As much as I love coordinated family costumes – this year was not the year to make that happen! We normally have a neighborhood party we attend as a family which gives us reason to dress up together and this year we weren’t able to attend. Add to that, Halloween night our kids were running in every direction including Hunter having school soccer tryouts – so we weren’t even home at the same time to take a picture together. And that’s okay!
Everyone chose their costume and everyone was happy.
After tryouts, Hunter attended a costume party with friends. He arranged to couple costume with his friend and they nailed it. All those years of forcing Hunter to dress up – he now does so willingly. What I love more than his willingness to dress up was him recognizing I would want pictures but it would be dark outside by the time he got home from soccer. So he took pictures a day earlier.
Bennett decided last minute he was going to go out with friends. He was torn between hanging with friends and watching the diamondbacks world series game at home. It was a terrible game and I’m sure glad his friends convinced him to join them. They decided on 1920s mobsters as a group costume and because Bennett decided to join last minute, we were lucky to find what we did at a thrift store. They ruled the neighborhood.
Cannon changed his mind regarding his costume every few days for a month! Ghostbusters was always in the mix but he struggled to make a definitive decision. He’s a good salesman and whatever he was thinking, Briggs was in agreement – even when he talked of being a banana.
He landed on ghostbusters which I was totally in agreement with because it meant I could walk into Spirit Halloween and purchase a complete costume. At one point Steve and I were going to dress up with them and then…we didn’t!
We hosted an outdoor nacho bar and projected the World Series game on the driveway for some families we knew our kids would want to trick-or-treat with. You can imagine my surprise when three boys walked into the house wearing ghostbuster costumes. Cannon swears he didn’t know their costumes but it was almost too good to be true. Our neighborhood was looking pretty safe with these guys on the prowl.
Cannon achieved the ultimate Halloween milestone: Trick-or-treating without your parent. A small group ventured out on their own on a specific path and they were so excited and proud of themselves. Of course our community is small enough we were just a few houses behind them with Briggs’ group and kept getting updates from neighbors who had just given them candy. But they felt like big kids and that’s enough!
Briggs also participated in the storybook parade at the elementary school – where they dress like a character from a book. His favorite book right now is Creepy Pair of Underwear (aff link) and he was a little surprised when I suggested it for his costume parade. Easiest costume I’ve ever made and probably his favorite.
Hallie hung out with us for a little bit and then made her way to friends and didn’t even need to dress up in order to be a disappointed Diamondbacks fan!
It would always be my preference to dress up as a family but once in a while it’s also okay to not put in any effort – this was that year – and Halloween was just as enjoyable as it always is.
Some years we know well in advance what we want to dress up as for Halloween – most of that time is getting everyone to buy into an idea that we all somewhat agree upon. This year was an off year and we just didn’t get it planned. Halloween was on a Sunday so we weren’t sure what we would be participating in. Saturday night was our neighborhood party but our older kids were running in different directions. So the thought of dressing up as a family were somewhat dashed.
And then Steve and I were out and about and found these lucha libre masks and suddenly we knew our costumes were coming together. We came home and pitched the idea to the kids – some were more on board than others. The thought of underwear on the outside of your pants isn’t as appealing as you get older! But our plans started to materialize and we realized there was an opportunity where we would all be dressed up at the same time.
Have I mentioned what good sports they are?! Even at 16 years old, Hallie humors me and dresses up and Steve still puts on stretchy pants when asked. We have some good family memories dressing up over the years!
These costumes were extra fun because everyone was willing to strike a pose.
Until next year…
What are the odds we can keep this tradition alive until at least Hallie leaves the home?!
I have been going to the elementary school for the last 9 years for their Halloween parade and this is the first time I didn’t have any other kids in tow. (Briggs was at preschool) As a mom was running around after frantically looking for her toddler I thought – I have totally been there. This year that was not me! 🙂
I already showcased our family Halloween costumes – the Stick figure family. We love family costumes and our kids are always so excited when we dress up as a family. But this year, our neighborhood party was the weekend before Halloween (usually its on Halloween) which is when we dressed up as a family. But we weren’t going to be all together on Halloween – so everyone chose something to wear from the attic from our previous family costumes. So although we only wore the stick figure costumes once this year, they’ll go into the attic and somewhere down the road someone will pull them out again and wear them!
Briggs had his own school parade where they walked around sining all the fun/spooky songs they learned.
Bennett chose to dress up in Hunter’s old Colonel costume (from our fast food theme)
Cannon and Briggs both chose from the same year, Fairy tale stories – Princess, Dragon and a Knight. Cannon is the third child to wear this costume, thank you Pottery Barn Kids!
That night we ate dinner at a friend’s house and then made our way back home trick-or-treating along the way. We made it the 28 houses home and the crew was done. Their little buckets were full and they were ready to call it quits at 6:30. Because they’re 3 and 4-year-olds they came home and decided to dump all their candy in a combined large pile. 🙂
Cannon made it another 10 houses before coming back because he was just too tired. Bennett made it even longer with his group of friends and came home and traded candy with friends.
Steve sat with some other dads out on the driveway and handed out candy while watching a football game on a TV they set up outside.
Hallie was with friends and I didn’t see her until later that night. I did get this picture from her mom’s friend.
Hunter is the one that I have no photographic evidence of his night, which is rare! He had the opportunity to go to the Cardinals game with his “Scott Squad” friends – his first NFL game and it was a complete surprise until he was leaving for the game. I figured he would be bummed to miss out on some trick-or-treating but his love for sports runs far deeper than his love for candy!
This is Halloween prep at our house. Costumes haphazardly laying on the floor and my little minion working by my side. I wish I didn’t love making costumes as much as I do!! 🙂
We were driving in the car tonight with one of Hunter’s friends and we were talking about Halloween costumes. Hunter was recounting last year’s costumes, and then the year before and before that – as far back as he could remember. He got to our Lego costumes. “Those were the best costumes – and the most uncomfortable we’ve ever had to wear!”
They were impressive for sure, but my friend who visited us for Halloween that year likes to remind me that we chose to wear the hottest costumes when we had record heat. It was 102 as the high that day. Any other year, covering our heads wouldn’t have been such a bad idea. But this particular year those helmet heads became a sweat box!
See all the details of those costumes here and here.
