Halloween Fun

Growing up we didn't get into Halloween that much. We lived out in the country and only trick-or-treated at a few close neighbors house (we also drove 6 miles to go trick-or-treat at my grandparents, but didn't stop at houses in between). Almost 90% of costumes were homemade, usually with things we already had around the house. There were quite a few years where we were clowns, hobos, dancers and the like. In those days we were still able to parade around school in our costumes, Halloween hadn't been dumped for "Harvest Parties" yet. I remember one year about 3rd or 4th grade that I was Ms Pac-Man. We did a cardboard cut-out in the shape of Ms Pac-Man for the front and back, added some yellow tempera paint (I can still recall that scent in my head) and viola! I actually think that was the coolest costume I ever had. Although it was a bitch to ride the bus in that thing.

Once I became a parent, I became a little more fanatical about costumes. I do not like the cheap, store-bought costumes if you can make something cuter for about the same money you fork over for those hideous things. For Emma's 1st Halloween she was about 6 months old and I had found a sleep-n-play mouse "costume" cheap at a consignment shop. I did add a few whiskers to make her look more mouse-like. We happened to be in the middle of a move/job change at that time so we were back in Iowa visiting my sister and my nephew for Halloween. I think photographic evidence of that Halloween is stuck on my parents' computer.

Here are the next few Halloween costumes:
Halloween 2004--Black Cat (skirt, tail and ears made by me)

Look at me, I even got into the spirit of things that year


Halloween 2005--Yoda (made without a pattern by Aunt Glenda)

Emma was obsessed with Yoda at the time. She had a toy Yoda that she played with everyday and she would watch the parts in different Star Wars movies with Yoda in them. Glenda happened to be staying with us while Leah was in the NICU and she whipped this costume up for Emma. One of my favorites. Leah was supposed to be an adorable pink poodle (because you know, Yoda had a pink poodle) but she was only 2 months old and a little crabby on Halloween night. That costume was given to Maren this year--all 1 month old babies need to dress for Halloween.

Halloween 2006--Cowgirl and cow (cowgirl vest embellished by me and Glenda, cow made by Glenda)

Again, another favorite. I had bought a cheap stick horse in September and declared "Emma will be a cowgirl this year". Hubby had two things to say: 1. It was September, Emma would change her mind a few times in 2 months and 2. Since he was the one taking her out trick-or-treating for the most part, he outlawed accessories after he had to carry the Yoda light saber around the previous year. She didn't take her horse out trick-or-treating, but that guy still gets played with to this day.

Halloween 2007--Vet and black cat (revisited)

What good are Halloween costumes if you can't pawn them off to the next sibling? And can I say the vet was my favorite? Oh, wait . . . I've said that before. My mom helped sew the scrubs, coat, and surgical hat for the vet. We even ironed on "Dr. Emma" on the coat in sparkly pink letters. Adorable, if I do say so myself. And by this time, Aunt Glenda had sworn off making Halloween costumes for the nieces/nephews. It's a little hard to coordinate over many miles, and Grandma is just up the road.

Halloween 2008--dalmatian and pink princess or Ariel
Pictures to come. Leah still switches between being a pink princess (pink dress, pink sparkly shoes, pink accessories) or being Ariel. Maybe she'll wear each one once; we have a Halloween party on Sunday. I just bought the pattern and material to make Emma a dalmatian costume, which will be sewn frantically this weekend when Grandma is here.

I tried to talk Leah into going as Yoda this year, but she is too "girly" for that. We even have a store-bought (gasp!) Darth Vader or Princess Leia costume that Emma could've worn. No takers. And I don't really care about the whole coordinating of the costumes, it just happened to work out the past few years. The only thing the dalmatian and princess and/or Ariel have in common is their ties to Disney.

And just to prove how lame our childhood Halloween costumes were, take a look:

That's me in the recycled dance costume and my younger sister, kdotp, in the hand-me-down clown outfit. Gotta love it.