Happy Halloween!

I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow I became that mom that has a "theme" for Halloween costumes. I didn't even realize that really I've been doing it since Jackson was born until I was looking at past Halloween pictures. His first Halloween he was a horse, so Eric and I wore some overalls because I guess we were farmers:

                                                    Jackson Lee's first Halloween, 2007. Isn't he the cutest little horse!

Then the next year (2008) we had some animals.... a ladybug and a monkey:

In 2009 we again had animals. We must have really liked the animal costumes for some reason. This time, we had some farm animals, the cutest little lamb and rooster that you ever have seen!

Then in 2010 we decided to dress up as The Wizard of Oz characters. We had so much fun and even won some money at the mall in their costume contest. The best part of our costumes... we got them all together for less than $20. 2010 was a very challenging year for our family financial wise, and somehow all these costumes just seemed to show up. My wonderful and talented friend, Lisa, had made the Glenda the Good Witch costume for herself several years ago, and let me borrow that dress. Jackson's was a scarecrow costume that my cousin Cindy had made for her son, Caleb, 12 years or so ago, paired with a hat that we found from Goodwill and hot glued some patches onto it. I went and spent a couple of bucks on some fabric and my Mamaw Ollie helped me make Ansley's Dorthoy costume, and then Ebay is a great and cheap place to find some Ruby Red Slippers!  We found Elsie's lion costume on sale, and then when I asked Eric if he could figure out some way to dress up as the Tin Man, he said he could figure something out. The night that we were going out Trick or Treating Eric showed me his costume that he put together super quick by using some cardboard and a can of spray paint. I was impressed.

So this year when trying to think of a way to have a themed Halloween and again not to spend a lot of money, I had several ideas I suggested to the kids. The Flintstones, Scooby Doo characters, etc., but they didn't like any of those. Jackson was dead set on being one thing.... The Very Hungry Caterpillar. How in the world do you come up with a Hungry Caterpillar costume?!?! He then goes on to tell me that he is going to be the caterpillar, Ansley is going to be the butterfly that he turns into, and Elsie could be some of the food that he eats. When he said that all I could think of was the watermelon and how am I going to get Elsie to wear a big piece of cardboard cut out and painted in the shape of a watermelon??? I don't know why this was my first thought, but it was. I knew at this point that he had thought about this idea and was not going to change his mind (even though I did try to get him to more than once). ;) Ansley kept saying she wanted Elsie to be the cocoon that Jackson turns into, but I knew that even the horrible watermelon idea would work better than that. If she was a newborn, perfect... just swaddle her up, but a very active 15 month old... no way. When I googled "Very Hungry Caterpillar Costume," I was excited when I had results actually show up. Who knew someone else would want to be a caterpillar! Than I realized that the costumes were from Pottery Barn and no way was I paying $90 for a costume. I don't spend more than $10 on a costume, much less $90! So, I printed the picture off, went to my best trusted help me make a costume source (my Mamaw Ollie), bought some fabric, and voila! The Very Hungry Caterpillar costume was done! Ansley's dress up trunk provided her costume and if you wait to the last minute you can get some cute Halloween costumes 50% off at Old Navy, which thankfully this year included an adorable strawberry one. (Praise the Lord Elsie didn't have to wear the watermelon I had visioned in my mind afterall!) Great job on the themed Halloween costumes, Jackson, let's hope you are as creative next year! :)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 

 

 

 

 

The Butterfly

 

 

 

 

The Strawberry