Before Halloween gets too far behind us (that was SO last night) I thought I should share our costumes for this year. Now before you get too excited I must preface this by saying that there were no special FX that went into these costumes like last year’s. I also wanted to make life a little easier for me (this is where I guffaw) and reuse a costume from the past (mine). Okay I’m stalling here….
We did an Alice in Wonderland theme. Having a little girl in the family sure opens up more possibilities for costume themes.
Didja notice Aedan’s white rabbit costume? 
Didn’t think so. That is because he is not wearing one. Poor guy had a good reason too: I finally got things arranged for him to get the regular flu shot (they told me H1N1 was out) and they scheduled him on the day of our ward party. He went in and to our surprise they were also able to give him the H1N1. He came home with a shot in each arm and was a cranky little boy. He did not want to wear any costumes at all. It was hard to get him to go to the trunk-or-treat party and we almost didn’t go.
Aedan originally wanted to be the white rabbit in our Alice theme and I made him the full rabbit costume with a tunic and a mock Elizabethan ruff collar and at the last minute the kid refused it all. Okay that is not entirely true, for his giant pocket watch I made him a treat bag with a clock on it and he wanted to take that to the party. It wasn’t until later that he was even willing to put the ears on.
Neal, the Mad Hatter, was mistaken for Willy Wonka by a few and I can see why but oh well. I think of all the costuming I did this year I had the most fun making his hat. I have made several hats before but never had sewn one. I’m at least glad I made that. I had recently learned (because I was too daft to inquire about it earlier I suppose) that the 10/6 on the Hatter’s Hat is actually a price tag. 10 shillings and 6 pence which, if you are quick to Wiki means that would be equivalent to 40.55 pounds today with inflation. Either he is boastful and left it on on purpose or mad and completely forgot to take it off. Either way it’s mental but he truly can’t be the Mad Hatter without it. Otherwise, apparently, he would be Willy Wonka.
Lily’s Alice dress was so tiny (tiny clothes are frustrating!) and the material was so cute and sparkly with big poofy sleeves and a tiny little petticoat. (that last sentence contained several words that I don’t think I had used up until we had a little girl in the family…) I had great plans of making an “Eat Me” “Drink Me” accessory but never got around to it.
My dress for the Queen of Hearts was made back in my undergraduate days as some of you might recognize although a post-pregnancy body was not meant for it :) Oh well, I squeezed into it for a few hours and survived. But the best part? I actually splurged for a 6 hoop hoop skirt! Oh how much fun! Love it!
A side note – we had also made giant cards (clubs, hearts, diamonds, spades) out of poster board to decorate our car for the trunk-or-treat but it rained so that was disappointing.
We had literally a trick-or-treating event every day since Wednesday. Admittedly, I felt horrible having my little boy dress up as a rabbit. Is that silly of me? Feeling the need to give him an opportunity to have a very BOY costume and seeing as we had plenty of costuming events to attend to, we marched off to Wal-Mart and *gasp* bought a costume for him there. Of all of the super heroes he had to choose from, guess what he chose?
Yup. My little boy as Darth Vader. It took some convincing that his name was not Dark Vader. The kid has no clue who this character is. What really sweetened the deal was that I told him he was a bad guy (much easier than explaining that in the end he was a good guy) and that he uses a light saber (or “gun sword” is what he called it). He was sold.
In an attempt to further explain this bad guy so Aedan could get in character, Neal told him a few key phrases that Vader would say. The one that stuck in Aedan’s mind was “I am your father” and proceeded to say that to many who would approach him.
At the trick or treat street party at the local rec center, a little boy dressed up as a Jedi knight excitedly ran up to my little Darth and shouted, “Hi Darth Vader!” Aedan gave him a look that said, “Who are you?” and said a very polite hi to him. The other kid clearly had a clue as to the whole story line and I could tell he desperately wanted to duel right then and there. After a bit of awkwardness when Aedan did not get all hyped up about the situation the other kid walked away saying, “Later Vader!” Too cute.
Aedan also wore this costume to his preschool trick-or-treating and also for Halloween night. He really enjoyed making Vader breathing noises while wearing his mask. Funny kid, I think he thought he was a Transformer.
The brotherhood of the sith. They’re out there I tell you. Armed with a deadly arsenal of sugar. I’ve given in to the dark side, how ‘bout you?
