Happy Halloween!

A bunny and a clown are the only two things I ever remember being for Halloween when I was a child. The bunny costume had a store bought tail and ears that I wore with a white sweat suit. The clown was a hand me down from my sister. My mom had sewn the clown suit; the clown shoes were antiques that my grandpa had worn as a Shriner; and the clown painted face itched and turned my face a blotchy red when I tried to wash it off. I'm proud that my husband and I have come a long way from the bunny and clown. We made our son's costumes this year.

A couple of weeks ago I asked my sons what they wanted to be for Halloween. My 3-year old said he wanted to be Spider Man. As he said it he would hold his hand out and pretend to shoot webs. My 4-year old said he wanted to be a flying bat, not Batman. Every night at supper I would ask them that same question: what do you want to be for Halloween? My 3-year old changed his to a pirate with a sword. The sword was very important to him. My 4-year was adamant about being a flying bat.

We started with the flying bat costume. My husband went to the thrift store and bought a brown fuzzy blanket. That is what we used for the bat wings. We had my son lay down on the folded blanket so we could cut and mark the wings. My husband drew the scallops on the blanket with a crayon, cut them out, and then sewed them onto a black thermal long sleeved shirt. We had some Batman glasses that were in a Happy Meal, so I hot glued the same blanket material to the glasses. He wore black pants and black boots to finish off the costume. He also requested vampire teeth because he wanted to be a Vampire Bat. He was very specific.

The pirate was a little more difficult because the day of construction he just wanted to be a bad guy with a sword. I was a little frustrated because he said this after I had just sewed the eye patch. I took black felt material, cut the eye patch and sewed black elastic to each side of it. He was not impressed. I used the straw cowboy hat from his birthday party to make the pirate hat. I took off the star, stapled the sides up, spray painted it black, and I painted a skull and crossbones on the front. The sword and hook were much more involved. I'm not really sure the magic that my husband used for them. The sword is made out of thin wood and covered with silver shiny tape. The hook is made from the same wood and tape, but it has a ball on one end. The ball was stuck through the end of a white sock for him to hold onto. He wore black pants, white thermal shirt, black boots, and a belt to hold his sword. He loved the sword and hook.

My 10-month old girl was a pumpkin. Her costume was a hand me down from her brothers. Maybe she'll want to be a bat or pirate when she gets older.

Bring on the candy!