How to: Halloween Boo.

I wrote about the Halloween Boo or Halloween Ghosting tradition last year. It's a fun little thing neighborhoods that like to create a sense of community do. Someone secretly leaves a little treat on your porch, with a poem and a sign to hang in your door. When you're Boo'd you then do the same at two other houses. Those people do the same at two more houses and pretty soon almost everyone in your neighborhood have "Boo" signs in their windows.

In our neighborhood there's one family who puts a sign that reads, "Jesus is the only Holy Ghost in this house."

Which says to everyone, "We don't want to have fun with you!"

This is kind of like an annoying chain letter. Except if you find it annoying, you should really not live in the suburbs. I don't find this tradition annoying at all and I shouldn't live in the suburbs.

If you don't live in a neighborhood you like, as we did for the first 8 years of Maddie's life, you can also follow Skip To My Lou's example and just boo people you know, in any neighborhood you feel like.

That sounds like fun, just dropping treats off at a random person's door. A lot like putting money in the meter next to you when the Parking Police are coming up their expired meter.

Last year I sent candy, Littlest Pet Shop toys and Dora Band Aids to our recipients. This year I saw a funny idea in Cookie Magazine (or maybe Parents, I can't find any reference online....but I read it at the dentist office anyway).

I set out on a journey to find black decorating sugar (check), Halloween cupcake paper liners (check) and hands one uses to make dolls. The doll hands turned out to be a little difficult to find locally. Actually they're not that easy to find online either, not for super cheap.

I ended up at the dollar store buying three $1 baby dolls and removing their hands. This didn't strike me as disturbing until I saw the picture I posted on Flickr. But hey, it's Halloween and it's supposed to be creepy.

I ended up with enough hands to Boo two houses. I put them through the dishwasher and then kept them in a bowl, (only for two days....seriously...it would have been less but Logan took the camera to work and forgot it over the weekend). And now looking at it, is also a little creepy. But hey! It's Halloween!

So I made a batch of cupcakes. I put them in these lovely boxes with labels and ribbon.

The boxes are from Michael's and so are the labels, although those are from the Martha collection.

Here is a close up of one of the labels. That's my handwriting, with less scribbling than usual.

On top, you ask? It's the note....it's coming (down below).

Inside the package was the really spooky stuff though.

Whoa. Spooky!

Here they are in all their spooky glory.....spooooky.....

Then here it is solo.

Scary. Getting these cupcakes would totally freak your shit out, right? You'd be all, "Oh My GOD!!!! Tiny hands emerging from delicious chocolate baked goods (WITH SPRINKLES!!!!)."

And then you'd eat the cupcake, leaving the hands behind. And they'd come alive in the night, crawling up the stairs to tickle you. OR KILL YOU.

This is scary stuff and that's why we chose to boo two families in our neighborhood with grown up kids. Little kids can't handle baby hands crawling up the stairs to tickle torture them.

 

Here are the Halloween Boo pages I attached to the packages. Feel free to use them to start your own Halloween Boo in your neighborhood.

This PDF includes the note explaining what it is, along with the sign you hang in your window so no one sends you more creepy cupcakes with hands coming out of them. (Download PDF here)

Comments

[HouseofJules]

I would crap my pants if I opened a box and there were tiny baby hands (or hands of any size, actually) reaching up for what I would assume to be their final destination of strangling my neck. The cupcakes look AWESOME, though. I totally want to live in your neighborhood.
Jules
House of Jules

[Calee]

1) Cupcakes = very creepy

2) I remember reading about the Boo-ing last year and wanted to do it in our neighborhood but was too chicken. Maybe I'll do it now.

3) Jesus isn't the Holy Ghost. They're seperate, right? Those neighbors aren't only boring, they're wrong!

Thanks for all the Halloween fun!

[Olly]

I LOVE the cupcakes. So would my mom. We are such big "Carrie" fans. I think we saw at least the end of that movie a dozen times or more - always clutching on to each other! Great idea, I'm gonna try it!

[De in D.C.]

We had a neighbor Boo us last week (would have been more secretive if the kids hadn't left it on the doorstep while I was sorting mail in the entryway with the door open, lol). Our neighborhood had never done this before, so I chose two neighbors that I thought would be good candidates for passing it along. So far I haven't seen any ghosts go up in their windows though, despite having printed out extras and a little note explaining what to do. *sigh*

My gifts weren't nearly as cute or scary as yours. I just put some cookies on a plate with a few of those Ghost Peeps that I happened to see at the store.

[mrsgryphon]

We just moved into a new neighbourhood, where we already knew some families on the street but haven't met many others yet... I think I will start this, and see if it spreads!! Thanks for sharing :)

[Allison]

You are such a cool mom/neighbor. I will have to file this away for when we live in the suburbs!

[Steph.]

HILARIOUS! I love those cupcakes! I love to Boo people and this year no one has gotten us yet. So, I may just have to up and start the thing myself instead. Baby arm cupcakes will be hard to top though, I must admit!

[tabatha]

Love the cupcakes! I may steal the idea :) thanks!!

[Elise]

There's no way I would eat a cupcake like that. Please don't move to my neighborhood.

[ashley]

Love the creepy cupcakes.

[Astrogirl426]

I love this! Hey, I was raised Catholic, and let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with Halloween, Catholic doctrine be damned (see what I did there? Heh heh heh).

Anywho, I love this idea. Only problem is, we live in the country so you can't see people's houses from the road, for the most part. So we might just go boo some people we know, just for the fun of it.

BTW did you know there's a line of Halloween treats that have "you've been boo-ed" as their theme? They're cute, but overpriced I think. Target carries them.

Love the cupcakes, AND the baby hands! And yes - spooky!!

[mom2werogers]

Can I just say I about crapped my pants and then laughed so hard I peed myself a bit looking at those cupcakes. That is by far THE BEST boo gift ever! And I so think I'm going to do that for the adults in my neighborhood!

[Allison]

Absolutely love the cupcakes and the presentation of it all.

[Alana]

I loved your cupcakes. I've been wanting to start this tradition with my neighbors, and your signs all ready to go may just spur me to do that. Let us know what you get in return.

[Kelly]

Once again, I'm wishing I were your neighbor. Very clever "Boo" idea!

[Bananadoc]

We get so excited at putting together goody bags for boo-ing the neighbors. The kids love doing it and so do I. We're planning to do ours this weekend sometime to spread the fun early. I think I'm going to skip on the baby hands cup cakes though...

[Bananadoc]

We get so excited at putting together goody bags for boo-ing the neighbors. The kids love doing it and so do I. We're planning to do ours this weekend sometime to spread the fun early. I think I'm going to skip on the baby hands cup cakes though...

[lisa]

Man, wish you would have posted that a week ago...I so would have stolen it! I'll file it away for next year.

We were boo-ed for the first time ever last week. Just some candy and treats, but it was fun. I boo-ed our new neighbor across the street who is still moving in, it could have gone either way, luckily they seemed to like it (we saw them discover the bag in the morning) and I can see the sign on their front door. I never realized how fun it all could be!

[Jamie]

Those cupcakes are awesome! Not only do we "boo" in our neighborhood, we "bewitch". The bewitching involves leaving a small bottle of an adult beverage at a neighbors house. It's even more fun than cupcakes.

[karla]

Someone did the Boo thing on our cul de sac a couple yrs ago and I thought it was fab! But this dummy mom down the street was all "Oh no! What if it's poison left by some psycho?!?" I told her that she really needed to get a grip. No one's done it since. Such a kill joy. BTW... I'm going to totally steal your cupcake idea - wait is it covered under your copyright?

[kim]

My neighborhood does something similar at Christmas called "Decked and Jingled".
Very fun.

[Andrea in IN]

FUN! Those cupcakes came out awesome! I just blogged about our n'hood Booing this week too! :)

www.morethanjustcorn.com

[carlarey]

Fortunately, I hang around with the sort of sick people who find dismemberment funny...I'm off to the store for body parts!

[Aimee Greeblemonkey]

We did the boo-ing thing for several years in my office, it was a blast!

[Celina]

Those are seriously the greatest cupcakes ever! Thanks for another truly creative, festive idea!

[Barb]

These are great.

[Lisa V]

We have a Halloween party this weekend and I'm supposed to bring a cake for a cake walk. I think a dozen of these will fill the bill. Thanks.

[Cindy]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE those cupcakes!

Thanks so much for linking to be about "BOOING" we have a new version for this year. You can see it here:
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/01/how-to-start-the-boo-in-your-neighborhood/

Thanks again!
Cindy

[Plumwin]

I hope Elise is kidding. If not? Please. Ohhhhhh, scary cupcakes! Get a grip and relax a bit, Elise. I bet you're a ton of fun!

[bokker]

Fab cakes and tradition- it's all brilliantly American. In Britain you're lucky if you get a teenager in a cheap Scream mask asking for a cigarette.

Hoping not to sound like a suck-up, but...
After reading your recent posts, I'm very much in admiration of the way you work hard to make your children's lives so very different from your own childhood. The little things, like this Boo thing, and the craft projects you do with them, are examples of this.It's inspiring and moving.

I never thought that creepy doll hands coming out of cakes could make me feel teary.

[Kris]

Okay, you've inspired me to quit bitching about my unsocial neighborhood and do something about it. I'm going to Boo my neighbors this weekend -- wish me luck! Oh, and I love the cupcakes -- fantastically creepy!

[Kim]

We had a pair of baby doll hands right outside of our front door for years. My girls made one of those scary bottle dolls and we sat it in the dirt outside the door. Pretty soon, the spinklers destroyed the bottle and the hands were left. We propped them up in the dirt. I think you should download a Jesus picture and ghost the "no fun" family with a holy picture and cupcake. Tell'em the hand is actually Jesus coming to save them. You could have fun with it.

[Dana]

Thanks for reminding me about Boo-ing! 12 months is too long for me to remember such things.

And your cupcakes? Creepy. I love them!

[Cat]

I love this idea. LOVE! I am going to Boo two random neighbors in my apartment building and several in my office. It will be fun to see if people pass the Boo's along! Great cupcakes, super creepy! I might just decorate some pumpkins instead so the random neighbors aren't afraid of what they might be ingesting...

[Yensid]

How cool, Melissa!

Those look like some cupcakes that Tim Burton would make!!!

Love them. :-)

[schmutzie]

You are being featured on Five Star Friday:
http://www.fivestarfriday.com/2008/10/five-star-friday-edition-28.html

[brandi]

Oh my goodness, I love your blog! What a great idea for halloween...I`m trying it out this weekend :) We just moved to the suburbs and this this be a good way for me to at least get a little bit of entertainment...

[Meg]

How fun! Those are seriously the best Halloween cupcakes I've ever seen. What a great idea!

[Carrie Ann Fuller]

those cupcakes are great! I wish I lived on *your* block!

[Jenny]

My 6-year-old son and I did our first booing this weekend to two of his friends with your printouts. Grandma helped me bake cut out cookies which I put in little cello baggies, I did a cupcake for each recipient in an orange Chinese take out container from Michael's.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennypeters/2956862900/

Aside from a silly idea to try to frost the cookies with Royal Icing a la Eleni's (bad idea), and my son playing Legos the entire time we baked, it was fun - and quite a little adrenaline rush to ring the doorbell and run. I told him if his friend at school asks him about it to respond, "I have no idea what you're talking about...". How long do you think that will last with two kindergartners?

[Anne]

I wish our neighborhood did this - we tried to start it two years ago, and nobody ever put the signs up or anything.

[FrancaBollo]

The tenancy in the building where I have my graphic design studio as turned over completely since I moved in (except for one space). I've gone from knowing everyone well to barely saying 'hello' to anyone. So, as a step in remedying the current situation, this Halloween I'm leaving a box of your cupcakes at every studio door with a note reading, "Reaching out to you this Halloween!" Thanks Melissa!

(And thanks, too, for your posts regarding your childhood. The relief that can be obtained by bringing one's issues/deep fears out into the light is real. Not a complete cure, for sure, but a huge step in that direction.)

[Karin]

Oh I am totally going to do this (only we're boo'ing people here at work) and my cupcakes will look like bloodshot eyeballs!

Iced in white with a black jellybean placed in the middle using red gel icing for the "bloodshot" look! Can you just imagine opening the box and seeing those peepers looking at you?

TeeHee! I can't wait!

[maggie]

those cupcakes are AWESOME! and freaky!

[Melissa]

You just gave me a great idea! I don't think it would fly in my crappy neighborhood, but I work in a big cubicle-filled office suite populated primarily by women. I think I'll figure out some kind of fun pass-it-on type thing to do with my cube "neighbors". Even if it's too late for me to figure out a Halloween-themed one, it'll still be fun as just a general autumnal/holiday season thing to do. Aww, thanks lady!

[Jackie]

I just saw this piece in the Op-ed section of my local newspaper... It totally made me think of your post about "Booing"
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opjah235894177oct23,0,4179300.story
The article is about overdoing it at Halloween, but just check out the end of the article and the alternative for adults to Booing -- BOOZING!!! LOL