Oh, Halloween…how I love you. It’s the one time of year the boys gaze at me in wonder and amazement, because they know I am going to make them the BEST.COSTUMES.EVER. Let’s stroll down Memory Lane, shall we?
In 2005, Steven was 10 months old, and I made this scarecrow costume so he could be the most adorable scarecrow ever!
In 2006, I was admittedly a little lame. But in my defense, I had a two-month old infant Henry to deal with, and I was also planning a surprise wedding for my mom and her then-boyfriend, now-husband Terry. Needless to say, I wasn’t in the Halloween spirit that year. I did however, take the time to dress the boys in Halloween attire, so I could ohh and ahh at their cuteness, six years later.
I’m now realizing I was pretty lame in 2007 too, and the boys had (GASP!) store-bought costumes. But they were still the cutest clown and firefighter ever.
In 2008, I finally got my shit together and realized I was actually SUPER MOM. Steven was obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine, so he wanted to be Percy (the green train) and wanted Henry to be Thomas. Henry had just turned two, so he went along with whatever his brother said at the time. Grumpypants had just woken up from a nap, but, I swear, he was happier later.
After that incredi-costume, Steven realized I could DO ANYTHING! In 2009, Steven decided he wanted to be a tree! A freaking tree! Henry wanted to be a frog. Your requests are too easy for me, you mere mortals!
In 2010, Steven made up his own superhero and wanted to be SUPER SILVER for Halloween. Henry wanted to be a knight. I dub thee Sir Henry. They were relatively easy on me this year, but these were also homemade costumes. They still have these costumes and wear them all the time!
And along came 2011. Henry wants to be Pikachu and Steven wants to be an aquarium. The Pikachu costume started easily enough. I found a pattern for a Kangeroo costume and made it yellow. The ears were difficult, because they needed to be long and wide, and getting them to stand up was impossible! Chris finally gave me a roll of industrial telephone wire, so I was able to mold them into the shape I wanted and create a “crown” to rest on Henry’s head in the hood of the costume. The tail was a whole other issue, because Pikachu has a lightning bolt shaped tail, and they don’t really make a pattern for that! Once I finally got the tail figured out, I couldn’t figure out how to keep it from dragging on the floor. I finally accepted the fact that it was going to drag on the floor, but I wrapped the end in more yellow fleece, so at least we could take layers off as it got too filthy.
I had no idea where to even start with the aquarium costume, and would just stare at the box I planned on using. About two days before Halloween, it finally came to me. I spray painted bean bag fill bright pink (for the rocks, we couldn’t have anything too heavy for Steven to carry!) and bought plastic fish and plants. I hung everything from clear ribbon and covered the entire thing with black duct tape. We taped battery operated Christmas lights to the top of the tank and Voila! Aquarium complete!
And then came this year. The boys warned informed me that they wanted to be Kirby and Waddle Dee. I had a vague idea that Kirby was a video game character whom Steven loved more than me. But I had no clue who Waddle Dee was, especially since they kept pronouncing it “Wild Dee”. We finally found him on Google, and Henry let me know it had to be the Wild Dee Waddle Dee with the blue Bandana.
How the heck was I supposed to make this? We thought about chicken wire (too heavy), foam (impossible to shape), fabric (couldn’t really achieve that round look). It finally occurred to me to use balloons and paper mache. I ordered 36″ diameter balloons off Amazon and our neighbors supplied us with their recycling bin for newspapers. Five layers (FIVE!) of paper mache later, I finally had the balloons covered. After deflating the balloons, I discovered there were some areas that needed more paper mache to firm up. Let’s just say I was covered with watered down glue for about two weeks. Then came the painting. Kirby is typically pink, but Steven wanted to be Yellow Kirby (apparently, that’s a thing.) But newspaper print is hard to cover, so each costume needed about four layers of paint! In total, the two costumes took me about three weeks to make, but I have to say, they are FREAKING AWESOME! I mean, look at these things! The boys were crazy about them!
They wore their costumes to school, which turned out fine. I could see that they were having trouble bumping into things, and couldn’t sit down, but the party was only an hour, so it was no big deal. After the party, I took the costumes home for safekeeping until Trick or Treating. After dinner, they were so excited for Trick or Treating, and it started out well enough.
We hit four houses before the UNTHINKABLE happened. In his eagerness to get to the next house, Henry ran ahead. And tripped. And with this costume, there was no way to break his fall. And I heard a sickening crunch. Not the crunch of bones on concrete. The crunch of five layers of paper mache being smashed to smithereens. I scooped up Henry and we were afraid to look. The costume was RUINED. Henry’s adorable face was ruined. Henry started sobbing. Steven started sobbing. Halloween became Hallowhoops! There was no consoling Henry, who knew the costume was destroyed. I wasn’t even going to mention the scrapes on his face. We staggered home where Chris attempted to duct tape the costume back together, but there was no saving it. Wild Dee Waddle Dee was dead.
I was trying to get Henry interested in another costume, but he wasn’t having any of it until I said “How about a ghost?” There was a glimmer of interest in “ghost”, so I quickly ran upstairs, got the one white sheet we have, cut two eyeholes and armholes and Boom! Spooky ghost on the move! You know how sometimes you can just be amazed by kids? It took Henry about five minutes to recover from the disaster. He quickly decided he wasn’t just a ghost. He was the GHOST OF WILD DEE WADDLE DEE! And he ended up saying this was his “BEST COSTUME EVER!”
thegozes 