Raise your hands if your house is in a mad-scramble around 4:30 PM on Halloween night? Holy crap, it feels insane. Over here, I had one child begging to put her costume on and sit in the make-up chair from three o’clock, and the other one, halfway sullen about the idea of having to get dressed up. Again.
Madame got to wear her costume, replete with makeup, four separate times this holiday, due to birthday party shenanigans, a fund raiser party, the costume parade at school (of course) and then Halloween night itself. She wanted to be made up EVERY day since the first party last week, and each time she says, “I think I need more around my eyes… and don’t forget my window peak.” She is hilarious. And, a very scary vampire, too!!
Oh, how I wish I could convince her to go as Gene Simmons… but, I’d need an obedient child for that. Meh.
Oliver, on the other hand, does not enjoy dressing up much. When faced with the costume-mandatory birthday invitation (for some of the dearest friends we have who live next door) I told my sulking boy to buck up, because we were going to the party, and he would wear a costume of some kind, just like everybody else… and not to be a party-pooper. He reluctantly agreed to go as a wolfman, since we could fashion an outfit mostly out of regular clothes he owned.
I bought some faux-fur and attached it with peel-and-stick dollarstore velcro to hoodie, which he wore under a flannel shirt with jeans and Converse. From the moment he tried it on, he complained about being too hot. I said to just wipe the sad-panda look off his face. “The party is outside… just take the hood down if you’re too hot, and later, you can just take it off, okay?”
And unlike his sister, when it comes to the makeup part, after two gentle strokes of a pencil to his brow, he’s wearily asking me if we’re done yet.
Me: No, we’re not done yet. Just wait a minute… gawd.”
Dab, dab… freckle, freckle… nose paint…
He: Are we done now?
Me: No! Just wait!! GAWD!!
Wipe… blend… smear…
He: Now, can I go?
Me: *breathes* Yes. Jay-sus.
He was a good sport. Though, he probably wore the costume for about 12 minutes… bits of fur were all over the park in less time than it took to make the stupid costume, and he stripped the layers off and lay them on our front stairs before I even made it out to the party that day. I looked like this:
I stole this idea from the Blissdom party… yes, that reads “Mitt’s Binder” with three dolls sticking out. (Get it?) Also, I feel so safe and protected in my neighbourhood, yo. Seriously. (That was last Friday – yesterday, I wore this.)
Anyhow, Oliver didn’t even want to go trick-or-treating if it meant donning a costume again, so I racked my brain for an idea that was simple, with no makeup required… and then I recalled how he’s been skipping and galloping with an imaginary lariat all over the house with that damned song being played on the iPad these days. (I mean, CONSTANTLY.) So I pulled out one of my blazers, got crafty with some masking tape for about ten minutes, and slapped a bow-tie and some sunglasses on the child, and BOOM: Gangnam Style.
Heeeeeeey, sexy lady…
But I swear – between the YES make up right now, Right Now, RIGHT NO
OOOOW, and NO, I don’t want to wear that, and can I open these chocolates now? as well as last minute decorations, carving stuff, and trying to stave off the too-early trick-or-treaters coming to our door (Seriously? 4:30 PM?!) and trying to get some kind of dinner into my kids’ bellies before the onslaught of sugarcandysugarchocolatesugarsugarsugarforever… Halloween is hard when you don’t have another parent home to help pull it all together. (Martin’s a busy guy these days.)
OOOOW, and NO, I don’t want to wear that, and can I open these chocolates now? as well as last minute decorations, carving stuff, and trying to stave off the too-early trick-or-treaters coming to our door (Seriously? 4:30 PM?!) and trying to get some kind of dinner into my kids’ bellies before the onslaught of sugarcandysugarchocolatesugarsugarsugarforever… Halloween is hard when you don’t have another parent home to help pull it all together. (Martin’s a busy guy these days.)
So to reward ourselves, we grown-ups stayed out on the curb long after the witches and zombies had all gone home to bed, and shared some good cheer, (as good winos do) with our wigs, wings, and eyelashes still on, warming our hands by the flame of the jack-o-lantern, and cackling.
Gomez Addams, you romantic rascal, I will carve your mate yet… *snap, snap*
And that’s how we did Halloween around these parts. I hope a devilishly good time was had by all this year!!
My girl found half a broken skateboard last summer and decided at that point that she’d be a dead skateboarder, so for her it was some ripped, bloody, and tire-printed skater-style clothes, and some smeared burgundy eyeshadow for undeadness.
My little guy is robot-obsessed, so I managed to salvage part of last year’s would-be costume and fashion him into a little Asimo robot.
Mr wore a robe, glasses, and wand as Harry Potter, but we had run out of time to deal with a scarf, so it was not great, just passable.
I also forced my coworker to wear the chef’s outfit that goes with my waitress costume, so four of my staff were in costume for the day at work, too.
All in all, not bad!
I’m with you, Julie – that’s totally my rule, too. But, he was determined not to go out… until his sweet sister said, “I’ll share my candy with you, Oliver – don’t worry.” Uch. Their sweetness towards one another makes discipline impossible. *smirks*
And? I’m hard pressed to GIVE a candy if a kid shows up without a costume. I mean, make an effort, you know?! Grrrrrr…
hey, in my books, no costume, no candy. that should motivate him for next year 🙂
Thanks, lady!! xox
Aaaaamaaaazing!!!
Hee! It was a good last-minute fix – he had a good time in the end!
oooooooooooh Gangham Style – god I was trying to figure that out!