Sunday, September 26, 2010

Holy Trick or Treat Batman!

I have to say Fall is my favorite time of the year. The leaves changing, the cooler weather and most of all Halloween (also all the yummy Pumpkin stuff). It's been a few years since I have been in full Halloween swing. Its been harder to get things pulled together with the little ones and plus I don't want to scare them too much with all our decorations and stuff. This year is different, I think we will go all out. It's time to pass the torch to the next generation, get them to love the fear, to spookiness and to watch for things that go bump in the night.

We have asked the kids what they want to be (well Lex anyhow). He informed us that he wanted to be Spiderman, and then that Loki should be Batgirl. Once I reconfirmed Spiderman and Batgirl, I was corrected and told Superman and Batgirl. Yes our kids are DC kids, might have been being baptism by Dan Didio at our first Baltimore Comic Con. Superman and Batgirl it is, well until yesterday when he changed to Batman. We're looking at old school Batman and Batgirl from the Adam West television show. If we can't pull that together, I'm mostly concerned about finding the right fabric for Loki's costume, I think we will got with The Batman television versions. I have looked up online to purchase tights for Lex's costume (gray) and a long sleeve t-shirt for the top. We'll have to make his cape, and I'm thinking dyed black underware for the briefs.

Loki's Batgirl costume will need to be fully made, no short cuts for this one. I have found directions to make the cowls, which doesn't seem that hard. We'll have to make them for either version of the costumes. I think I'm going to make their utility belts out of felt this year. Lex was Robin last year and I used foam sheets and it didn't have what it takes to hold up to a toddler. His Robin costume we made from destructing T-shirts, a little bit of fabric paint and sewing.

Along with making the Superhero costumes, Mad Dog and I are making them Toy Story costumes, Woody and Jesse. Loki adores them both and they both are big fans of the movies. I am picking up simple long sleeve t-shirts, and some cow print material for the vest and chaps. Mad Dog purchased the hats at the Disney Store yesterday, I didn't think I was up for make those. Family Fun magazine has a how to make yarn wigs, which will be perfect for Jesse's yarn hair. Along with the cow print material I need a little yellow for Jesse's shirt, some ribbon for accents and a red fabric marker to make the pattern on Woody's shirt. Part of the reason for making these is because in the end it will be so easy, but the other side is that the kids will be able to play dress-up and encourage creativity in the process. They both already play pretend ALOT.

Mad Dog has already expressed that next year he wants us to have a Halloween party, which I would love to do. I think it would be fun. Before some of us had kids, at least one of my friends hosted a Halloween party (I did one year too). The bests were always hosted at my friend Blue's place (her and her roomates at the time would host). My friends came up with the best costumes, making the night very exciting since you never knew that people were going to come up with. Most if not all the customes were handmade, which is part of the reason I like to make the kids costumes. I think it makes it more exciting and makes you honestly think about the objects around you. It's easy to order something or run to Target and pick one up, but to breakdown an outfit to think about how to reconstruct it from simple pieces of clothing or props it far more fun.

Mad Dog always jokes that he wait until the kids are old enough to really get into Halloween. With my need to show off, there will be alot of kids running from fear and envy of the costumes our kids will be wearing. I do like that idea, not being mean to other kids but the fact that I can show off to their parents (I know I'm terrible) - it's probably one of the catagories I can be "That Parent" in, you know the one that the other parents hate! What fun! For now I can only hope and dream, until my kids can wear full on make-up and be covered in a disgusting subsitance or dressed in something Stan Wiston would be proud of.

Happy Fall!

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