halloween

Well, we pulled it off! This Halloween was basically the best ever. And I’m not just saying that because my first ever large scale paper mache project did not wind up a ball of mushy, glue-covered newspaper.

Or because this guy. Although, really, everything is even better with him to round out the craziness.

Warning! Bumbo not used as directed! Danger!!1

It was just one of those picturesque, mostly everything went right, minimally frustrating nights. With candy.

And yes, that is s stroller with a skateboard attached to the side that Leyna’s riding on! Orbit Baby sent us a G2 to try out, and so far, it’s pretty amazing. And the Sidekick is a huge hit.

At least, that’s what I’m choosing to remember, and not the way our house looked for 24 hours after the costume-candy-chaos bomb went off.

So let’s just get right to it. That Skylanders Eye Brawl costume we made for Kendall? NAILED. IT.

“Mom, this was the best Halloween ever.”

He literally said that exact thing to me as I tucked him in that night. TOTALLY made the searing pain in my shoulder from all the time spent working on that giant eyeball worth it.

I’ve had some people ask for a tutorial on how to make this thing. This is the best I can do for you:

Basically, I made that eyeball head by putting 6 layers of newspaper on a giant ball (that I first covered in Saran Wrap) with regular ol’ Mod Podge (slightly watered down). I let each layer dry for about 12 hours, so it took a long time to finish. The ball rested on a bucket, and left a hole big enough to fit his head in at the bottom.

When it was completely dry, I traced a circle onto the front of the ball (big enough for him to see/breathe out of) and cut it out with a knife. This caused the ball to pop and I was able to easily pull it and the plastic wrap out the bottom. We spray painted it white.

Then I reinforced the bottom and the edges of the hole in front with a couple layers of black Duck Tape. I bought a roll of screen from the Home Depot ($7), cut out a square and hot glued it to the inside of the head, turing the hole into a “pupil” that he could still see/breathe out of. Finally, I added a blue ring of paint.

The rest of the costume came together with the help of a lot of cardboard, a can of silver spray paint, and some more black Duck Tape. We also hit up Play It Again sports for used (and relatively inexpensive) football pads that he wore under a very large shirt, and some hockey gloves that we made completely black with (you guessed it!) more black tape.

If you’re asking, “How did you get that to stay in place? And what about that?” The answer you are looking for is Duck Tape. To all of it.

I’m am still patting myself on the back for having the wisdom to not do anything elaborate with Leyna’s costume this year. Ever since Leyna went with us to the 20 week ultrasound we had with Lowell, and the tech let her listen to my belly with a stethoscope, she’s liked to play “Doctor Leyna.” I briefly contemplated trying to get her excited about a Little Red Riding Hood costume, and having Lowell go as the Big Bad Wolf. Then I had a lovely moment of clarity when I realized what a disaster that would be.

I bought her a personalized pair of tiny scrubs and a coordinating stethoscope from MyKidsScrubs.com. Bonus for them doubling as pajams now!

Minutes before we were about to head out, I realized I didn’t have a bucket or bag for her to collect candy in. Then I remembered the old Doctor Kit bag at the bottom of the toy bin. Absolutely perfect.

Since I nixed the Little Red and Big Bad Wolf idea, I was stumped when it came to Lowell.

It wasn’t until about a week before Halloween that I had the idea to pay a friend of mine make a beard beanie for him, and dress him as a tiny lumberjack.

I’m going to give you a minute to finish dying.

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But what about me? I always try to do something for Halloween, and my favorite witch hat was destroyed last year. Then I remembered a babywearing costume I saw floating around a couple years ago of a mom dressed as a tree, wearing a baby in an owl beanie. 

I could be a tree! Ergobaby happened to have just sent me an olive colored Stowaway carrier. I found a lovely green sweater at Target. It was meant to be!

I put this costume of mine together in 30 minutes on Halloween. So easy. All I needed (other than the carrier and my sweater) was a branch of silk fall leaves from the craft store, a little tulle, a hair clip, some hot glue, and wire cutters to clip the leaves from the wire stem.

Granted, I only wore him just long enough for him to pass out. Then he napped in his stroller (still rocking the beard beanie, which was a champ at holding his paci in his mouth) while I chased the bigs around with the camera before the sun set.

Happy Halloween, indeed! How did yours go?