Halloween was predicted to be rainy with up to 40mph gust of wind. We watched the weather forecast religiously this week trying to decide how best to trick-or-treat. John's idea was to wear clear trash bags so the costumes could be seen which was brilliant. Several towns postponed trick-or-treating to the weekend. As luck would have it, the rain stopped by 2pm and the winds were mild. The temperature was lovely at ~70 degrees around the time we headed outside. What was predicted to be a gloomy night turned out to be one of the best as long as you avoided walking in the puddles.
This year two of the kids asked if we "had" to dress as a family theme. They wanted to know when they would be able to dress in something they choose. That year would be this one. It was fun to hear their ideas and brainstorming. Of course I made them commit to a costume early to give us enough time to construct them. Here is what they decided....
My inner heart was jumping for joy when I heard Victoria wanted to be Elvis. I have always been a fan of his which I thought had rubbed off on her when she requested this as her costume. When I asked why Elvis, her reply was matter o' fact.... "because I look good in jumpsuits". That she does! Of course it helps that Elvis' costumes were blinged out... something with she completely identifies. Thank you to John for helping put all those stars on the cape. She of course was the hit of trick-or-treating. You know you did good when others ask to take pictures of your child's costume. She didn't mind at all to pose for them either. When trick-or-treating, I instructed her to say "thank you, thank you very much" when they gave her candy. That too was a hit.
Micah wanted to be a dead baseball player. He's definitely all boy. He helped me apply the fake blood and slime but refused to let me paint his face white or put eyeblack on him... maybe one day. He choose the Astros because that was his spring baseball team and the number 15 as this has been his number in baseball now twice. The timing couldn't be more perfect since the Astros were in the World Series right before Halloween. As the Astros lost in game 7 the night before, his dead player was quite appropriate nabbing a few entertaining comments from adults when trick-or-treating.
Izzy wanted to be Marie Antoinette. I originally wasn't going to undertake sewing this dress. However when looking for one to purchase, all I could find were dresses that were close to $200 that fit her. I then turned back to the sewing option and found a discount fabric store (how did I not know of their existence before!) getting 8 yards of fabric for $3 per yard. Time was the real barrier. As usual John came up with a great suggestion of putting in grommets rather than a zipper to allow for more than one person/time to use this dress as it would fit many sizes over the years. He also created a cake for Izzy to use as her candy bag. She then decorated it to look like a cake including the inscription "let them eat cake".
Throw in one black cat and we were off to trick-or-treat!
After trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, we were off to Brook Street. This is one of the best places to go as the streets are blocked off to traffic. Houses go all out making it fun. The atmosphere is amazing as are all the costumes. Truly a people watching wonderland. The cost of candy that each house purchases we've heard is several hundred dollars. Here the kids meet up with friends and trick-or-treated with them.
At one stop I was asked if I wanted to trick-or-treat. Silly me.. I thought they meant candy. Instead they handed me a cider... my favorite. I'll have to remember this place next year!
Sensei Wu from Ninjago
This was one of my favorites given the working headlights... Bumblebee from Transformers.
Micah and Fox trick-or-treated together with John and Chris.
Initially Izzy couldn't find her friends that she was too meet up with that night. That made her a bit disappointed. She stayed with Victoria and her friends for a while but when she ran into another group of her friends, she was all smiles. Off she went to trick-or-treat on her own with them. At the end of the night she returned a fulfilled girl.
Victoria, Sophie Ann, and Ashika had an amazing time together. All we say was three girls laughing and enjoying the night going from house to house.
Everyone had to inspect their loot. I'm sure there will be some trading happening in the next few days.
