Halloween Photos and Fun

What fun Halloween turned out to be.

It started off a little rocky. My first grader started feeling sick on Friday night. That turned out to be our night of horror -- stomach flu. After a few bouts of the heaves in the middle of the night. He was in bed or on the couch for most of the day.

But, by afternoon, he was asking for -- and keeping down -- food. Hubby and I talked about it and decided he could go on limited Trick or Treating. He had to follow some rules we set about keeping his distance from other kids. (The irony here is that, before he decided to be a pirate, he had talked about trick or treating as a germ.)

The fun part was that I, for the first time, got to take him door to door. He went out early -- before the sun went down (... and before Illinois was done beating Michigan. Needless to say, my husband was glued to the TV to watch the Illini's only Big 10 win this season.) I always spend tons of time on my kids' costumes, but am the one who sits on the front porch handing out candy. So, I have settle for play by play from hubby and the kids when they get home with their haul.

Not so this year. I actually got my turn!

And I must say, the costumes turned out great. My caveman was convincing -- it was the mascara unibrow that made the costume. He also gives a convincing "Ugh!"



My pirate -- though peaked -- was swashbuckling with his home-made sword and make-up scars. He was so proud of his costume this year. (I was glad he got a chance to wear it! So was he.)



And my princess was royal, to be sure. I found a great resource, a blog called Hairstyles for Girls - A Story of a Princess and her Hair. It had every conceivable hairstyle I could have wanted for my little one, with great instructions on how to make them work. It took some time, but we made my little girl's hair into princess perfection. With a little pink on her lips and cheeks and some sparkle, too, she was darling.


After I went to just the houses on our block with my first grader, Dad took over. He stayed out nice and late with the healthy ones, even meeting up with some of Primo's friends to trick or treat as a group.

When they arrived home, they were exhausted. And the candy sorting began. For the first time ever, we actually found we had things to pull out. One of my kids had gotten unwrapped Halls cough drops. Another had gotten an unwrapped (possibly used?) tooth-flosser. Still another had gotten some sort of strange plastic something we couldn't quite identify. I asked my husband where they could have come from, and he said they were definitely from his later round of trick or treating. I was glad we checked carefully.

When the night was over, we were happy and exhausted. Everyone hurried off to bed, with an extra hour's sleep in our schedule.

It wasn't until Sunday that I wondered what on Earth we'd do with all that candy.

- Midwest Mom

Home-Made Halloween Costumes for (and with) Kids

Here on the homestead, we've started to put together our Halloween Costumes.

We have one princess, one caveman, and one pirate. The princess has been easy, because we have a dear cousin who has shared some beautiful dress-up dresses with us.

The pirate and the cave-man? They're a different story.

I will be the first to admit that I'm not the most creative or crafty of moms. But I love Halloween, and so do my kids. So this year, I had to pull out the stops and get creative.

Here's how:


First, I had my kids Draw a Picture: They needed to translate their mental image of the costume they wanted into graphic form. I had to be able to see what they wanted.







Then, it was time to Make a List: I asked each of my boys to write out a checklist of items a pirate or a caveman MUST have. As we gathered or made each item, they could check it off the list.





Next, we decided to Gather things On Hand: One son dug an eye patch and pirate coins out of the toy box from a long-forgotten birthday party. The other son turned a brown throw from our living room into a caveman bearskin cape. Outdoors, he found a long stick we could fashion into a caveman spear.

When we didn't have an item, we had to Create it!: I cut craft foam in the shape of a spear tip and attached it to the end of the stick my son found. I cut a circle of felt and wove rawhide through holes at the edge to be my pirate's treasure pouch.

Then we made a pirate sword.



First we traced and cut sword shapes out of cardboard.

Then, we taped two of them together.

We glued tin foil onto the blade and wrapped the handle with red duct tape.

Finally, we put a pirate decal from the scrapbook section of the craft store onto the handle -- and my pirate was ready to rock.

On Halloween night, we'll Let Make-up do its Magic: The final step of any homemade costume is the make-up. Ugly teeth and brown smudges will turn my third grader into an authentic Neanderthal. A well-placed sneer and scar will transform my first grader into a buccaneer. And my little princess will get rosy cheeks and red, red lips. The extra step of fun, minimal make-up completes any costume.

In this process, we have learned to Accept Imperfection. A homemade costume has the potential to be far different than one from the store. But what I love about the process is that it engages my children's imaginations and helps lead them to solve the costume 'problem' on their own.

In the end, if the result is what they imagined then our Halloween has succeeded. Personally, I can't wait to see the faces of our family and friends when they answer the door and hear "Trick or Treat!"

- Midwest Mom

Great Toy #3: Christmas Shopping Guide

The children in our family love to pretend. Truly, they spend about 85% of their playtime pretending they are someone else. So, whether they like to play superheroes, or become a cowboy, a princess or a gourmet chef, toys that help kids with pretend play are a great choice at Christmas.

Some of our best pretend toys are wearable. We have received many costumes from older cousins. My daughter got a box full of princess dresses from her cousin in Maryland earlier this year -- what a thrill! My boys have inherited superhero costumes complete with stuffed abs and biceps. If you don't have older cousins, garage sales are a great place to find costumes, especially now that Halloween is past.

A few years ago, Santa brought my five year old (then three) a whole box full of hats. He was so excited to become a race car driver, a cowboy, a viking, a pirate, or a fire fighter just by changing his hat! If you think Santa might want to do the same for your preschooler, I would recommend buying new rather than used. One website with a great assortment of hats and costumes for kids is Daddy's Toy Shop. Mastermind Toys also has a good selection.

Of course, there is more to pretend than just the clothes. My daughter loves the play kitchen she got last Christmas. I paid half price when Target was clearing the shelves to get ready for after-Thanksgiving shoppers. Now is the time to look for big items if your local stores haven't already stocked the shelves with Christmas toys. Many of the big-ticket toys may be on clearance.


We also enjoy classics like the Fisher-Price Cash Register and the Fischer-Price medical kit. The pieces of these toys are easy for young hands to hold and are the perfect tools for children to set up their own store or hospital. Because these classics are indestructible, they are easy to find at garage sales or on ebay.

Last year, my children got the Medical kit for Christmas. It comes off the shelf any time any of us are sick. I think they like giving pretend shots the best. At the time of this writing, I've been vaccinated about 6 thousand times.

To me, the best thing about pretend toys is that they give parents a chance to experience the way their child views the world. It is easy to have fun with your kids when they are pretending to be just like Daddy or their favorite superhero (or both... SuperDad!)

Admit it. Don't you like pretending sometimes, too?


-Midwest (Super)Mom

Getting Ready for the Freak Show

Yesterday afternoon I opened up our box of Halloween decorations. It is always fun to do, but never more than when the costumes and masks come out of the box.

A few years ago, I purchased a pack of 20 masks that was on clearance. It's nothing too scary; there are animals and monster-movie monsters like Frankenstein and a werewolf. They are made out of craft foam. We bring them out about a week before Halloween, just to get the kids psychologically ready for the freak-show that will come straight to our front door.

I will never forget my oldest son's first Halloween. His teeth were starting to come in, so I made him a black satin cape with red lining and painted a red onesie turtleneck with the words "Baby Dracula." I was so proud of him, and incredibly eager to have him with me when I handed out candy at our front door.

Unfortunately, he was just starting into the "stranger anxiety" phase. When the first trick-or-treater came to our front door, I went temporarily deaf in my left ear. The next day, my neighbor Janet joked that our house was the spookiest. "The screaming was so realistic."

After that, I decided to spend a little time preparing the kids before the big day. We make lots of opportunities for them to wear their costumes or experiment with new ones. Sometimes they choose to scare each other or just to play together. But after a while, even the scaring becomes playful. Last night, one of my sons wore a tiger mask with Dracula teeth and bugged-out googly-eye glasses. It was a hoot.

So, if you happen to come by our place anytime in the next week, don't be surprised to find some pretty spooky looking creatures. I've seen a mummy wandering around here someplace. He even had toilet paper wrapped around his head.

Creepy.

- Midwest Mom