Halloween! Our ward had a trunk-or-treat this year in mid-October. I admit I'm not really a fan of trunk-or-treats (or, I guess, I'm not a fan of trunk-or-treats IN ADDITION to regular trick-or-treating…it feels like overkill) but people came up with such fun themed costumes and themed trunks, it was really fun to see. Several families even had little games for the kids to play at their trunks! So that was fun. And, of course, the children are always happy for a chance to wear two different costumes!
Goldie and Daisy came up with Goldie's amazing pirate costume with stuff we had around the house (the coat is from Seb's British Soldier costume years ago!). They even made a gold earring out of a paper clip! So cute. And of course, she needed a little parrot on her shoulders! (Gus did NOT want Clementine wearing his Caw Costume. He had to be hastily gotten out of the way while this picture was taken.)
Then nothing would do but that Gus also got into the Caw Costume, so HE could be the pirate parrot!
Goodness, they are cute!
Someone had made this amazing pirate ship for the trunk or treat! You could walk the plank and if you did, there was a gold candy at the end of it for you. Amazing!
Our much more modest trunk…a cave with bats in it!
Junie's and Daisy's young women classes were helping out with the trunk-or-treat, so they dressed up too. Here is lovely Junie ready for the ball.
And Daisy was thrilled when she discovered (while playing dress-up with a little girl she was babysitting) that our neighbors own an adult-size penguin costume! She borrowed it so she could be Gus's Mama Penguin.
For "real Halloween" we have a new cast of characters. Junie decided she wanted to be a Cowgirl and asked me to put her hair in ringlets the night before. Both Daisy and I were baffled as to why (do cowgirls have ringlets?) but when we saw Junie, we both agreed it was just the right thing! How did she know?
Historically, I have not "let" my kids (whatever that means) go trick-or-treating after age 12. And they don't mind. They have fun doing other things with us. But Junie was the one who took her little siblings around the neighborhood, so she was happy to be dressed up for that anyway.
Seb and his friend decided they wanted to be the penguins from…well, whatever this movie is; the name escapes me. (I haven't seen it.) So Seb squeezed himself into the borrowed penguin costume (it was too short, but it still zipped up!) and spent all day making this surfboard and feathered headdress and penguin feet. It looked great, I thought!
His friend Jonas looked really cute too. (And they went trick-or-treating…thus my comment about the meaning of "let" above. I had no input in the matter. Ah well, at least they dressed up.)
Zig was a fireman in this costume he got for his birthday.
He was also a pirate for a while!
Abe…I mean Teddy…was a bear, just like last year. He (still) reminds me of Abe in this costume!
Daisy, who loves hot chocolate and wants to own a hot chocolate shop when she grows up…do you know this about her? it's been her plan for years and years now…decided to BE hot chocolate. She made her costume all herself. So cute with the dollop of whipped cream on top!
It was also a perfect costume for her because we were going to be serving hot cocoa to the trick-or-treaters (we did it last year also and it was really fun). Daisy was very pleased to be able to help with that and, as she said, "get some publicity for my shop!"
The "Daisy's hot cocoa shop" logo is one Sam designed last year for her Christmas present (I had it embroidered on an apron and a shirt for her).
Did you ever know there could be such a cute hot cocoa costume?
Goldie re-created her pirate costume in case it was too cold that night.
Trying to look mean
But her REAL costume, which she wore for as long as she could until it got too cold, was this one. She called it a "Party Parent" (like the ladies who are the girls' "parents" in The Nutcracker ballet—they wear pretty hoop skirts like this) but she conceded it could also be a princess or a Civil War lady.
What a cutie! She said that while she was trick-or-treating, a few people asked if they could take her picture! That made her so happy.
This little poppet wore whatever costume we could put on her wiggly little body. It happened to be a bear.
A good little bear. This costume has served us well.
And perhaps my favorite…am I allowed to have favorites? No? Well, we'll call him my favorite PIG then…my favorite pig was Gus the Good.
He is so furry! And so pink! I love him!
Then of course we had to get the bears together
And the pirates together
And the little furry animals together
And the cowgirl with her pig
And her…bear?
And then everyone together.
We took our firepit out in front and cooked hot dogs on it for dinner before trick-or-treating started. Then we built up the fire really big and put out a huge jug of hot chocolate. I was smarter this year and made batches of it all day so as not to be in such a hurry (remember last year the cocoa somehow exploded all over me out of the [not sealed] pressure cooker, and I thought I was going to die, but then I was fine?) so we were able to fill up the whole…cooler? that sounds wrong…and have a few more batches inside ready to go. I made ten double batches total. Since each of those double batches fills a crock pot…that is a LOT of cocoa!
It turned out to be quite a warm day, before the sun went down. Marigold even found some violets growing. !!!
It got pretty cold after sunset, though! Clementine's tiny hands were so cold (in spite of how proud she was about these mittens, she did NOT keep them on her hands).
Off go the trick-or-treaters!
And here come some more.
Ziggy found a twin
Our friend Daniela and her Dad came to be with us for most of the night. This is their first Halloween in the United States (they are from Venuzuela) and they enjoyed it, I think. We sure enjoyed having them! It was really fun to sit outside by the warm fire and talk to all the people as they came by. Most parents were glad to stand by the fire for a minute and warm up! Everyone is in a happy mood on Halloween! Everyone except for…
…Clementine, who was cold and tired and grumpy. After she trick-or-treated on our street, she came back, begged for multiple cups of cocoa, spilled multiple cups of cocoa, tried unsuccessfully to open various pieces of other people's candy, attempted to burn herself on the firepit several times, and was finally and blessedly put to bed.
And THEN everyone was happy! :)
The End
Marvelous! I found it more fun when the children were old enough to figure out their own costumes. I let them go as old as they wanted to as long as they made a decent costume. I didn't have a digital camera until they were all grown and stopped going. Still, I treasure the snapshots I have of every year.
ReplyDeleteI love so much that you guys gather out front and make cocoa. A family did that in the neighborhood we took our kids to, but it wasn’t the same having it be an unfamiliar neighborhood and unknown people! (No trick or treating at all on our lonely streets, obviously, so we had to drive somewhere.) But it seems like such a happy neighborly thing to do!
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