Halloween

Halloween is NOT my favorite holiday.  In fact, I would really like to find a way to cancel it.  However, the girls do really enjoy it, and I do enjoy the fact that they prefer to make up their own costumes.  They had been planning them for quite some tome (since like August), but I procrastinated in getting the started this year.  It actually worked out well, though, as we spent all of Halloween day preparing costumes and carving pumpkins.  It was a nice way to spend the day!

Here are the end results:

Isabella was a snowflake.  We made the snowflake out of foam board, and used the hot glue gun to attach some silver ribbon to the edges.  I picked up a pair of really cheap ($3) white sneakers and added a few silver jewels and some silver ribbon for laces.  The skirt was made from white felt, and we added some silver jewels to add some sparkle with the glue gun.   Then she just wore and long sleeved white shirt and white tights, and we tied some of the silver ribbon around her pony tails.

Hailey decided to be a raindrop princess... I think initially she was going to be a raindrop fairy but decided she did not want any wings, so then became a princess instead.  Really the only place there were raindrops was hanging from her crown.  I think if I had to do it again, I might make something to go around her waist to hang some other raindrops from, but she was more than happy with this.

This is the front of her costume.  She wore her dress from her dance recital last year over a long sleeved shirt and tights to keep her warm.  I also picked her up a pair of the cheap sneakers to decorate, but she wanted to leave them plain.  We did pin some bows made of ribbon to them, in the end.

Madeline was a snow fairy.  She used last year's costume (snow princess), and added some wings she made from coat hangers and tights.  She decorated them with glitter and glue.

Our pumpkins... they did not want to carve them until the very last minute since last year our pumpkins were mush before Halloween.

I was also enlightened by a friend of mine in a way that I think will help make this holiday a bit more tolerable in the future.  He said that they look at Halloween as an opportunity to build relationships in their neighborhood and share with friends as well as strangers.  Put in that light, Halloween does seem like an opportunity to teach our kids the values we want them to have.  Hopefully I will be able to remember that next year!