Halloween Prep

You never know what to expect on Halloween night with the weather in Minnesota.  Snowpants and a winter coat over your Halloween costume is unfortunately more common than not.  Luckily, we have lots of chances to celebrate and dress up besides trick-or-treating on the 31st.

First off, let's start with the costumes!  I figured this was most likely the last year that I would be able to (a) get the kids to wear coordinating costumes and (b) have any influence over what they dressed as.  So, I decided to dress the kids as a flamenco dancer and a matador.  I told Punky that she was a Spanish princess, and she was happy with that.  Her costume was found online.  We showed her a youtube video of flamenco dancing so she knew what we were talking about.  Buddy was happy being a bullfighter too.  I couldn't find a premade costume, so I had to make his.  I am really happy with how it turned out!  I found a girls velour bolero jacket at a consignment shop and cut the fur collar off.  I also bought matching velour pants there and gold trimmings at the craft store.  Some hot glue, a cape and some pink socks (for luck!) and the outfit was complete.  

One of our favorites is our annual trip to a local grocery store's Boo Blast.  The kids get reusable grocery bags as they enter the store (I suppose these are really for us moms, but after 4 years I have quite the stock pile already).  There are trick-or-treat stations throughout the store with typically healthier options like carrot sticks, milk cartons, etc.  This year the kids also joined in on a hula-hoop contest and danced the hokey pokey!  We waited in line for animals.  Punky chose a dog on a leash and Buddy requested a (black) cougar.  The balloon lady looked at me with a "that isn't on the idea board" look and I told her just to make a dog, he wouldn't know the difference.  Anyway, Buddy's cougar didn't even make it home, he popped it in the car.  

With Punky's Bffs Strawberry Shortcake and Lemon Meringue

We carved pumpkins tonight with the kids.  Last year I bought a pumpkin carving kit on clearance after Halloween and oh my gosh it really changed our carving experience.  It was so much easier!  I might even carve another pumpkin after the kids are in bed some time this week.  I want to try out one of those tricky patterns.  When I asked Buddy what kind of face he wanted his pumpkin to have, this is the reply I got:

Silly!

Scary?

Maybe a squishy face?

Here's what we ended up with!