I was talking to my sister who lives on the east coast on Halloween and she was trying to figure out how to manipulate her kids’ costumes to make them cold-weather ready. I remember those days when I was planning on winter jackets with costumes. And now I don’t even think about the weather when I’m planning costumes – I know its going to be mild, maybe even a little on the warm side.
We hosted our annual nacho bar on our driveway prior to the kids departing for the evening. Our numbers were high this year – basically, everyone who was going to end up trick-or-treating with our kids and their families. Its always fun to connect with all the kids before they disperse.
Bennett and his friends dressed up at Alvin and the Chipmunks, the updated version. There was almost an 11th hour change when one of the boys costume hadn’t arrived at 4pm on Halloween but Amazon came thorugh at the last minute. What would the chipmunks be without Alvin?!
They trick-or-treated some houses in the neighborhood with a very large group of kids from school and then landed at a friend’s house in the neighborhood where they had Halloween games, treats and pumpkin carving.
Briggs chose his costume out of the attic and he chose well. Every one of my boys has worn this Pottery Barn Kids costume and I love the mileage we’ve got out of it.
Briggs trick-or-treated in a group of 8 boys from our neighborhood. They tried convincing us they were old enough to go on their own but the mom’s insisted they needed supervision. And after four houses, several boys were darting into the road without looking (luckily no cars) but that reinforced our argument they aren’t old enough! They were worried the moms would slow them down and we made sure we weren’t the slowest ones in the group. We were tired when the night was over. They landed in our living room sorting their candy and watching a movie.
Cannon joined a large group of 6th graders who dressed up as cops and robbers. Half their group wanted to go fast, half their group were okay taking their time and there may or may not have been some frustrated cops and robbers. In the end, they all had more than enough candy and I think they enjoyed their time together. They were supposed to end up at a friend’s house but when I got home with the 4th graders, the 6th graders had already taken over the game room. (I’m still finding chocolate in the carpet!)
Hunter had asked if could host on Halloween. We knew we would have a lot of kids in and out of our house, but we assured him he could reserve the 10pm and later time slot.
He pulled our old In-n-Out costumes out of the attic and went out with friends before coming back to our house and hosting.
We had kids at our house late into the night and morning and oddly enough the kid’s Spider Toss was the most entertaining part of the night. (one of the few decorations that made the cut when we put out minimal decorations this year.) The teenagers were all more confident in their skills than they should have been. I’m sure it was made more funny due to the late hour. After they were done with spider toss, they moved on to Just Dance before calling it a night.
There was a long period of time that we sat down as a family and scoured photos online and chose a theme together. There were times where the decision was a majority but there was definitely consenting votes.
For years, it was a family counsel – everyone gathered around the computer, scrolling through photos and throwing out ideas until we landed on the perfect theme. Sometimes the decision came easily, other times it took a good sales pitch. I wouldn’t say it was always a unanimous voice. For the most part, we chose themes where the kids could choose their costume within the theme and that helped them feel invested in their costume – not forced upon them.
Sadly, those days are gone.
There are no themed costumes this year and I’m pretty sure the person most happy about that transition is Steve. 🙂
Hunter dressed up tonight for the high school football game in Steve’s In-n-Out costume from a few years back. He’s undecided whether he actually dresses up on Halloween.
Bennett is dressing up with two friends.
Cannon has a large group that has chosen a theme.
And Briggs…I let Briggs go into the attic for the first time (he was so excited, until he realized he could fall through the ceiling with a wrong step) and choose from one of the many costumes we’ve used in the past. He had several calling his name but I reminded him they’re not all easy to run from house to house in. And he made an excellent choice for his goal of a pillowcase full of candy.
If my kids were cooperative, I would still be doing themed costumes today – I loved the process (even though some of the costumes were time-intensive!) But all of my kids are happy with their choices. And I didn’t spend more than 20 minutes shopping on Amazon and fishing through the attic and there is a place for that as well.
I’m most excited that Halloween falls on a Friday which means the late night and candy coma can be slept off on Saturday. I’m pretty sure the teachers are even more grateful than I am.
Halloween always comes with so many parties and multiple dress-up days and by the time trick-or-treating rolls around we are ready to be done!
We had a neighborhood party and Cannon’s costume hadn’t arrived yet, so these two pulled some costumes out of attic for the evening. These were worn by Hunter and Bennett several years ago when our family dressed up as Mario Kart.
Briggs dressed up for the school “Storybook” parade. Luckily, we have an attic full of costumes from books and this one has been worn more than a couple times.
Bennett is responsible for the family costumes this year. He wanted to be Thing 1 and 2 with one of his friends and I let him run with it. When the younger boys started asking about costumes I told them what Bennett was going to be and they were on board with the Dr. Seuss theme. This was pretty easy for me because we already had several Dr. Seuss costumes from previous years and even Hunter was a willing participant.
Hunter walked the neighborhood Halloween night before heading to a party and he got pretty good at scaring the younger children – Grinch style. Parents were laughing and at one point he was found chasing a kid in a hot dog costume down the street. All in good fun.
Bennett found friends to trick-or-treat with before landing at a friend’s house for a party. Cannon went out on his own for the second year in a row and he couldn’t look more old walking down the street with his friends.
I spent the evening with Briggs and his friends (and their moms) and it was our most relaxing year yet. They can all walk the distance of our neighborhood without any complaints. No strollers or wagons…just kids and their bags of candy. And the moms got to talk and enjoy running into friends at almost every house.
We have officially arrived at the enjoyable trick-or-treating stage.
We hosted a nacho bar on our driveway with the families we trick-or-treat with and it’s always a highlight to see everyone in their costumes before they all scatter.
Steve and the dads stayed on the driveway handing out candy and keeping up to date on the football and Suns basketball game.
A the end of the night, our house became a massive bartering site. Younger kids in the living room, older kids in the game room with candy covering the floors. Is there anything better than organizing and trading Halloween candy?!
It was a long day/night but they powered through…barely!
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.
In honor of Halloween I wanted to post a quick throwback.
This year we aren’t doing a family costume and I’m only mildly sad about it. We often have a neighborhood party to attend as a family so a group costume made sense. But the neighborhood party was over the weekend and we couldn’t go. On Halloween, we have kids going every which way to trick-or-treat with friends so everyone has chosen a costume (two of which were decided as a group with their friends).
As I was talking with my mom about previous years’ costumes, I couldn’t help but think of Hallie’s monarch butterfly when she was younger. I loved it then and it still ranks as one of my favorites. The colors were so vibrant and the wings were so striking. I’m sure one day I’m going to pull this costume down from the attic and have remembered it differently, but it’s burned into my memory on Hallie’s little 5-year-old body.
She went trick-or-treating with a coat on that year because it was so cold in Wisconsin. (The wings were strapped to the back of her coat – not quite as spectacular when worn that way.) I’m sure glad we now live in a climate that doesn’t require us to cover up the costumes. Wish Hallie could wear this one just one more time without a coat!
