Our Jolly Halloween Holiday

Over the summer I started brainstorming what the kids could dress up as for Halloween.  (You know, while I still have control over it.)  My brain stopped for a few days on "Princesses and Prince Charming" then fortunately moved along to "Mary Poppins."  It would be harder to pull off, but then again, I had 3+ months to figure it out.  And once I got going, it was quite fun.  

(Last year, Tiago had a cute Colombian costume, but had a melt-down on Halloween night where he didn't want to wear any costume.... so there was a makeshift farmer costume last minute out of regular clothes.  I was afraid this year the kids wouldn't actually want to wear the costumes in the end, but on the contrary they were all so excited about their costumes and told people for weeks before Halloween that they were going to be Mary Poppins and a chimney sweep.)  

So let's start with regular Mary Poppins.  I hit the thrift store a few times in the course of putting together their costumes, and my first perfect find was this 'carpet' bag.  It was the most expensive thing I bought ($6 or $7) but it was too perfect to pass up.  The white shirt was Tiago's, I made the black skirt out of an old skirt of mine, and the last touch was the hat.  I went to the store to buy cardboard for it, but saw the foam board and knew that would be perfect.  There were also discount bunches of flowers and red berries that matched the real Mary Poppins hat perfectly.  Initially I wasn't sure which girl would get which costume, but when Siena realized the accessories that came with this one she claimed it as hers.  She is a purse (and lipstick, necklace, etc) girl.  

Mila dressed up as "Jolly Holiday Mary."  I was looking for a white dress at the thrift store that I could sew red bows onto.  But when I told my mom to keep her eye open at their store (Centerville DI is the best thrift store around) she decided to just whip it up herself with cheap curtain fabric she'd found instead.  With her sewing skills, it looked like exactly like the real dress.  She also had little white gloves on hand that we added.  

Tiago's costume ended up so much cuter than I originally thought.  I figured he'd just be the side kick, but he was completely adorable and really owned it.  (He even chose to wear this to school instead of being a monkey or Buzz Lightyear.)  The pants were from his closet, the shirt and vest were from the thrift store.  I found his hat there, as well.  It was a women's hat, and I had to dye it darker and put a patch over obnoxious stitching that said something like, "Feisty" or "Delicious".  But it looked perfect.  I also dyed red fabric for the scarf and constructed a chimney broom out of foam board and a wrapping paper roll.  A little black eye shadow soot all over his face completed the look.  [He even taught me the correct way to carry the broom, like Bert does in the movie.]

(We already owned the two mini umbrellas, which my girls used to call "Poppins" when they didn't know the word umbrella.  They made it into the pictures, but that's it, because these costumes were accessory-heavy.  I now understand the beauty of a one-piece zip-up costume.  When we went to our ward trunk-or-treat--where I didn't take a single picture--I felt like my hands were full of costume pieces all night.  But worth it!  Every one thought they were adorable.)

Last minute my mom sewed me a Mrs. Banks costume.  It fit in perfectly, even if it made me look 20 lbs heavier.  :)  At Hyrum's work event a guy asked what my sash said.  I told him, "Votes for women."  And he said, "Okay, cool.  Right on."  Obviously completely clueless.  But some people knew exactly who I was.  Those are my people.  I'm fairly certain I have 50% of that movie memorized from the thousands of times my kids have watched it.  My favorite line from yesterday, George says he wants the piano tuned when he sits down at it.  "But dear, you don't play."  "Madame, that is entirely beside the point!"  

Moving on.  My parents were able to join us for Halloween night, and my mom wore the costume I originally had in mind for myself-- a simple penguin (from the scene of dancing penguins in Jolly Holiday.)  My dad stayed behind and handed out candy while the rest of us trick-or-treated for about 30 minutes.  Then my kids were too cold and tired to do any more so we came home and they ate nothing but candy for about 3 days when I told them I'd had enough wrappers on the floor and constant "I need candy" declarations.  But it was a fun evening.

And of course, before trick-or-treating, we ate pizza and donuts, because it's tradition.  

For the record, taking pictures of 3 kids is kind of a joke.  No single perfect picture, but collectively, they're great.