's eat together!! I'm going to make a big pot of soup (STONE soup?!), and it would be great if each family could bring a dish to share. We will provide mugi cha, but if you want something else to drink, please bring it. (Adults, feel free to bring beer or wine if you like.)
- GAMES -- As usual, we want to play some crazy games!! Maya and Sophie are busy planning... some old favorites are on the list -- The Doughnut Race and Wink Murder -- and we have some new ideas, too.
SCHEDULE
If possible, we'd like everyone to gather at our place at 5:30. If you are free to come a little earlier, that's ok! We need to set up some things for our "Haunted Walk", so if someone is free to help, that would be great. After that, we are not sure about the schedule... we have to figure out the timing of all of our activities. When should we eat?! Let's think about that a little more...
PREPARATION
We haven't been studying for several months, so I thought this would be a great chance to get you to practice WRITING!! YAY!!! One thing we are going to do is the BEST SCARY STORY activity. Choose ONE of these story openings and finish it! We'll read them at the party ... in the dark ... WOOOooooooo... You can send the story to me by e-mail or just bring it with you to the party. (If sisters and brothers want to work together on this, that's ok!)
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Story 1
Something really scary happened to me and my friends last year when we were out camping. We decided to go on a little hike after dinner. It wasn't dark yet, so we started to climb up a mountain near the campground. After a while, my friend Chris called out, "Hey! Check this out!" We ran over to him and saw that he had found a door built as an entrance to what looked like a cave. "Cool!" said Megan, another friend. "Wow," I said, "I wonder what's in there?" Chris said, "Let's go look!"
We all slowly entered the cave. We stood at the door for a while, letting our eyes adjust to the gloomy darkness. While we were standing there, I heard a voice. It wasn't Chris' voice or Megan's voice. It was a man's voice and it whispered, "We have visssssitorsss..."
Just as I was turning to see where the voice came from, I heard the door behind me slam shut! I ran to it and tried to push it open but, of course, it was locked. Now we had to go on; we could not turn back . . . . Chris and Megan called softly to me and I groped my way toward them in the dark. "I think we can still make it if we just stick together and don't panic," Megan cautioned. She put something into our hands and said, "Here, let's use my belt to keep us together. We can each hold onto part of it as we walk along. Even if we can't see, we can at least know where ..." The belt flew out of my hands as Megan's voice fell away beneath us! I fumbled in the dark for a second and then said, "Darn it! Why didn't I think of this before?" I reached into my pocket and produced...
(Click HERE to download a document you can print out and use to finish this story.)
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Story 2
Last winter my parents gave me a surprise Christmas present. It was a month's stay at a winter camp in the countryside near the city where I live. I had never heard of the camp, but the brochure looked really interesting. It described a lot of fun activities like sledding, ice skating and crafts. I was really looking forward to going, because my friends Mike and Lily decided to go there, too. We said goodbye to our parents in the school parking lot, where the camp's bus came to pick us up. The bus driver - he said his name was Chester - was a little strange. He had buggy eyes and he drooled a little sometimes -- but he seemed nice enough, so we settled in on the bus.
We drove for about two hours. The road became narrow and winding, and we seemed to be getting very far from any towns or houses. The snow was piled high on both sides of the road. When we arrived at the camp, it was strangely quiet. There seemed to be a big main lodge, with some cabins around the shore of a small lake, where we could see a spot had been cleared for ice skating. The driver pointed to the lodge. He told me, Mike and Lily to take our bags up to the lodge. He sent the other kids to the cabins.
My friends and I went to the lodge and opened the creaky front door. Nobody was there, so we stepped inside and put our bags down. Just then a door opened to the left. A person came out of the door, but we had never seen anyone like him before. He was deeply bent over, with a large hump on his back. His body was shaped like a question mark.
The hunchbacked figure motioned to us to follow him, and we walked behind him down the hallway, our teeth chattering. The hunchback turned and looked at us. He laughed softly and said, "Don't fall behind. People have gotten lost in these hallways and starved to death before they were found . . . hee-hee-hee!"
He led us into a huge room where a whole tree was blazing in the fireplace. I noticed some golden eyes glowing in the far-off corner. "Don't be worried, my dear," our host assured me, "that is just Fiona and she's not one bit hungry. She ate an entire piglet just this morning." At the sound of the hunchback's voice, Fiona growled sweetly. "I will be back shortly with some hot chocolate. You warm yourselves by the fire until I return." He turned sharply, and with narrowed eyes, warned us: "But do not attempt to leave this room..."
(Click HERE to download a document you can print out and use to finish this story.)
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