Halloween

Brooke is mad that I haven't decorated much for Halloween. I put out Grandpa's home-grown pumpkin on our table and wrapped it in a leafy garland, put little fake jack-o-lanterns around it, and put out a ceramic pumpkin. Brooke has painted a pumpkin patch which is on display... she wants spooky fake headstones in our front yard, fake spiderwebs everywhere, bloody door sign on the front door, basically anything she sees any other house in the neighborhood with. I tried to explain I did not want to buy, decorate with, then store any of those things. She didn't care. Oh well.

So I've redecorated the blog. Hopefully that helps things a little. And I found some old Halloween fabric I bought a few years ago I'm putting out on the table too. She was pacified a little this evening when we finished the planning stages of Halloween costumes.

Both girls plan to be vampires this year. But not gross vampires. And their costumes will be vampire/witch hybrids that they can switch between depending on how the mood strikes them for each occasion (Trunk-or-Treat at church, school costume parade, then actual Halloween). We bought a basic black witch costume (complete with hat & belt & pumpkin bucket to trick-or-treat with) from Target for $7.99. Half the work is done for me! But since I can't leave well enough alone (and because it doesn't look vampire-like), we found examples of store-bought vampire costumes that we plan to copy with some extra fabric sewn onto our basic black dresses. We are making a collar and adding fabric to the front of each of their dresses. The collar will be a neck piece either tied on or velcroed on (like a choker). The girls each picked out a different color Halloweeny spiderwebby sheer/shiny fabric we will sew onto the dress. Didn't need much, so it didn't cost much. Both costumes cost $7.99 each plus $9 from fabric store total.... two costumes done for $25. Pretty good I say. And both costumes can be switched between two different characters. Even better!