Halloween Costumes

For Halloween costumes this year we went with a Wreck-It Ralph theme because Thayne's favorite movie is Wreck-It Ralph and we just love the characters.  Our kids totally fit the parts.  Thayne was Wreck-It Ralph, Lena was Vanellope, and Landon was Fix-It Felix. 

Aaron and I kind of went with the theme because we were arcade game characters and they were in the movie for a second.  Anyway, we were pac man and a pac man ghost. We had a lot of fun with the costumes this year. I love Halloween.

Halloween clothes

I always love doing these kinds of holiday clothes for the kids and they had plenty of opportunities to wear them this year because there are so many fun Halloween activities.  

Halloween food

We had a fun little Halloween get together and this was some of the food, banana mummies, pumpkin oranges, ghost lollipops, chocolate drizzled pretzels, cupcakes, etc.  Simple and fun!

And I had way too much fun doing snack for preschool, bats, pumpkins, and mummies.

Wonder Woman costume

For Halloween this year I didn't want to make all of our costumes, so we used a couple we already had and bought a couple others.  We decided to all be Justice League superheroes but I didn't have a costume and it is impossible to find an adult women's costume that doesn't look more like a swimsuit than clothing.  So I ended up making my wonder woman costume.  I used freezer paper to make a stencil and painted the logo on a shirt.  Then I used felt for the tiara, cuffs and belt.  The cape is no sew, just a piece of red fabric cut like a cape.  And the skirt is a simple circle skirt with white stars attached.  I thought it would be a pretty simple costume to make and it was, but it took quite a bit of time.

Halloween Oreo Truffle Pops

For a Halloween Party we were asked to bring a Halloween dessert so we made these ghost, pumpkin and monster oreo truffle pops.  They were a quite a bit of work, but so cute and so tasty.  You mix one package of cookies with one package of cream cheese and make them into balls and put a stick in them.  Then put them in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Then dip them.  For the pumpkins we dipped them in melted butterscotch chips, for the ghosts it was melted white chocolate chips and the monsters were double dipped, once in the milk chocolate and then once in melted mint chips.  Then put them in the fridge for 20-30 minutes and then use remaining melted chips to make faces, leaves, whatever.  We doubled the amount (so we did two packages of oreos worth) and got about 50 yield.

Kids Costumes

This year Landon wanted to be a tiger for Halloween. So I decided to make us all big cats. Thayne was a lion, Lena was a black panther, Landon was a tiger, I was a leopard and Aaron was a cougar. I made everyone's costumes, except for Lena I only made a tail and ears. Thayne's was by far the most difficult and time consuming. But I think it turned out super cute. The thing I loved about them is they are all basically jammies with ears and tails, so super comfy!

Thayne's mane took forever, but I think it is cute.

Adorable little lion

One of the times he wore it we even painted him a little black nose.

Lena was the cutest black panther ever, so of course she looked like a kitty cat. Her costume varied day to day, sometimes she wore a tutu, sometimes not, sometimes she wore a leotard, sometimes a shirt. But she always had the ears and tail.

They wanted to wear the face paint, but they always ended up smearing it. But who cares, right?

And this guy was so excited to be a tiger. It was the first time he has wanted to be something, which was really fun for me too.

Aaron and I's costumes were a lot like Landon's but I didn't have a hood with ears, I had a headband with ears.

Yay! for fun Halloween costumes.

Fun house/ spook alley

My husband and I got to help put together a funhouse/spook alley for our church Halloween party this year. It was for little kids (2-12), so nothing scary. We did so many things for it; we figure I spent 30+ hours working on things for it this week. Plus there's all the time my husband and the other people that helped put in. I drew all the pictures that we put up on the walls. I drew 53 panels that were each about 3' x6'. I made 10 hanging bats, 8 hanging ghosts, 20 glowing jars, and put together various other Halloween decorations. We had black lights, Halloween music, huge boxes to crawl through, etc. The pictures really don't do it justice. It looked so much better in person. My camera had a hard time with the dark rooms, but the pictures with the flash lose the effect. Anyway, it was SO MUCH FUN!


Room 1: Haunted wood

Room 2: Mad scientist lair

Room 3: Graveyard

Trick or Treat bag

I've made simple trick-or-treat bags for my two oldest children. I made Landon's two years ago and then another one for Lena this year. I wanted something that would store easily (those big store-bought pumpkin pails are cute, but take up a lot of space) and would stay open so that my little kids wouldn't have to worry about trying to get the candy in the bag. I made a simple fabric bag with a handle. At the top I made a casing and slid a bent wire (from a hanger) through it, duct taped the ends of the hanger and sewed it shut. They have worked perfectly and were very easy to make.

Halloween dress

I love making dresses for Lena! This dress was so much fun to design and make. I love Halloween (not the scary part, but the fun stuff). So when I saw all the cute Halloween fabrics I really wanted to get some and this was my excuse!

It looks better when the ribbon is pulled a little tighter, but Lena likes to mess with it and try to pull it out. I think I will have to double knot it next time she wears it.

She loves putting it on and usually wears at some point throughout the day (she changes clothes a lot).

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. She is so busy and my camera isn't very good.

The skirt is a circle skirt with tulle gathered and added at the hem. In these pictures she is wearing a black tutu under it, which I think looks fine, but I like it better without.

The back is pretty much the same as the front with the ribbon criss-crossing.

Now to make our Halloween costumes...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

An Ego Boost

A week or two ago we went as a family to pick out pumpkins and Lena was wearing a Halloween dress that I had made. And of course she was looking as adorable as can be. As we went to pay for our pumpkins the lady helping us was saying how cute Lena was and how much she loved her dress. That made me feel good and I told her thank you. Then she asked me where I got it. I told her I made it and she was very sweet and told me exuberantly how wonderful it was and how talented I was and how adorable Lena was, etc. I was very flattered and a slight bit embarrassed. Then she asked me if she could pay me to make one for her. I was shocked at first and must have asked her "Really?" like five times. Then I said, "Sure, actually I already have a couple that are a little bit bigger and the fabrics are switched around. Would you want one of those?" She said yes and asked if I could bring it by sometime.

So a few days later the kids and I went back and sold this dress to her.
I was extremely flattered and amazed. It is really nice to have people appreciate something you create. I was also really glad that she wanted something I had already made. So much easier to fulfill.

Frankenstein Goody Bags

I made a bunch of Frankenstein goody bags to hand out to the kids that came to our Halloween party. They turned out looking a little angrier than I was planning, but I thought they turned out pretty good anyway.

Halloween costumes

So I decided to make our Halloween costumes this year. And this is what I went off of:

Here is how they turned out:

Halloween dresses

The Great Pumpkin Event

Our ward Halloween party (aka the great pumpkin event) was last night. I LOVE Halloween! Ever since I was a kid I've said it is my favorite holiday. It is so much fun to dress up, play games, and trick-or-treat. love it!

This year I made all of our costumes and we were all bugs. Aaron was a spider, I was a bee, Landon was a caterpillar and Lena was a ladybug.

Here is our little ladybug (aka Lenabug).

The caterpillar was tired by the time the ward party started. He fell asleep in the car on the way there, but he managed to have some fun anyway.

Landon had to do a double take when he saw Aaron in his costume. It turned out pretty cool. Although he did have a hard time doing some things with all those legs in the way. He said he wished they were functioning legs and he could use them to do things.

Once Landon figured out that people were giving out candy at their trunks he started to giggle with glee and although he didn't really say "trick-or-treat" he would go right up to them and hold out his bag. Every so often he would say 'treat'.

Here is the spider with the ladybug. I just thought they were cute.

And when have you not seen a bee with crazy hair?! jk

I just miss doing my hair crazy (not many opportunities as an adult). So I had to do it.