Happy Halloween!

Most of my friends, family, and co-workers know that when I dress up for Halloween, it's usually going to involve some sort of home-made outfit rather than something store bought. While that's not always the case, I do tend to have a little too much fun creating Halloween costumes! This year Matt will be out of town for Halloween and our annual Halloween party is therefore cancelled, so I wasn't planning on dressing up or even participating in Halloween. I'm not really a big fan of the holiday - I just like the excuse to be creative!

Beth and Aaron, good friends of ours, had a mini Halloween get together for an early celebration this year instead of the usual shindig. I scrambled to come up with some ideas and was drawing a blank due to being preggo. Beth recommended Juno and Pauly Bleaker, which would have been hilarious, but my husband vetoed the short yellow shorts. There's always the cliché pregnant nun and priest. Or since I always threaten to be something that requires thought, I thought about wearing a simple t-shirt with three dots across the stomach (...). Ta da! A pregnant pause! But that requires too much explanation. So to trusty Google I went! There were quite a few cute ideas to be found, but some of the easiest costumes that I found included Snoopy and Charlie Brown. It took maybe a couple of hours to make both costumes. While I'm not going to go into great detail tonight, I thought I'd show you the final product of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and my Woodstock headpiece.

And, a few more photos showing off some other hard work. Some costumes turned out really well, some turned out quite poor. But we had fun and that's what matters. :)

"Marilyn Monroe and JFK," 2004 - I rented the white dress, shoes, and a wig from a costume/vintage clothing store. I didn't end up wearing the wig, but Matt's roommate wore it to portray Napoleon Dynamite. Matt's outfit we made up of stuff from Goodwill, I think. Halloween during college is always fun!

2005 wasn't very impressive. I think I was a she-devil and Matt was part of an "Ace and Gary" duo with a buddy. I have no idea what happened in 2006 or 2007. 2008 resulted in too many drinks on the living room floor with Erin playing candy basketball! No costumes that year!

"The Birds and the Bees," 2009 - My costume was bought at the store, and Matt ended up looking like something out of the Village People.

"The Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts," 2010 - Thank God for Goodwill! My dress was actually a sweet 1980's poofy prom dress. I ended up making a slip to cover the skirt and bought some cheap Wal-Mart toys for the accessories. Matt's costume was a lot more time intensive! We made the hat, painted the pants, and I refinished a sports coat. He looked pretty good!

"Olive Oyl and Popeye," 2011 - I ended up repurposing an old shirt and skirt for my costume and decorated Matt's t-shirt with felt. We used felt to make "spinach" to place around a plastic beer mug covered in green construction paper.

Halloween is a great time to get creative and let your imagination run wild! Nothing is too outlandish, and it's fun to experiment with new materials and ideas! I hope you have a great Halloween - be safe, dry, and warm!

<3 Sarah