A Homemade Halloween-- and Birthday

Jules here-

Alas, with the move, house-hunting, homeschooling, holiday and working-- I have been greatly neglectful in writing blog posts (and yes, Ems has her own list of lame excuses too...). Our biggest fans have unrelentingly pestered us, so here it is :)

First, I have lovely pictures on my camera-- but I cannot find my camera cord to download the them; I may have put it in storage. For now, I am relying on my fantastic friends and family to help film the important moments, and you'll have to use your imagination too... 



Halloween 2013 Fantastic Used Costumes = Free

Throughout the years, I have been so blessed with hand-me-downs, consignments store finds, and garage sale deals-- that I have never purchased a costume at full-retail price.  After moving away from my local-haunts, I had to go to Wal-Mart. UM--- $25 for a kid's costume?!? Seriously? At best, I could spend $10 per kid on generic, skimpy costumes that we would have to layer so much that they would be unrecognizable as we traipsed around the chilly neighborhood. 

 

Of course, I turned to Pinterest for help.  After scouring "last-minute-kid's-cheap-costume-ideas", I had some simple ideas on a "how-to".  I saw a simple tunic-style cut-out of a pumpkin which inspired me (follow the link if you want the how-to on that one)


Follow this link for instructions: http://oyveyaday.com/diy-halloween-no-sew-pumpkin-costume-in-under-10-minutes-for-under-10/



After seeing the simple felt pullover, I was inspired (mostly by the cost of "real" costumes), to totally create hand-made costumes.  Armed only with $12 and my hot glue gun, I headed to Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store to create 3 costumes without sewing, in two days. Grace decided she wanted to be the sun, so naturally I made James the moon, and Lissie a fluffy cloud (mostly because I had this awesome hand-me-down hat she could wear):

Obviously I did not make our friend's Ninja Turtle costume...

I purchased 4 sheets (paper-sized) white felt, 4 sheets of yellow felt, 2 yards of black felt (I think background blue for the sun & cloud would have been nice, but that would have cost another $6 to purchase them separately), dollar store hats & mittens, and I made my own face paint.  I used cotton balls for the cloud and we also glitter-glued sparkle over the sun & moon.  The kids liked helping glue the cotton balls on, adding "bling", an watching me hot-glue the outfits.  PLUS- the kids could wear regular clothes (including jackets) and have their arms free for holding candy!

Though I was proud of our make-shift Halloween costume-making, when I arrived at the library story time, one mom had sewn an exact replica of Little Red Riding Hood's dress AND cloak.... so my hot-glued cotton balls looked a tad shabby-- but who cares- it's Halloween and just plain fun!

The day after Halloween is not only All Saint's Day-- it's also James's birthday! I no longer have a terrible-two year old, I have a still-not-potty-trained THREE year old!! Of course, he wanted a golf-themed cake, and we took him bowling of the first time with friends.  He LOVED it.

James's Golf Cake

The flags were toothpicks with construction paper (Grace made them), the big golf ball and tee are real. The sand traps were graham crackers, and the mini-golf balls were white sixlet candy.

Big Guy is Three!

I cannot sew, I'm not very fancy, but I managed to pull off Halloween AND a birthday, and blogging about it-- kudos to me :)

Easy Rule #11111- You don't need fancy costumes or a lot of money for kids to enjoy holidays.

Easy Rule #45456- The best way to start out a candy-focused holiday is to start the sugar-indulgences before breakfast.

I think we need a sugar-detox