This Is Halloween: part 2

This Is Halloween! This Is Halloween!

(part 2)

(some light Halloween decor: kid not included)

Hello readers! Thanks for coming back for Part 2 of my Halloween post! As I mentioned in Part 1, I've been working on my 4 year old's custom Queen Elsa costume. Before I dive into that process, including tantrums and all, I wanna share some Halloween traditions we share with our kids. 

First off, I've been referring to them as my "4 year old" and "2 year old," but these girls have names.. Harrison Amelie (4) and Nico Louise (2).

It's pretty amazing having kids at my age because it's my excuse to go all out as much as I'd like. I feel like there is a social pressure between the ages of 18 - parenthood to kinda let go of the Halloween spirit. But seeing as I've never missed a year to dress up and celebrate since childhood, I'm sure I'd still be going all out if I wasn't a parent. 

My heart starts to flutter in September when I see the Halloween costume stores popping up around the city. It's a sign that I can start working on costumes in an appropriate timeframe (and I feel like a kid in a candy store, there's so much to look at!!!). 

(look how cute this shopwindow display is?)

(i had to)

(these classic clown hats are too cute!)

In one day, I took Harrison and Nico to three different Halloween stores to get inspired. We don't ever buy costumes there, but sometimes I find cool details/accessories to complete an outfit. I'd say we've visited about 7 different Halloween stores this season. I can never get enough. 

There are some amazing pumpkin patches around town also, I think the girls are much more interested in those than the stores. I mean, there's a petting zoo and pony rides. 

(can you blame them?)

(Harrison thought it was a female horse because of his braid, but that was definitely a male horse, alright)

(how CUTE is Nico's little pony??)

(hamming it up)

(not hamming it up)

For me, the activities at the pumpkin patch are pricey enough (x2), so luckily we live walking distance to a Trader Joe's that sells super affordable carving pumpkins (and sugar pumpkins and gourds etc etc). Oh, but let me just call out this one ridiculous pumpkin patch near the mall - they charge you $5 to take your own pictures. Like, there isn't a professional photographer, you can't take your own pictures without paying $5. OK, I just had to get that off my chest because that was just crazy. 

Now, let's get into my favorite part of the season: making costumes. Growing up, making costumes involved just me, myself, and I. Now, 2 kids later, it's a bit more challenging. I wanted Harrison to be involved in the process of customizing her Queen Elsa costume, so I decided to bring both girls with me to JoAnn's fabrics. Oh my gosh. Just walking through the mall to get to that store was a task with .25 cent candy machines distracting Nico along the way. It was a bad start. I thought I'd have Nico sitting in the shopping cart while Harrison and I picked fabric, but, well, it was wishful thinking. Lots of running in and out of the aisles, pulling fabrics off the shelves, running into people's shopping carts and falling, grabbing breakable decorations from their displays, trying to get into the shopping cart alone and almost pulling it over, crying because she wasn't allowed to run off without me. My anxiety was getting there. Not only did I want to just leave the store, but we had to wait 40 minutes at the cut counter to get our fabric measured. By the time we bought everything we needed, Nico began to throw a real fit because she didn't want to leave. And then on our way out of the mall, she saw the .25 cent candy machines again. Good god. I thought if I got them each their own candy, we could leave the mall peacefully. It must have been their nap time because by then both kids were throwing themselves on the ground. Definitely a memory I wanna keep in the past. 

I had better days to look forward to, like working on the costume!

(i actually had to dust off my sewing machine. a sad realization.)

Having Harrison in preschool has been helpful to get more things done, but then I remember Nico is 2 years old. Trying to prepare even making this costume is the longest step in the whole process, cutting and pinning fabric with the pattern can be a sweaty job. I tried setting up Nico with snacks and Nightmare Before Christmas, but about 20 minutes into my project, she noticed there was fabric to play with! I think she was a cat in her previous life. Despite that I gave her loose fabric, she insisted on stepping on the fabric and patterns that I was using. I mean, if that isn't a feline move, I don't know what is. 

(scraps)

I didn't start actually sewing until Rafael was home so I wouldn't handle the girls by myself. I wanted complete focus. I love the ability to sew because it's kind of like instant gratification for me - you see the pieces coming together and you can envision how it will turn out. Harrison, on the other hand, just wanted to see the train of the dress done and done. Real quickly, Harrison is pretty slim for her height, so she was a size 3 for her measurements, but a size 5 in length. I knew she wanted to train of the cape to be long, like - what girl doesn't? - so I made the train a size 8. It's long. She was excited about the process of me sewing this dress, but she was also anxious to see the result of the train. She was taking a bath when I completed her favorite part, but when I brought it into the bathroom to show her, I didn't really get the reaction of an eager kid. She was happy, but way more focused on playing with her bath toys instead. Okaaay. 

She got to try it on and when she saw how long the train was, then she gave me the response I expected. 

(princess Anna and queen Elsa)

I feel bad that I haven't made Nico's costume, as you can see she'll be wearing a store-bought Princess Anna nightgown, but she's pretty laid-back about costumes for now. I guess the only thing I can justify this decision with is that it's a nightgown, not a costume, and clearly no other kid is gonna be wearing a friggin' nightgown on Halloween. But again, Nico is cool with it so she'll make it work. 

My favorite part of this year's costumes for my husband and me is that we didn't pay .01 cent for them. Also, I've had this theme in mind for over 8 years, and now I can finally bring them to life. 

I'm still missing a few details, but this is what I've put together so far:

(who doesn't love Mary Poppins and Bert the chimney sweep?)

Man, it feels good to be able to express my love for Halloween. 

Over and Out:

Sixties Pixie