First, the Pink Princess. All month she planned on being a witch. Then 2 weeks before Halloween -- and before I had had time to make a witch costume -- she needed a costume for the fall festival so she rummaged through the costume bin and pulled this together (remember my Captain Irony costume?). And she LOVED it. So much so that she gave up the idea of being a witch. You should have seen her eyes when I came home from the store with that princess crown -- "it's just like Elsa!"
Next Merlin. No, not the Merlin with a long beard and wizard hat. And as much as your initial instincts might tell you cowboy, he is NOT a cowboy. The kids have recently become hooked on the BBC show Merlin, which follows a young Merlin and his wizard training and friendship with Arthur, etc. Anyways, it is a great show. Family friendly, clean, entertaining enough that it's the first thing the kids watch on Saturday mornings and I hear plenty of comments of exasperation/frustration as they are that invested in the plot.
So Payton really, really wanted to be Merlin. We warned him that it was most likely that no one would know who he was. And he was totally okay with it. That is just like Payton - to do his own thing and be completely confident in it. And you'll see from these photos that he owned the character.
I should note that I did not pose him for these pictures. I simply called him over for pictures and he stepped right into character. This kid cracks me up.
And this costume share would not be right without a side by side comparison to the actual Merlin:
See what I mean? We worked on piecing this costume together and we were both really happy with the way it turned out.
And while Conner has aged out of trick-or-treating he still dressed up, thanks to this $5 find at Party City a few months ago. Captain Kirk. That phaser rifle is his own design -- a mocked up nerf gun.
What a good looking group!
And will you look at this, Scott and I got in on the Halloween action too!
That would be my mom's prom dress from the 70's. And a Dumb and Dumber Tuxedo which passes really well for 1970's prom. (I wore this costume a few years back for a Halloween Bunco at my house - holy moly, I just looked up that blog post . . . it was 7 years ago! Crazy!)
What started off as a random comment - "Hey Scott you should dress up as my prom date!" - to a man who does not dress up for Halloween, turned into a really fun couples costume! We got a lot of comments from people which led us to brainstorm what we need to add to make it even better -- corsage? boutonniere? prom king crown?
We were invited to trick-or-treat the night away in a nearby neighborhood. We have heard many things about how this neighborhood does over-the-top Halloween. When we pulled up at 6pm there was long line of cars waiting to get past the guard gate. Once inside there was a bounce house
Lots of fun & spooky decorated homes,
And plenty of homes handing out the coveted full-size candy bar. Some passing out two each.
It was a very nice evening, the weather was fantastic, and I just realized that this was the first time ever that we trick-or-treated all together as a family! Usually one of us stays behind to hand out candy at home. Pretty nice!
Really - how lucky am I to get this guy to dress up with me! I felt like pinching myself all night.
Great Halloween. Great costumes. And great memories.
Now, I just need to get some photos printed and add them to my Halloween Memories Album.