Halloween: It's Up in the Air

This year, we did things a little differently.

"How so?" you might ask.

Well...we (meaning Tyler) decided to be fun and let the kids decorate for Halloween. I am a stick-in-the-mud. He took the kids to DI and bought the makings of a scarecrow and ghost for outside.

 That, for us, is crazy decorating.

 We also didn't have a real cohesive family theme. We've done Peter Pan, we've done Star Wars, we've done The Wizard of Oz, we've done Calvin and Hobbes. I knew the days of agreement were numbered, as both of my older kids were getting rather opinionated about what they would (or more often WOULD NOT) be for Halloween.
Since last year, when she was convinced to go at Leia, Sheridan has been DYING to dress up as a swan-princess-ballerina. And she actually remembered that in August when I started trying to talk everyone into a theme. Do you know, there's not a lot of boyish costumes that go well with a swan-princess-ballerina? Well, not unless they want to be a prince, which my boys certainly did NOT want to be.

So, we had one Odette (from Swan Lake) and no other concrete ideas. I needed a lot of time to make her costume, though, so it works out ok. (Yep, all but the leotard was envisioned by moi.).

And then, in September, Henry piped up that he'd like to be a parrot.

What-the-what?!?

No idea where the parrot came from. Oh, and he didn't want to be just any parrot. He wanted to be a BLUE parrot. 

"Like on Rio?" I asked.

"No," was his adamant reply. "Like a blue parrot." 

Ooooookay.

Thankfully, pintrest had some parrot costume ideas pinned, and I had enough time. Those wings were a killer, but I can't complain too much when it turned out just like I envisioned and he couldn't stop squawking when he put the costume on!

And so, I figured we could be a flock of birds. Admittedly, with my maiden name, that was a slightly gleeful thought.

Then Jack said he wanted to be a peregrine falcon. (!!!?!???!?!)

Yeah. That wasn't going to be simple. I thought a parrot was hard? Take a look at peregrine falcons!

Then he changed his mind. Couldn't he just be a bat?

Sigh.

I gave up my dream of birds. Fortunately, I waited to make his because his school only allows kids to dress up according to the class theme. His theme was....Peter Pan.

And he decided to be Peter Pan.

Good news? Peter flies!

Bad news? This theme is starting to be a stretch!

He does make a cute Peter Pan, even though he was already that as a 3 yr old! It was (by far) the simplest costume to make and he was thrilled with how it turned out. Except that he wanted a sword. 

Now on to the littlest Vigue. I thought for a long time and finally narrowed it down to owl or monarch butterfly. When I saw this polka dotted fleece at Joanne's I was smitten. And fortunately, once the costume was done, she was just as smitten as I was! She loved the hat and the wings--I've never had a kid love to wear those all Halloween night before! They were a little trickier to make, but totally worth it for her reaction!

 And then, Tyler's sister had a great idea--he should get a Superman shirt and wear it under his suit! Perfect! Since he wears a suit and tie every day, this was not a big stretch for him! And Superman flies, too! (no picts yet, I'll work on that!)
Watch out, theme, we're taking you to town!
But...it was harder to think of a costume that included my big old belly. It is rather conspicuous. I though of a hot air balloon, but that could just get weird. I thought of the Death Star, but couldn't figure out how to pull it off. Then my niece posted a pict of Facebook for my SIL of pregnant-lady-as-death-star (my SIL needed a villain costume and she's pregnant, too). It was too perfect. So, with the help of a few crayons and an hour or 2, I was also up in the air.
Kaboom.
And that, my friends, is how you work a random family theme.
I look forward to next year's challenge as I try to meld some completely unrelated characters into a cohesive theme.
Until then, I have some candy baskets to raid.

  The crew getting ready to knock on all the doors of the neighborhood!

 Trying for just one good picture of the 4 of them.

Just one!

 Maybe I should become better friends with Photoshop...

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!!