Halloween 2014

Halloween is always fun here at our house. Some years we go crazy and turn our entire house into a spook alley for the neighborhood, but not this year. Maybe next year. It's been like 4 or 5 years since we did that last and I need to work myself back into the idea of it.

I put together a few of the kids' costumes this year. Some were easy, some... not so easy. But all worth it. Want to see? Okay! 

 

Allen the Younger decided on the morning of Halloween that he could be an elephant, wearing the hood I cut off of an old size 3T footie elephant costume last year. It's a little blurry, but it's the only picture I got. It cracks me up that he wore this at school all day.

 

All-a-Boy was Flint Lockwood from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Or, as we like to call him, FLINT LOCK-WOOOOOD! (If you've watched the movie you'll probably know what I mean.) We didn't have time to make spray-on shoes so he just carried a can of it instead. And now that Halloween is over he finally agreed to a haircut so he could have normal looking hair again. 

Cowgirl always knows way ahead of time who she's going to be. This year it was Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck It Ralph. Her costume was the hardest one to make but also one of my favorites. We lucked out on finding the right color of sweatshirt but had to order the tights online. The tights were the part I hated making. Painter's tape does NOT stick to tights well, in case you were wondering. Once the costume was all done she tried on the skirt she had and realized it was way too short. So we ran to the thrift store and found a long brown skirt that I cut and sewed into what she's wearing in a 30 minute time frame. It's not exactly right but it was good enough! We made the licorice knot in her ponytail from pipe cleaners (hooray for simplicity!) and glued circles and confetti that we cut out of foam to clips to create the candy stuck in her hair. We were both pleased with the result.

Princess wanted to be a mail person. I am lucky enough to have an amazing friend who works at the post office who was able to find me a shirt, hat and satchel from her friends who deliver the mail. We got her a pair of dark blue pants and we were done. Easy peasy!

She also had to dress as an Egyptian escort person sort of thing for this tradition they have at her elementary school where they drag one of the 6th grade teachers around on a cart in a cardboard sarcophagus as an Egyptian mummy. I don't understand it, but whatever. She looked cute and had fun and was really excited about it. Thank goodness Julia had made this tunic for an extra credit report a couple of years ago. I love having a costume bin!
 

Hubba was going to be a ninja but I ordered his costume online and when it arrived it was super lame. We both pretended it was great for a couple of weeks and then I asked if he wanted to try something different and he chose Fix It Felix, also from Wreck It Ralph. I think his costume was one of my best creations. I printed the hat and shirt patches onto fabric printer paper and sewed them on to the hat (from the Dollar Store) and shirt (from his closet). I had a hard time finding a hammer to spray paint gold but finally broke down and bought an entire toy tool set that Little X will get for Christmas (minus the hammer). I love how this turned out!

Curly wore a pirate girl costume that has made its rounds with our girls. I love it when someone wants to wear something we already have! Elle had sent her these necklaces for her birthday and she was really excited to make them a part of her costume. She was even more thrilled when she found out that all of the 2nd grade teachers were dressing up as pirates as well.

 

Little O was the most perfect Peter Pan! I got tired of making costumes and bought his at the Disney Store. They were having a 40% off sale and I figure that Little X can wear it later. This costume fit his personality so well!

Little X wore the same ol' pumpkin suit he wore last year. That was perfect, because I didn't have to make it! The only picture I got was of him wearing Allen's wig at the elementary school carnival. But here's last year's picture, in case you didn't see it. He's a little taller but looks pretty much the same:

 

At the last minute Allen called me from work (the night of our church's Halloween party) and told me he needed a black afro. Here's a simplified version of his costume:

Me? I just wore a simple Christa McAuliffe (the astronaut) shirt I made for a report Elle did in the 5th grade. It's a bunch of patches copied from the internet and sewn onto a blue scrub top. It was the first thing in the bin that fit me and I was good with that. Sorry, I forgot to take a selfie.

 

Julia wore a pirate costume to a Halloween party and she and her roommates dressed as Hogwarts students from each of the 4 houses. In true Julia fashion, she made their robes. Because she's off to school in a land far, far away I had no pictures. But thanks to the magic of Facebook I was able to steal these two:

 

 

Oh, we can't forget Elle! She dressed up as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Same thing she's worn every day for the last 9 months. Pretty much the best costume, ever. Here's a shot of she and her companion trying on hats and glasses at a store with one of the people they are teaching.

 

Hooray for Halloween!