Costume Craziness

We like to make the most of the Halloween dress-up opportunities that come along during October.  At least I like to see my kids dressed up as often as I can.  As for them?  I found this Halloween that it really depended on the kid and the circumstance.  (Which is totally understandable, right?  I mean, I don't ever want to dress up, so I get it when they're just not feeling it.  But Callie kind of surprised me when on Halloween day at school she broke down and clung to me saying that she felt nervous in her costume (even when all the other kids in the room were dressed up, too).  But she pulled through and enjoyed the parade and party and she wore her costume the entire time.)

The craziness began on October 4th when Callie convinced me to buckle down and actually build her fairy wings.  When she first pitched the fairy idea to me, she said she had a great idea and wanted to make wings out of construction paper.  I told her that I worried that the paper wouldn't be very strong and would probably rip or wrinkle very easily, and probably wouldn't stand up very well either.  I suggested bending a coat hanger and stretching nylons over it, but she quickly shut that down for a new idea: cardboard with construction paper over it!  And glitter.  I did a quick google search to give me an idea, grabbed one of our plentiful cardboard boxes and we got to work.  She helped me glue the paper down and I did all the cutting.  Then she decorated it with pink hearts and smiley faces.  It  was brilliant and simple and so her!  (Unfortunately we ran out of glue so the glitter didn't happen that morning . . . and then we never remembered to get to it anytime after.  Oops!)

Our first chance to wear costumes outside of the house was to the library for story time.  Unfortunately, their scheduled break week was the Monday before Halloween, so the librarians told the older kids (in Callie's class) that they could wear their costumes the week before that (on October 22nd).  Most people didn't get the memo, so Callie was only one of two kids who came in costumes that day.  But she rocked those wings and tutu!  I just had to smile as I peeked in at her while she had her computer time before story time started.  (We brought Sam's costume, put it on in the library, and about ten seconds later took it back off.  It was just one of those days for him.)

Next up was our Music Makers Halloween party (held on the 24th instead of on Halloween because we didn't want to conflict with all the school party fun that day).  And boy!  Was it a party.  For some reason, Halloween (and Valentine's Day) always bring out a big group (I think it's the candy!), but this was by far the most kids I have seen at any Music Makers Wednesday yet.  I counted at least 40 kids (it's hard to do since they don't seem to hold still very well) and I had a couple moms tell me they brought treats for 30 and ran out, so I know there were at least that many!  It's always so fun to see all the kids in their clever costumes and they're so full of energy and excitement for the holiday, you just can't help but be excited, too.

Crazy bones comin' down the canyon!

Trying to get a group shot is like herding cats.

I think that's most of them!

There's me, talking with my hands again - I tell ya, big (loud)
group situations like this are not my fave, but thanks to my friend
Alicia for doing the yelling of instructions, we made it work.

Reverse trick-or-treating: kids sit in a circle (just stay put!) and
moms go around to give everyone a treat in their bucket.  Can we
say spoiled?  Haha.

These two were pretty pleased with their haul.

In keeping with the "just stay put" idea we brought
our last portion of music makers, story and snack,
into the gym rather than everyone squishing
back in the primary room.

And, at last, the big day arrived!  The kids were up well before six (I don't even know how early, but it definitely became apparent as the day wore on).  All the kindergarteners were meeting in the morning that day, so we had to be ready for school much earlier than usual.  We got there a couple of minutes late (which I think added to Callie's minor meltdown - the room was dark and double the kids of normal were on the rug watching a Magic School Bus video until it was time for the parade).  Gregg took Sam and met Grandma Blanchard in the gym.  I stayed with Callie until she calmed down and started the parade holding her teacher's hand, then found the fam on the bleachers and settled in for the show.  The whole Halloween parade thing is a new idea for me (we never could wear costumes to school until middle school) but I thought it was cute and fun.  Sam especially liked watching all the costumed kids march by (I think the dinosaurs were his favorite - and there were a lot of those new blow-up dino costumes this year!).  

After the parade, Gregg took Sam home, Kim went on her way, and I went back to Cal's classroom to help out with the party.  My first parent classroom volunteering moment!  (Milestone!)  I was paired up with Henry's mom (who I only met that day, but we had chatted a couple times via email) to do a Halloween Bingo game.  Easy peasy.  There were lots of other fun stations set up carnival style so they kids could move through at their own pace and preference: spider puppet craft, "boo box" (feel the creepily named things through a hole in a box), clothespin drop, pumpkin putt putt golf, relay race, donut string, jack-o'-lantern candle jar, pumpkin bean bag toss, oreo spiders.  It was fun to see Callie enjoying each activity and much more relaxed about her costume.  After the party we all went home (it was Wednesday, which meant early out schedule, so we left at 10:50 - what a day of school, eh?!).

How do you like my costume? (I of course texted
this to Mugs and she said I looked the part of
a Buckeye fan.)

Here comes Callie!  (She didn't see us even though we all
stood up and yelled at her as she walked by.)

Making oreo spiders.

Bingo!

Sam had been bummed that trick-or-treating couldn't start after lunch.  (We told him after dinner, but I guess he just heard "after you eat".)  But he made it through the meal and at last we felt like it wasn't too early to visit our neighbors.  (I think we started at like 5:30!  ha!)  We went to the Wades to the west and the Brimhalls to the east and then around the corner up to the Doxeys.  We started wandering up the hill further, ("let's go to another house, mom!" said Sam) but the houses of people we knew were still dark, so we headed back home without even knocking.  Three houses (plus ours) doesn't sound like much for trick-or-treating, but we covered quite a distance between each house, not to mention endured more than enough of the chilly temps (poor Sam's and Cal's fingers were frozen!), and they came home with handfuls of candy from each!  It was definitely just right.

Hard to keep that shark head on.  And Cal finally wore her
full get-up (tiara and wand) to help people realize she was
in fact a fairy rather than a butterfly.

All the heart eyes from this momma!