Happy Halloween!

I planned to make Elsie a caterpiller for Halloween.  It was an ambitious project, but I bought two yards of bright green fabric and was ready to give it a go.  The very first time I powered up my sewing machine to start the costume, the noise woke Elsie rudely from her nap. That was the end of that.

I love Halloween, and I am a die-hard crafty DIYer when it comes to costumes which is why I somehow had an entire bolt of extra-wide tulle collecting dust in my basement.  Excessive fabric stash to the rescue!  I pulled out the emergency tulle and put together this ghost costume* in a couple of hours with Elsie's enthusiastic help. Elsie very much enjoyed rolling herself up in an entire bolt of tulle as I tried to measure and cut. Wearing the costume proved less exciting, but she tolerated her little cape for about 15 minutes, which was all it took to visit our very closest neighbors. Who all thought she was a bride.

We saw some of her best friends. Little K was a fairy princess. "Her $50 shark costume is home in the bag." K's mother rolled her eyes. Toddlers are fickle indeed.

S was also a princess, as were almost all the other girls who came to our door. All except for Z, of course. She was a punk zombie, and a truly awesome one at that.

At the end of the evening, Elsie chose a candy to eat, which is a real special treat in our house.

Of course, at daycare the next day, the chocolate was already out when I dropped Elsie off. Lest anyone worry that poor Elsie doesn't get her share of indulgence, daycare more than makes up for her uptight parents. They even sent Elsie home with a giant Halloween goodie bag which included about six pounds more candy and her very own cellphone-shaped makeup kit! For all those fairy princesses, or maybe her first pagent, which is kindof like Halloween in that it involves costumes and makeup and is terrifying. Start 'em young, folks.

I love returning to child-oriented Halloween.  I still get excited for pumpkin carving and costume brainstorming.  Now my enthusiasm is fun and not dorky because now I have a daughter with whom to share it.  How cool is it that on one night of the year, even though it's a school night, all the kids get to dress up and traipse through their neighborhood gathering candy?  There aren't too many of those universal cultural events left, but Halloween is one of them.  I'm already excited for next year.

* Though I did make the costume myself, I did not design it myself.  I got the idea from Martha Stewart (who else?) and slightly modified it to make it longer in back and shorter in front.  If you're interested in making one of your own, the instructions are HERE.  If I had to do it again, I'd measure out a deeper ellipse for the hood instead of the circle recommended.