A Handmade(ish) Halloween

My mother has a wonderful artistic streak and consequently my childhood is sprinkled with the memories of making party invitations, Christmas tree decorations, miscellaneous gifts and, of course, Halloween costumes. I don't ever remember having a "store bought" costume. For that matter, I don't ever remember wanting one either. Maybe they weren't as prevalent as they are now (or maybe I just led a very sheltered life.) But whatever the reason, for me Halloween costumes were things that you (or your mother) sewed,  glued, cut and pasted together. They definitely didn't come in a bag with a picture of a cute smiling kid on the front.

One year I went as Heidi...

One year I was Minnie Mouse...

And another I was....
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(wait for it)
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...a bottle of Hunts ketchup.

Go ahead take a minute (or two or five) to laugh, I'll wait. (And, yes, it took me a while to grow into those teeth.)

Sooooo, um, where was I going... oh, yeah. Well, chalk up another reason to feel a pang of guilt where my child is concerned. I just haven't had the time in the last two years to yank out the ol' sewing machine and whip up a costume or two for young Dash. As you may recall, last year he was a lion...

Adorable, yes. But made by mama, hell no. Not even the alterations.

And this year? Well, let's just say I did a little bit better. I did a bit of uh "handmade" ordering on the ol' internets, took the antennas off of one costume, sewed them onto a store bought hat and viola! Killer bee!!

Oh yeah, and I ordered up a little somethin' special for Dave as well...

I have to admit they both turned out cute enough to ease my anxiety a bit. And to help keep it in check, I made sure that we (hand) carved at least one pumpkin. Of course, first we had to find the perfect one.

This is Dash guarding all the potential prospects, so that no one else grabs them...

But once we found the perfect one, Dash had a blast trying to spoon out the guts. Although he did periodically become distressed when the pumpkin seeds got stuck to the bottoms of his bare feet. (Welcome to Halloween in Cali where you carve your pumpkin barefoot, in shorts, and you stress about whether your child will become overheated in their costume as the temperature rises to 90. And to think, in my mid-western days, we'd stress about how turtlenecks, long johns and coats would ruin our costumes!)

Here's a little video of our carving extravaganza...

Finally, Halloween night came along. Dash and Dave ran around the neighborhood (in costume) for a while waiting for it to get dark. And then, we took Dash to our neighbor's, Sandy and Tom's, house for a little (very little) trick or treating.

Afterward, the boys were so tuckered out (from walking all the way next door)...

...that they had to lay down and rest on the front lawn.

This is Dash pretending to sleep...

And this is him pretending to fly...

(A little like Peter Pan, don't ya think??)

All and all it was a pretty spook-tacular Halloween!

 I hope yours was scary good too!!