YOU in Wonderland

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!

My haunt in 2009 was inspired by the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland. It hadn't yet been released, so we went with a more classic style for our haunted house.

I had the rare treat of entertaining my sister and her family this year for Halloween. I told everyone that my sister has more creativity in her pinky finger than I have in my whole body. She is truly amazing.

As guests arrived, I had a note on the door that asked them to wait on the porch. As they waited, I came scampering by dressed as the white rabbit and hollering that I was late. I encouraged them to follow me as I ran around the house to the garage where I had a tunnel set up for the kids to crawl through.

As guests crawled through the tunnel, I ran ahead and went inside. There, I changed as fast as I could into the Cheshire Cat. Much of my costume was the same as the rabbit's, but I still often had to keep kids from entering until I was ready.

Then, I led them through Tulgey Wood as the Cheshire Cat. We have an electronic dog that sits up and moves on command, so I dressed it up as the jabberwocky. Unfortunately, it seldom worked quite how I wanted it to, but I think the kids were impressed that it moved on its own.

This is the caterpillar, located in Tulgey Wood. We also had stuffed mushrooms, and we used a black light I bought a few years back to make everything glow and look funky.

After Tulgey Wood, I led the kids to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. My sister played the part of the Mad Hatter and did a fantastic job! She was hilarious!

While she entertained the troops and asked them questions like "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" I ran backstage to change again, back into the white rabbit.

When I was ready, I came running through the tea party, jumping around frantically and hollering how late I was. The mad hatter encouraged the kids to follow me as I raced out the back door.

My oldest daughter made her debut in the spook house this year, since she was really getting too old for trick or treating. She played the Queen of Heart, playing croquet on the back lawn. She did a great job acting her part!

By the time the guests came outside, the white rabbit had disappeared. Yes, I got to change once again (I really got my exercise in that night!). As the Queen tried to get someone to play croquet with her, I snuck up behind her, dressed as the cat.

The Mad Hatter had come out with the guests, and tried to warn the Queen that the Cheshire Cat was behind her. The Queen looked everywhere, and when she bent over to look back and behind her, the Cheshire Cat (me), pulled the Queen's dress up over her head.

Cackling and laughing, I told the guests to run, because we were in for it now. We all raced away back toward the garage, where we escaped from the angry Queen. That's where I gave them little cakes with frosting that said "Eat Me" on the wrapper and sent them on their way.

All in all, it was one of my favorite haunts!