Yesterday, the rescue held its annual cat extravaganza. Each year the cattery is decorated, Halloween style, and opened to the public. My job was to do the face painting [as usual] and to judge the worst witch and best wizard competitions. The kids love the cat extravaganza so it’s always well attended.
The face painting takes place in one of the cat enclosures that houses up to twelve cats. But as soon as I get the face paints out the cats jump on them and knock them all off, and, I usually have one or two fighting for a place on my knee. Of course all this palaver doesn’t make face painting easy!
Before the public come in, I have to paint the staff’s faces…I have no idea what I was painting here though!!!! I think I got a bit carried away.
Yesterday the weather was AWFUL, it never stopped raining, not even for five minutes, and it was absolutely FREEZING. I was desperate to put my gloves on but it’s impossible to face paint wearing them. I thought I’d end up with frostbite…..at one point I had no feeling at all in my right hand! O.K…..maybe I am a drama queen!
This game went down a storm. It’s called brains and eyeballs. We cook a load of spaghetti, and pop lots of plastic spiders and bugs in it. Then we hide ping-pong balls and white plastic eyeballs in it. The kids are then blindfolded and have to root around in the spaghetti. If they find an eyeball they win a prize. You wouldn’t believe how popular this is, it raised £50 quid and that’s at fifty pence a go.
Another really popular game was a paddling pool full of apples. Half of them were hollowed out at the bottom, and the kids had to pick one. If they got a hollowed out apple, they won a prize. It was really funny at one point as a little boy about two took his boots off and waded in!
This ginger cat spent the day biting people. He sits on the arm of a chair waiting….. all sweetness and light, no hissing or flattened ears to warn people. Oh no! Then, as soon as a hand comes near him he strikes. Everyone who went into his enclosure came out dripping blood….and that’s despite the warning on the door!
This cat wisely kept out of the way, anyone who ventured too close was spat at.
This is my favourite enclosure in the cattery, it has a huge tree growing in the middle and the cats love sitting in it. All in all we usually have about two hundred cats in the cattery. Yesterday, two were re-homed. It’s been really good recently re cats being adopted, I’ve done at least 10 home checks in the last three weeks. Not bad given the state of the economy.
This little girl was delighted with her witchy face, she couldn’t stop smiling, especially as I matched the colours to her outfit, as requested. The customer MUST be obeyed, especially when they are kids, as kids ALWAYS know what they want.
So, a cold, damp day was had by all, yet £2.000 was still raised! And now I have the mother of all colds and a throat that feels like I’ve been grinding bricks!
Y’know, those cats. They don’t realize all the visitors and activities are to benefit THEM! Ah well. At least you had great success with games like that brains and eyeballs one. And hope you’ve recovered from the frostbite!
Lol….thanks Nikki, yes the frostbite is MUCH improved, and the ‘orrible cold I caught.xxxx
That ginger cat doesn’t look too happy. No wonder he was taking a swipe at people who fussed with him.
Those face paintings are great. I remember the last one you did where one of your customers paid you with a red button ! LOL :))
Hope you are soon over your cold. That’s no fun at all 🙁
Keggy x
Hahahaha…..yes the lovely little girl and her red button!!!
Poor ginger hates everyone at the moment, he had a very abusive life so doesn’t trust people at all, hopefully he will get better as now nobody means him any harm.
Thanks Keggy, I’m feeling a lot better now.xxxxx
Well done on raising all that cash! Creative thinking and some very brave souls indeed out in that weather. Love the cats especially that black one. Reminds me of the two I used to have. x
Thanks Karen, it was amazing how many people turned out, as well as the cold it simply never stopped raining, which isn’t the best weather for children. We have lots of lovely black cats at the moment. xxxxx
An excellent result. I do like the black cat in the second picture.
Thanks Dessie. For some reason almost all the cats in the rescue are black at the moment. xxxxx
A great event, but your poor numb fingers! I bet it felt like you were all thumbs, but the face painting didn’t seem to be suffer. The biting cat must have been preparing for Halloween antics…
Lol…yes Glo, I felt all thumbs and VERY clumbsy, it was absolutely freezing,
Our friend ginger seemed to be playing up on purpose, yes, all very halloween like…..especially for the ones who were bitten! xxxxx
I don’t care too much for the painted faces, but loved the cats of course. I have to stay away from your shelter. Because if I ever came in, I’d probably go out with twenty cats or more. But the whole holiday doesn’t appeal to me so much. I suppose I’m too much of a square. But maybe society needs a few such as I… if only to scare them once a year…
Lol, yes the faces aren’t exactly attractive…..
I’ve had to really toughen up in the shelter as I ALWAYS want to take the animals home, especially the hard to re-home ones.
I don’t think you are a square at all, Halloween leaves me cold too , it was never really celebrated in the UK until the last five or so years, now it’s huge, another commercial venture ….xxxxx
What a lovely vivid story and great fun and wonderful pix! Well done to everyone on raising so much money, and thank goodness people turned out in the rain … hope your cold gets better soon, SB – I swear by vitamin C and zinc and dosed Hub on echinacea last week!
we’re always grateful for a good turn out and given how cold and was, it was most unexpected.
My cold seems to be getting better by the day….I’m a great believer in vit C but haven’t heard of the zinc, I really must give that a go….thanks Gilly.xxxxx
Sounds like you all did really well. I hope your cold is better soon.
Thanks GG, I am beginning to feel better now. Hope the new job is OK and that you are getting used to it. Don’t work too hard.xxxxx
Great post…Thoroughly enjoyed the pics…images…esp the painted faces – not TOO ‘Cattish’…;)
Thanks for sharing. Hugs! :)x
Lol, thanks Bushka. xxxxx
How purrfectly wonderful to celebrate Halloween, raise money for an excellent cause, use your creative gifts, and spend a day with children and cats! Yay for you, snowbird! Thank you for the lovely photos and–as always–interesting tale.
Ahhh, thanks Catherine. It was a wonderful, albeit, cold day, but as you say, I got to spend the day “playing out”. xxxxx
It looks and sounds like everyone had a great day with plenty of money being raised. xx
Thanks Flighty, yes we all enjoyed raising the money, but we sure were bedraggled.xxxxx
Great ideas for raising lots of dosh.
Are you sure that was a little girl under that witchery stuff? She looks awfully mature. It’s good work, she had plenty to smile about.
As for the trial run, she would win a competition to be a pagliaccio. The paining is so well done.
The cats are doing what they do in a whole variety of do’s. 🙂
Lol, yes, she really was only about twelve but as you say, very mature looking. I think the web on her face and the black lipstick age her.
Ahhhh….pagliaccio…I had to look that up! Lol
Yes, cats will be cats!xxxxx
I Love the picture of the black cat witht he little ginger one peeping his head up! So cute. Good to see you raised so much – all that sitting in the rain was worth it! xx
Thanks Leigh-Ann. That ginger cat is a little love, but doesn’t like to be around too many people.xxxx
That game looks great for little kids, I’m not surprised it raised so much money! £2000 is great considering it was rainy, you poor thing getting a cold though! xx
I don’t know who laughed the most, us or the kids when they were digging about in the spaghetti.
It was a brilliant result financially, so well worth it. My cold is easing now.xxxxx
What a fantastic event! The animal shelter where I volunteer doesn’t have a Halloween-themed event, but that would be something to suggest. They did just have a charity walk, and they do more events around the holidays. It’s encouraging to hear that cat adoptions are up! I hope more kitties find homes soon.Thanks for stopping by my site!
Thanks Bumblelush, our Halloween event always raises a good sum, even in awful weather. We have lots of games, art activities, story reading, and simple games like guess Teddy’s name and pin the tail on the cat….all at low cost with good profit margins. We tend to have an event for each section of the rescue each year. In spring, we have the bunny bonanza which is child based and another good earner as the kids love to see the rabbits and small mammals.
Maybe we should swop ideas! The charity walk sounds good.xxxx
nice post, lovely games, and quite an amount of money in the time of recession! 😉 Take good care of your health. :)x
Thanks Vahid, it was a good sum which goes a long way. I’m feeling a little better now. xxxxx