Pretty Dang Easy Halloween Costumes

. . . and fairly cheap too.

Neal has worn the same costume for the past three years. He was supposed to be an astronaut but it was really just an orange jumpsuit with a little flag on it. He could have been a "trustee". Anyway, the costume no longer fits him and we told him that he had to be something else this year. His hair was getting very long so I suggested that we make his hair crazy and he could be a mad scientist. He actually agreed. So we put off the desperately needed haircut (it will be getting cut off on Monday). I borrowed a lab coat from a neighbor/friend. We put gel in his hair and some make-up on his face.

And clearly he added the "mad" to the mad scientist all on his own. It's really not that far of a stretch.

Amberly wanted to be Tinkerbell but I didn't want to pay the price for the Disney costume. I made her a green tutu. I'd never made one before but it was so easy and actually kind of fun. We bought the wings and some sparkly face paint at Target and she was happy. She wore it all over her leotard and pink leggings. When we go trick-r-treating this evening she'll probably have to wear it over her coat.

She has gorgeous eyes. Love her. She's worn her costume all day and has been "flying" all over the house spreading her own type of pixie dust.

Thomas wanted to be a skeleton. It was a perfect costume for him because he loves bones. For a few years now he has spent so much time looking at his "bone book". I hunted high and low (well, at two Walmarts, a Target, and an Old Navy) for a skeleton costume for him. They all had skeleton costumes but they were either for babies or for adults (I could go on and on about what I think about adult costumes, but I won't. At least not now). I finally found a T-shirt at Old Navy with a rib cage. I bought the black pants and a black turtle neck from Old Navy as well. When I got home and showed it to him, he was a little upset because it didn't have a pelvis. I promised to make him a pelvis. I cut out the basic shape of a pelvis and leg bones (ask him the real names--he knows) and stitched them on the pants by hand. Add a little face paint and voila! The most adorable skeleton I have ever seen (even if he does have a cold).

Thomas has some serious attitude made even more serious by his cold. We skipped all the other Halloween parties because we were sick but we promised the kids they could still go trick-r-treating. We figured that we'd be outside and not spreading the germs too bad. But he did spread his attitude. He informed several nice and patient people that he hated suckers and purple candy. He gave them back. He didn't last long before we sent him home to bed with Gramps.

Lilly's costume was the easiest. She recycled Amberly's dance costume. Sigh. I am smiling about this one. Obviously, she's supposed to be Minnie Mouse--who is her favorite right now. (It's time for us to make a visit to Disneyland.) She's silly and she LOVED trick-r-treating tonight and she really LOVED the candy.

Molly was going to be a clown and wear the clown costume that Amberly wore when she was a baby. That was the plan until Thursday night when I suddenly changed my mind. We often call Molly our "cherry on top of the sundae" because she is so sweet and because she is probably, most-likely, almost definitely our last child. So, after a quick trip to Walmart to buy more tulle and ribbon and quickly making another tutu (I'm in love with them now), Molly became the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae. No one could really figure out what she was, so it probably wasn't that great of a costume, but we liked it.

Happy Halloween!