I don't know what it is about Halloween. Maybe it was the fact that my Dad was born in the USA. Maybe it's just because I have a weird sense of humour. Maybe it's because I just like creating things where I have complete creative licence. But Halloween has always appealed to me. Not in a religious sense, but from a creative perspective. For as long as I can remember I have been wanting to have a Halloween Party. The main thing stopping me for many many years was not having a supportive partner who would allow me the freedom to do it. Thankfully these days I do have an amazing partner who not only supports, but assists me in achieving my weird and wonderful fantasies. Without him, none of this would have been possible.

We had our first "Boorongarook" Halloween Party (a play of words on the area we live in which is actually Barongarook) in 2011 and it exceeded every one of my expectations. Given Halloween isn't really a big thing in Australia, I think what we presented to our guests that year, it was a lot bigger than they were expecting. In 2012 we took it up a notch further, and for 2013 I think we even exceeded those expectations. 2014 unfortunately we didn't have the opportunity to do our thing. Health issues and and having our house on the market prevented us from pursuing our hopes of a bigger and better event. And unfortunately 2015 is presenting its own challenges again due to having the house on the market. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting in touch with my inner builder in creating so many of the props we have used to scare the crap out of our friends! It has been an even bigger pleasure to see the props used to raise funds for both the local Scout Group and also when loaned to a friend in Geelong - to help raise funds for a local school. For me though, the greatest gift is in both the wonder and the nervous laughter that comes from the events we have held. It's really something to connect with people.

2011

2012

2013