Red

Halloween. It's the time of year when candy bags are bigger,  home decor is a little darker, and costumes are larger than life. AND IT'S SO FUN!!

I have always looked forward to Halloween. Always. Because my dad would pull out his homemade Darth Vader costume (haven't seen it? Ask me to post a picture. Because seriously- it's that cool.) and my mom would start working on these amazing homemade costumes for us kids. Honestly, we had some GREAT costumes growing up thanks to my parents' talents and skills. And so it began early in my childhood- this desire to create something amazing and unique for my kids to celebrate dressing up and collecting treats by threatening tricks. ;)

One thing, however, I won't do is buy a costume. It's because 1) costumes are so expensive, and I can't see spending that kind of money on just one night!! and 2) as my girls get older, I am realizing there are very limited choices for them that are modest and not sexed-up Disney princesses or cartoon characters. (Gah. I really dislike perusing costume aisles at stores. And I have a major soapbox about that, so it's best I stop now.)

And besides, what fun is it to say, "Okay, you have to choose one of these costumes."? Isn't it MORE fun and part of the Halloween magic to say, "What do you want to be?" then let their imaginations go and create whatever they come up with?

I definitely think so.

So I make our kids' costumes. Some years have definitely been better than others. (Hello Ariel that could easily have been mistaken for a bad case of purple glitter alien. Yeah, it's better not to ask actually...) But this year. OH this year. This year-- it's good.

Back in July or August, Anni & Brie started talking about their Halloween costumes. We start that early because they change their minds roughly a hundred times before making a decision. Finally, they chose. The Anni girl chose classic with a twist-- RED RIDING HOOD from the TV show, ONCE UPON A TIME. (Haven't seen it? Try it out, it's pretty clever and fun.) So I said, OKAY!! I got really excited, busted out my brand new sewing machine, took two hours to thread the darn thing (hey. it's new and I haven't sewn for about 5 years. I'd say that's pretty okay. Though at the time I thought Anni might be better off dressed in her bathrobe with hair in curlers.), and got creating. This is the image Anni chose for her costume to be based off of:

                                                 

And this is our final product:

I know it's not the exact same. But I think it's close enough for Halloween and I am a bit proud that I was able to make it all after not having been around a sewing machine for years. (And yes, that's blood by her mouth. If you don't know the twist to Red from the show, I won't spoil it for you- but you can look it up to figure out why it's there!)

But you know what the best part is? Anni put on the costume and said, "Mom this is perfect!!"

*sigh*

Music to a mother's ears.

She wore it tonight to a concert performance at a haunted trail here at a nearby park. It was a success!

So that's the Anni girl this year. I am pleased with the way it turned out, and even more pleased that she likes it. (Whew!)

And what will Brielle be dressed as? Tune in later to find out, but I promise it will be "BERRY" cute!  =)