Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone! Halloween is just around the corner, so I thought I would show you some of the costumes I have made over the years for my children. But first, I want to show you a photo from my childhood. I remember Halloween always being lots of fun and the most important part was deciding who I was going to be. No matter who it was, my mom would make it happen. It was my mom who taught me how much fun there is in homemade costumes. And I am not a sewer!

In this photo, pictured from left to right, is my brother, Kyle, dressed as Farmer Brown, me dressed as a flapper, my sister, Kerry, the cowgirl, and last but not least, my baby sister, Keila, the army brat! We had such great fun dressing up and I couldn't wait to do the same with my children.

When searching for costume ideas, I would often check out Family Fun magazine. But, I think some of my best ideas were inspired by my sons' obsessions and discoveries. For example, one year, while we were up in New York celebrating family birthdays, we had lobster for dinner. My mother-in-law had picked out the biggest lobster she could find. My youngest son, Tyler, asked her if he could keep one of the claws. Well, needless to say, this became the inspiration to turn my son into a fishing net for Halloween. The hunt began and continued all summer.

I hit the jackpot when I found the ever-popular, singing fish mounted on a plaque. Remember those? Well, I rigged the plaque up in front of Tyler, camouflaged it by blue gauzy material, and then when he went up to people's houses, he would push the button for the fish to sing. Pretty cool, huh?! Its hard to tell in the photo, but there are several fish hanging in the net and a big crab on top. I don't remember what we used to support the whole thing but this costume was an especially tricky one. There were peep holes for my son to see and my husband went along as a safety guide.

This costume was great fun and everyone got a kick out of it. If you would like to hear the singing fish, click here.

Now, you may be wondering how I found all my materials. Well, I would scour all the local thrift stores, yard sales and junk shops in the months leading up to Halloween. This hunt was always the fun part for me and somehow, I always seemed to find just what I needed!

I kept the costumes from year to year which turned out to be a big help as the boys got older. They no longer wanted a whole costume outfit, it just wasn't cool! So, they would grab the ever reliable, green-haired mask and throw it together with whatever. Left, is a photo of Blake wearing the mask and part of the old swamp monster costume.

Below, is the original swamp monster costume, worn by Blake. He was in kindergarten at the time and we were living in Pittsburgh. I remember there were no street lights so my huband played safety guide again while I pushed Tyler in the stroller. This costume also came from family fun magazine and was fairly easy to make. I just love this magazine and gave my best friend and sister gift subscriptions. Its a wonderful resource for so many things but especially costume ideas.

Another fun costume was the Headless Butler. This one came from Family Fun magazine as well and was actually pretty easy to make. This photo of Tyler was taken when he was in elementary school. The children would dress up and parade around the school parking lot so parents could see all the costumes. I became quite famous over the years!

The pirate costume was inspired by the first Johnny Depp Pirate movie. I made the wig myself and added beads to it. The coat was a great find from a thrift store. It was covered in gold studs and came with a belt.

In this photo, left to right, Blake was Frankenstein, Tyler was a Ninja, and I was a ghost of sorts. This was taken the year we had a Halloween Party in our garage. We made a creepy fun house for kids to crawl through out front and we played some fun Halloween games. Lots of spooky fun!

These are just a few of all the costumes. One of these days, I'll get the rest scanned in and make a big collage. As for this Halloween, I will be handing out candy and checking out all the cool costumes. My boys are too old now for trick or treating and cute costumes. But not to worry, I plan on having a Halloween party for adults one of these years and costumes will be mandatory! I've already started mine :-)

Happy Halloween!

Kelley