Halloween 2012

My friend Sue sent me this picture about a week ago and I couldn't get over the awesomeness. Her granddaughter, Gracie, wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween. Look how happy she is with her grandma-made felted hat. Do you remember Strawberry Shortcake? From the 80s?

If that wasn't enough, Sue then made the SS dress. (I thought, at first, that it was a Strawberry-Shortcake-Joins-the-Brownies costume. :) )

Sue sent me these pics this morning. I am in love with the whole look!

This is probably the only kid in the U.S. wearing, for Halloween, a custom made felted hat worth $200 retail!

Sue didn't make her grandson's costume, but I thought that Jonah's mad scientist was fabulous. It looks like his goggles are made with painted eggshells, probably looted from the Easter decorations. Paired with a lab coat, and some hair gel, what a brilliant, easy, and effective costume.

Last, but not least, little brother Crosby is wearing a purchased costume and looking completely adorable. (All of these pics are posted with mom's permission.)

Excuse me while I go remind myself that my ovaries are closed for business.

This is how I'm going to the grocery store today. Do you think anyone will notice my monster companion?

I bought these glasses in the Castro and they fit right over my regular glasses.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2005

This is probably my last "blast from the past" Halloween post, unless I somehow unearth more pictures! (You can see all of my Halloween posts using this link.) It's too bad that most of my kids childhood occurred before I had a digital camera.

In 2005, my kids were in 6th and 8th grades. It was the last Halloween in grade school for my eldest, so this is the last year I did the "big" costumes and that we followed our usual traditions. The next year she entered high school and she was pretty much on her own for Halloween.

DD1 selected a design that was suggestive of the Elf Princess Arwen from the LOTR movies, though she had not seen those movies and was not aware of that. I decided not to point it out. She had some changes she wanted me to make from the pattern – she considered herself a "medieval princess".

DD2 was going through a lengthy obsession with Garfield that year. It seemed like I was making lasagna on a weekly basis for months, so of course her costume had to be Garfield. I managed to score an OOP Garfield pattern on ebay, though I really only used the head, feet, and tail pieces from the pattern. I used the body from a "pumpkin" pattern and modified it to get the shape I wanted. I then bought, on ebay, Garfield-yellow sweatpants and sweatshirt which, believe me, was not an easy color to find that year.

The first time she tried the head on. The black detail is painted on and notice the little embroidery floss whiskers up near the ears.

What happened to these costumes? Well, the princess costume was donated to the grade school costume closet (and has been much used). DD2 sold her Garfield costume on Craigslist. I think she got $35 for it. :)