My Former Halloween Costumes

The earliest memory I have in costume was rummaging through my grandma's jewelry drawers looking for more bangles or necklaces to layer on my dripping wrists and neck. I was a freakin' gypsy. At the time, it felt pretty lame. It was one of those years we made a make shift home-made costume. Looking back, I think that was actually a pretty cool costume. I had a long maxi skirt, lots of jewelry, teased hair and a big chunky belt over my top. It was awesome. And it was in all those autumn colors I love and appreciate now.    I have no memory of it but I have seen pictures of myself as a little cute bat girl as a baby. I wore a hand sewn, adorable like black and purple bat girl, as in Batman, outfit.    I did beauty pageants growing up and one year we had to fly to a pageant on Halloween. That didn't stop me! I dressed in a huge Mr. Peanut costume and my friend wore an M&M outfit. We walked up and down the aisles passing out candy. I remember looking out the airplane window and seeing that all the neighborhoods were lit up more than usual. I imagined all of the trick-or-treaters down below going door to door. Weirdly, it was one of my better Halloweens. There was something really fun about being a kid but being the one to pass out the candy.   5th grade, I was really into the tough girl thing and went as a scary alien. I had a black cloak and a $50 alien mask from Lucy in Disguise. It was legit and smelled like rubber and had huge, shiny orb eyes. 
Sixth grade I was Disco Barbie. My costume revolved around some $90 boots I convinced my mom to buy me from Hot Topic. They were knee high, platform boots in a shimmery silver fabrication. They were fabulous. I still think they are. I have no idea where they are today but I know it took years, like last year, for me to finally let go of them. Sixth grade was the year I started noticing that sexy was good and that I wanted to be sexy. So in true Mean Girls fashion, I sleeved up my Disco Barbie outfit the best a six grader could. I wore a little silver dress, panty hose and my knee highs.   In high school, I tried the "sexy" girl route again and still have the photos. I cringe when I see them. I wore a "sexy cat" costume and made a ridiculous cat clawing pose for every picture. It was terrible and not at all sexy. 

  Zachary and I went as Cat in the Hat in Korea, which might have been one of our better costumes. I put wire in my hair to have crazy, horizontal braids. It was a combo Mrs. Who and Cat in the Hat look. We were teaching in Korea so it was a big hit! 
    We started hosting an annual Murder Mystery Party 4 years ago which made me step up my costume game. Our first year, we had a Harry Potter party, so I went as McGonagall with a huge, awesome hat and cloak.      The next year we had an Alice and Wonderland party so I was the Queen of Hearts with an amazing heart wig and costume, that I love! That year, we also bought Pirate Costumes for a School Event. It was a good year for costumes.   Last year, we had a Vampire Murder Mystery Party and went as a family of Minions. 
This year, we have no idea what we will be yet! It seems like a low-key year but with a life full of memorable costumes, low-key is okay for some years. But we'll see!
What about you? What have been your most memorable Halloween Costumes? Comment Below!

A Family of Minions

My mom & I saw some Minion googles at the store, mentioned it to Sophie & that was that. Sophie abandoned her plans of being a rainbow unicorn & insisted on us being a family of Minions, which  I think, was a fantastic idea! We were like a circus show all day. People kept saying, "Wow! A family of Minions!!!!" One boy even said to Jeff, "Hi Minion!" like he thought we were for real. It was great! I'm kind of in love with the idea of family costumes now. People were really excited to see us but their faces always changed once they got to me. I think they didn't really know what to do with the bloody Minion. ;) I sort of hated the way my costume fit & wanted to jazz it up a bit. I thought I'd make some amazingly cute & creative boho Minion outfit with a pair of kitchen scissors & a stapler but things didn't work out as planned. Since I had a shredded costume it only seemed natural to transform into a Zombie Minion, which in the end turned out to be an awesome choice, way better then boho Minion. Lame. Our first Halloween stop was a trunk or treat hosted by a local church here in Georgetown. There were ten cars or so that were decorated & filled with candy for the kids. They also had pumpkin & face painting, hot dogs, popcorn, a costume contest, a petting zoo & hay rides. It was a pretty great Trunk or Treat event.   

Sophie tried her first hot dog! 

I imagine it's pretty fun having so many older siblings. I mean look at this girl fly! She doesn't have any complaints! The Trunk or Treat had a petting zoo. They had tons of bunnies, chickens, two super friendly & spunky goats & this big ole' bunny. Sophie loved holding the baby bunnies.

Even Chara got dressed up!

Obligatory family photo.

Jeff (my stepdad) does it big! I remember growing up always being amazed at the houses who gave full candy bars. We'd always go to the "rich" neighborhoods in search of them! Little did I know, Jeff has always done this! He was so excited setting them out.

Sophie girl being all cute & such.

After the Trunk or Treat fun we made our way across the neighborhood to a neighbors house for a fun Halloween party. They went all out! They're whole yard was decorated. They had tons of drinks, snacks & even a cotton candy machine for the kids. Once the sun started to set, all of the kids & parents from the party started on the Trick or Treat trek. This was amazing. I love trick or treating with them! It was so funny to see a herd of kids run up to each house (poor people!) & run back with their candy. All the kids were hilarious & it was so fun seeing them interact with each other. Sophie was the youngest of the bunch & was leading the pack the majority of the time. There's advantages to being the smallest & youngest! She'd push her way to the front of the door if she ever lagged behind. We had such a great Halloween. It's been so long since we've been in the States for an American holiday & this one didn't disappoint. :)

Time to Put Away the Halloween Decorations

I actually put it all away last Monday but I'm just getting to post this today. :) Ah, life. So it goes. I loved Halloween this year. I have tons more posts for you on the subject, all in November, as the Mosby's in China usually goes. But today, I wanted to show you all our little Halloween house decortations. Did you decorate? If so, I want to see your decorations, leave your link in the comments below! Our Halloween decorations this year consisted of Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby 50% off & Target Dollar Aisle (Sorry, it's now the $1 & $3 aisle-Have you seen this?) decorations. Cheap decorations that are cute & festive! LOVE it. Here you go friends, a gajillion pictures of our Halloween decorations from this year. :) Enjoy!
Jars with battery operated lights: Target Aisle $3 // Glitter branches: Target Aisle $3
Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin $3 then I spray painted it from the top with silver spray paint & let it run down. // Battery operated glitter tea lights: Target Aisle $1 for 2
Crazy obsessed with the lights on the window (I'm leaving them up!). They're battery operated, so you don't have to plug them in & can use them for decorating anywhere. Target Aisle $3 a strand.



Cans & Cut out Jars: Target Dollar Aisle $1
Doilies: Target Aisle 2 for $1
Curtains that are actually table cloths $10 at Ross

Cute signs (I'm sure you've seen them.): Target Aisle $1

Coffin Hang: Hobby Lobby $5

Bunting: Target Aisle $1 for the 2 black ones & $3 for the burlap PRICELESS for the precious diggity dog & messy couch cover

That's all! Some glimpses of our little apartment decorated for Halloween. :) Now, let me see your decorations! Are you decorating for fall? I want to! There was some great fall deco stuff at the places I listed above but since Halloween I've seen barely anything, it's all Christmas decorations now. :( Next year, I'll buy both Halloween & fall decorations before Halloween. Just a little tip for ya! :) Muah! XO

Halloween Class Parties in China

Carrying on with the Halloween circa '14 trend with our Halloween class parties at school. The Halloween parties at school were a little less exciting than the ones at our house but still fun for the kids none the less. For the school parties, we told all of the kids to come to class in costume & to bring candy to share with their tables. This has translated in the past to most of the classes as bring bags upon bags of food, candy & drinks. Last year I had to set guide lines for them. They were only allowed to bring candy, chocolate, cookies & water. It also had to fit in one grocery bag! And absolutely NO CHIPS allowed. Have you tried cleaning up after 30 kids with even 1 bag of chips among them? It's a disaster. So, no chips it was!

^ Gotta love those typos. ^
All the kids showed up in costume & with candy to share as instructed. The school also bought glow stick suckers for us to pass out to them. They exchanged candy & ran around in their costumes for the party. We also made human mummies & settled down to eat our candy while watching Hotel Transylvania.


I loved seeing all their make shift costumes. Tee hee. So cute. I'll have a whole other post just on their costumes.
How hilarious is this little pumpkin lantern? It lights up, which is why it has a HUGE battery pack stuck to the bottom of it. haha.
The oh so exciting light up suckers. I'm not gonna lie, I freaked out when I saw this. It's awesome.
How sweet is that? Though I don't know what it says about me as a teacher who gave the word Halloween as one of their spelling words the week before. haha.
Isn't this amazing?! It's a jack-o-lantern carved into a butternut squash. Love it. I don't even think he knew the difference.
 Peter, formally Pizza, was so proud of his jack-o-lantern.

The kids got creative with their candy bags.
Please notice the bread stuffed into this pumpkin make shift candy bag. NOT on the list of acceptable treats for bringing to this party. ;)

Some days teaching these 11 classes was ridiculously hard & exhausting but then days like this made it all worth it. That's how it always is, isn't it?