Monday, November 3, 2008

Question of the Week - Halloween Costumes

I'm feeling much better. Thanks for all the nice comments. They really did help. Some days, I just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and everything frustrates me.

It didn't help that it was Halloween, my favorite holiday, and we had done almost nothing for it. Since we canceled our party, we just didn't bother to do anything. Londo got out the storage boxes of Halloween decorations and costumes, but those boxes sat untouched in our dining room. I looked at costumes for the Pumpkin, Londo and me, but I didn't buy anything. I borrowed my nieces costume from last year for the Pumpkin. And I think this was the first Halloween EVER that I didn't dress up at all. I wore orange and black at least, but I didn't even pull out any of my old costumes from the box.

But I finished my work on Friday on a high note (which helped me feel adequate again). When I got home from work, we dressed the Pumpkin in her borrowed costume and took a walk around the block to look at the houses that were decorated and see some kids out playing. After dinner, I sat outside with the Pumpkin in her costume and handed out candy to all the cute kids in their costumes. I ended up enjoying my favorite holiday even if we took it easy this year.

As a quick side note before the Question of the Week, a coworker said to me on Friday that it seemed a bit morbid that Halloween was my favorite holiday. So I explained to him: there is candy, dressing up as anything you want, kids dressed up in cute costumes, fun decorations, and neighbors visiting each other while the kids get candy. It's really rather friendly and fun, as holidays go. There is no pressure of having to pick which grandparents' house we are going to, no having to deal with families at all if you don't want, no big meal to worry about cooking and cleaning up from, nothing religious (to me) to have to do, and no presents (other than candy) to have to buy. The religious and family holidays are nice, but they just always seem like a lot of pressure. Halloween is just mostly some of my favorite, pressure-free things. So I'm not nearly as freaky as I sound when I say that Halloween is my favorite holiday.

And now on to the question of the week...

What was your kid for Halloween? And if you dressed up, what were you?

The adorable costume we borrowed for the Pumpkin was a monkey costume! This was really fitting for the Pumpkin, who is a little monkey, so you see I actually gave it some thought when I borrowed it. For once, I didn't dress up, nor did Londo. I didn't even dress up the dog! But last year, the Pumpkin was a unicorn, I was a fairy and Londo was a knight. I do love themes. Although the dog was a cow, which didn't go, but was very cute.

What about you? What was your little one(s)? What were you? Did you all do anything fun?

19 comments:

Parisienne Mais Presque said...

Halloween still hasn't exactly caught on here in France and I miss it. I dressed le Petit up as a bumble bee, but it was mostly just to take pictures to send to family back home. We didn't even manage to carve a jack-o-lantern this year, alas.

(I wrote an entry about Halloween in Paris here, if anyone is interested.)

sheSaidC2 said...

I LOVE THEMES too! however babySaid went as frankinstein (he had the walk down, all wobbly) mostly because I was lame, picked a costume that was on sale somewhere we were to make life easy. I wore a witches hat and my wsu halloween t-shirt (haha I have a halloween tshirt) and heSaid wore his viking hat with a bowling shirt (he's strange).
Last year though we went as little red ridding hood (me) granny (heSaid) and the big bad wolf (babySaid) it cracked me UP!

Becoming Mommy said...

Sasha was Bob the Builder (as seen here: http://becoming-mommy.blogspot.com/2008/10/even-keel.html)
Mostly because it was easy. He loves his dollar store hardhat and wants to wear it all the time. And overalls are a must when your child has zero behind.
We didn't really do anything though. Im too tired and our friends don't invite us out for parties anymore...they don't have kids so still start their parties at 10pm.
Meanwhile, we'd like to be in bed by then.

sheSaidC2 said...

http://flickr.com/photos/purplehouseonpearl/1808578431/in/photostream/

Ok if that works its a link of last years costume :) and I will post this years in a little bit

Anonymous said...

The Main Man was Mickey Mouse for Halloween. We went to our community parade and trick or treated on our street. He did really well, saying trick or treat and thank you, then running to the next house. We had a blast!

S said...

My son was a pirate. Everyone expected him to be Thomas the Tank Engine, but he picked that one out back when the costumes first went on sale at Toys R Us. I wore a Halloween t-shirt from Target. We had planned on going to the mall to trick or treat, but the mall we went to wasn't passing out candy. They said they already did it the Sunday before! I was mad, but we went home and trick or treated around the neighborhood and had a lot of fun.

Anonymous said...

Boog was a dinosaur and we went trick or treating in my mom's neighborhood. My sister's baby shower was scheduled for Sat morning so we made the trek north 3 hours Friday morning and celebrated halloween there. I didn't dress up. I don't really do costumes. Boog had a good time although I think he was slightly confused as to why we were begging for food, and he was seriously freaked out about being outside after dark. "mama, it's dark, it's dark!"

I'm Not Skippy said...

I LOVE Halloween. Up until I met and married my wife Halloween was my Christmas. She's not a Halloween fan so I've toned it down a bit. This year was the first year I didn't dress up.

Our some was a penguin. Since he just started walking, he waddles. . . so it seemed appropriate.

Cloud said...

Pumpkin was a bee. Hubby and I were beekeepers.

We bought the bee costume because it was cheap, and she is still too young to care. We rarely dress up, but once we came up with the idea of being beekepers, we had to do it.

-goofydaddy said...

the little one was a ladybug (of course), and i was spongebob. Pictures may be going on the blog, but for now they are on FB.

Anonymous said...

Mouse was Cinderella--we made a costume together that could transform from the ragged to the fancy version, since she wanted to be both. She had a ball (so to speak) with her friends on Belvedere Street--4 blocks of steep SF hill where they close the street and every decorates their houses to a ridiculously elaborate level--and collected something north of 60 pieces of candy. We also made a pumpkin spice bundt cake, which looked great until it got smashed by a friend's little brother, and tasted great even after.

I didn't dress up--I've lost my taste for it since college. :-/

Anonymous said...

We dressed our son as a giraffe. He was not so into wearing a costume this year (he is 21 months old), but he did have fun handing out candy.

Anonymous said...

Monkey was a monkey. Not just because I'm lame like that, but because he's been really liking Curious George lately. Plus the costume was really cute and pretty well made for only $20.

I didn't dress up although I did think about wearing the elf ears I bought for my potential Arwen outfit to work today. Unfortunately, the ears aren't quite as realistic as the website I bought them from pictured (go figure).

Glad you had a great Halloween even though you took it easy. You made some really good points about why it's your favorite holiday. The not choosing a family member's house to celebrate is HUGE!

Anonymous said...

I missed cheering you up since we were out of town but here's fun thought my 2-year old was wearing the exact same costume as pumpkin. He too was a monkey from Old Navy.

Shellie said...

Every year I plan on dressing up again, but it comes and goes before I even have time to think about it. My children were an 80's teen, a ninja again (that costume just keeps growing, I swear!), a video game elf named Link and two Tiggers. I'll have to squeeze in a post sometime soon.

Anonymous said...

I adore Halloween, too. My boy was dressed up as a tiny Strongman in a homemade costume, and I was supposed to be a tightrope walker but everyone thought I was a ballerina.

Karen said...

We grew up loving Halloween for it's time to dress up and get chocolate. I'm teaching my kids that, too.

My kids were a pirate, Little Bo Peep, a football player and Buzz Lightyear. We dont' do scary.

KG said...

I love Halloween! I was all psyched this year because Sumo was old enough to eat candy and Trick-or-Treat and whatnot. But it sort of sucked because Sumo's grandma (Granilla) was all lame and didn't want to take him Trick-or-Treating very far. Boo on her.

Anyway - he was a doctor. I'm sure you probably already saw the pictures on my blog. He was totally hawt.

J. A. Busfield said...

nice call on the no-pressure holiday! I like how you summed that up!

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