Halloween 2010: Part 3: Old Town Alexandria

Grandpa John is a HUGE Halloween fan so very much wanted to share the day with the girls. On Halloween night we headed to his and Carolyn's place to show the girls his decorations, enjoy a few pre-trick-or-treating snacks and get ready for the big night.
 

 Getting ready.

The girls.

So, this was almost an awesome shot,

all four of us, decked out for Halloween and everyone happy and paying attention (I was a witch, Keith was Mad-Eye Moody), but I don't think the very nice old man who offered to take our picture knew how to use the camera and unfortunately we didn't discover how bad it was until much later...

Trick-or-treating with Grandpa John.
People kept stopping him and Keith saying how much they loved Aria's costume (yay!).

Grandpa John was very excited about this balloon...hehehe.

 

This couple was sooo excited when they spotted Aria in the huge crowds of trick-or-treaters and party-goers. They had to have a picture (and so did we)!

This was at the end of the night and Aria was a bit tired and feeling more than a bit shy, so wasn't very smiley; afterward, though, she loved talking about this meeting.

 Note: The Fish in the Pot side of the treat bag I made is just visible here. I didn't anticipate the number of treats she'd get, though and one of the straps broke towards the end of the night. Next time I must reinforce those seams!

 Aria got the hang of trick-or-treating very quickly and
was soon begging to go to that house and that house and that house...
This was to be the very last house, but...

 ...they were all out of candy.

Thank goodness for this sweet couple.
Aria got one last treat and ended on a (sugar) high.

 Ani staying bundled and getting sleepy.

 Tired girls.

Time to head home.

The End.

Halloween 2010: Part 2: Hilloween

Halloween this year was a full weekend of activity, starting with Friday's Hilloween celebration. We've gone to Hilloween since Aria was but a wee little thing and love the community feel and kid-friendliness of this event. Admittedly (and sadly), we are no longer Hill residents, but we still feel so much a part of the community, frequently visiting Eastern Market's "Pickle Man" or meeting friends on the playgrounds, that going to this event was a must.

Halloween 2010: Part 1: Creating the Costumes

Halloween began weeks ahead of time for this mama. Trying to get ahead of the game a bit, I talked with Aria early in the fall about what she'd like to be for Halloween. Repeatedly she voiced her desire to dress up as a cat for the holiday and so I deemed it safe to order her a set of ears and a tail for her costume. The very next day, as we were looking at pictures of various things online, Aria saw a picture of a Cat in the Hat stuffed animal and instantly knew that's what she had to be for Halloween. She was very excited about it and I thought the idea to pretty cool, so I called Groovyland (the Hill's toy store) and amended the order for a toddler-sized Cat in the Hat hat. After that I set out to put together the rest of her costume, sewing a white belly on her black turtleneck, finding just the right shade and width of ribbon and creating a Halloween treat bag showing Thing 1 and Thing 2. This was an important detail as Aria originally thought she could be Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 all in one night. I talked her down to carrying Thing 1 and Thing 2 in some way and promised her she'd have them for the big night. I settled on a treat bag made up of blue felt (to match the Things hair and the book itself) with a drawing of the Things on a white felt patch. I also sewed blue felt "hair" onto the drawing for a little extra pop. As I worked on her bag the day before Hilloween, the following conversation unfolded.

"Remember the Fish!"
"What fish," I asked, feeling a red flag slowly rise into the air.
"The Fish in the Pot!"
"But Aria," I said, "you are having Thing 1 and Thing 2 on your bag."
"But you need to put three things on my bag, Thing 1 and Thing 2 and the fish in the pot."
"OK..."
"And don't forget the boy and the girl. You need to put five things on my bag!"
Bossy little thing, I thought, but did not say.
"I'll put the fish, Aria, but not the boy and girl. That's too much."

And so I spent a very late night finishing two costumes (more about Ani's in a minute) and putting together a Halloween bag that had not only Thing 1 and Thing 2, but also the Fish in the Pot (I sewed a little fish cutout onto a drawing of the fishbowl from the book, on a white panel to match the Things drawing). I stopped sewing when I could no longer focus my eyes well enough to thread the needle I was using. (So this is what old people feel like, I thought...). The next morning I  put on the finishing touches and looked up step-by-step instructions on how to tie a bowtie. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and, in my opinion, the results were worth it:

Getting ready at Grandpa John's on

Halloween night.

I love this picture of her. 

It's a bit grainy but you can see her whole costume (minus the tail)

and the fire shoes which she picked out and wears all the time. 

I think they look great on the Cat in the Hat 

- totally fit with the attitude!

Picture taken in Old Town Alexandria on Halloween night.

Taking a breather with Grandpa John.

Note: The bag is somewhat visible in this pic. 

You can at least get an idea of what the Things looked like. 

More pics to come...

Ani's costume was another labor of love. I decided early on that I wanted her to be a fairy. I liked that it would be similar to Aria's second Halloween costume but also wanted it to be unique. I bought her a pair of fairy wings and decided to make her a tutu and headband. After a couple of trips to fabric stores to find the tulle and ribbon in just the right colors and a night or two covered in tulle scraps, I came up with this:

I loved making the costumes for the girls. It reminded me of the Halloweens of my youth when we made our own costumes (with Mom's help, of course!) and felt much more meaningful than buying a full costume. Admittedly, there were store-bought pieces to each (when I said something about making the costumes Aria was quick to point out that I did not make her hat or her tail) but even those had a bit of creativity and hard work in them as I tried to incorporate them into the whole costume just so.

Stay tuned for more pics of our action-packed Halloween weekend...