Halloween Recap, Complete With My Grumpy-Old-Lady Rantings

I guess I'd better start my Halloween post before Thanksgiving is here! So far, my Healthy Me Challenge has been good for getting me to drink more water, and eat more fruits and vegetables, and DEFINITELY more scripture reading and praying. My blogging has been a little spottier than I'd like, though...I'll post a paragraph or two a day, then call it good and walk away. This bit by bit approach is leaving me in the dust...this is the holiday season and a lot of stuff is happening!

*puts on 'grumpy old lady' hat*

I remember back in the day, when Halloween only lasted ONE day. You'd maybe take a few days to plan/buy your costume, and then you'd have a Halloween party in school, and then go trick-or-treating that night. And that was IT. Why on earth do the stores have to put up their Halloween decorations right after Labor Day? Why does every single place have to have a Halloween party? Why do we have to buy so much candy for everything? Why can't things be simpler, like they were when I was a kid??

Well, the short answer is: money. So much money for stores to make, selling all that candy and all those decorations and costumes! The longer answer probably has to do with the over-commercialization of Halloween, just like Christmas before it. But darned if it doesn't wear out a parent, trying to keep up with it all.

Halloween week was spent in a costumed, candy-coated haze, dressing and undressing the kids as we raced from one holiday-themed activity to the next. Every day was filled with excessive sugar consumption, and every night we stayed up way too late watching Halloween movies (ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, Coraline, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, not to mention Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Whew!).

Aurora wore her costume every day of the week of Halloween. It was a cute costume, and fairly comfortable, so she didn't mind too much. But by Wednesday night, she was getting weepy and asking, "WHYYYY do I have to wear the costume again, Mommy?" Well, kid, it's because you had to wear it to your dance class on Monday...and to your preschool playgroup on Tuesday...and the library story-time on Wednesday...and then to the ward trunk or treat on Wednesday night...and then for actual trick-or-treating...aaargh!

We managed to get one genuine, Halloween-appropriate "gross-out" moment fitted into our busy schedule. We carved the girls' pumpkins Monday night for Family Home Evening, and when I first lifted the lid off Lorelai's pumpkin, I was greeted by a thick, writhing pocket of maggots, whose home I had cut through while making the "lid" for the pumpkin. EEEEEWWW! I had to cut out a whole chunk of pumpkin and immediately throw it away; some of the insides had rotted out as well, so cleaning that particular pumpkin was one of the grossest things I've ever had to do.

Luckily, once the pumpkins were all carved, they all looked normal enough..."normal" meaning "cute and scary" and Jack O'Lantern-y. They fit in very well with all our yard decorations, and provided no more "yucky" moments.

Normally, Aurora is not a huge fan of the library's weekly story-time...I suspect because she doesn't know many of the kids there and is a little shy. However, she did enjoy the Halloween-themed story-time, where all the kids wore their costumes and went "trick or treating" through the library. Why do I like the library's trick-or-treat? Because they don't hand out candy...they give out stickers, erasers, and bookmarks. Yay!

 

Attending the library's story-time also made us feel a little less clever, though...it turns out, lots of little girls wanted to be pirates for Halloween this year! Aurora wanted to be Izzy (a character from Jake and The Never Land Pirates, her current favorite TV show). I mostly threw her costume together from stuff lying around the house. I did borrow her little vest from a friend.

 

When all was said and done, she looked very cute and pirate-y, but she didn't have Izzy's exact outfit. I counted at least three Izzies at the library trick-or-treat alone (with an exact-replica wardrobe...luckily Aurora didn't seem to jealous of them), plus a couple more little girl pirates in more generic garb. I guess we weren't so original. But Aurora definitely had cooler socks than all those other girls!

Celeste wanted to be the Wicked Witch of the West, from The Wizard Of Oz. Eight-plus years as a mom, and this is the first year one of my girls has specifically wanted to be a witch! I decided to splurge and buy her a witch costume, since I reasoned the other girls might also want to wear it at some point in the future. Celeste first got to show off her neat costume at her dance class on Wednesday the 30th.

She was the only witch there, but man was she cute! She brought a little candy to share.

*puts on 'grumpy old lady' hat again*

And let me tell you another thing, you young whippersnappers...since when do I have to put together an entire plate full of homemade treats for every child in my daughter's class for Halloween? Or hand-design some cute skeleton snack-bag, filled with goodies? If a single Dum-Dum pop was good enough for me, then by dang it's good enough for my kids...and everyone else's kids, too!

Yes, I probably looked like a giant cheapskate compared to these other, creative moms...but I didn't care. The girls looked happy getting those lollipops...and I was happy for not having to stress and slave over creating yet another sugary snack to ruin my children's teeth and appetite.

I also splurged on Lorelai's costume this year. At first she wanted to be a Cleopatra-style mummy, complete with fancy Egyptian headdress. After doing a little research (and considering the potential for costume recycling), I figured it would be more cost-efficient to buy a complete Cleopatra costume, and then use the accessories from it to create a mummy costume for Lorelai. But then, when she saw the costume, she decided to try the whole thing on, and really liked it and decided to just be "an Egyptian princess" instead.

This is the second year in a row Lorelai has gone the "girly" route...but now she is totally over it, and insists she wants to be something scary (like a mummy) next year. I personally think it's kind of cute that it takes an occasion like Halloween to get my little tomboy to glam it up a bit! That said, I will totally wrap her up in toilet paper next year if that's what she wants.

Our LDS ward's trunk or treat was, as usual, lots of fun for the kids. They played carnival games inside the gym for a little while, and then went out to get lots of candy! I actually remembered to decorate the trunk of our minivan this year; I strung a lot of cobwebs up everywhere. Next year maybe I'll remember a strobe light! Other cars were playing music or offering up lots of treats. The weather was cool and crisp. It was a lovely night.

On Halloween Day proper, I spent much of my time at school with the girls, helping them celebrate. The parents all walked out to the green PE lawn in the back of the school, where the whole school paraded around in a circle, providing lots of photo opportunities.

 

My little diva Celeste seemed very upset by the whole parade. In fact, she started covering her face and sulking. It was very unlike her! It turns out that two days in a row with the green makeup was probably too much for her; her face had started to itch, so she had "scratched" some of the paint off, leaving some odd streaks. This in turn made her even more upset and self-conscious; she worried that "people were staring at her."

Luckily, Ms. Cordts, her teacher, was close at hand and was able to coax some smiles out of Celeste. Later, after returning to the classroom, she helped wipe the green paint off Celeste's face, which returned her positive spirits. I have really enjoyed Ms. Cordts so far; she has lots of energy and her personality is a good fit for Celeste. I think she was the right fit for my daughter, and I'm thankful that she is the teacher that has helped ease Celeste into grade school.

Later that afternoon, the kindergarten classes had a Halloween party, so Aurora and I went to help out. Mostly we helped pass out pretzels and punch and keep the kids from making too big of a mess.

 

 

After the food had been eaten and the treats had been shared, everyone went outside to make their very own scarecrows! The kids had all brought their own clothes for the occasion, and the teacher provided lots of plastic bags to use as stuffing. The end results were pretty darn cute!

Celeste named her scarecrow "David" (because why not??), and he is still sitting on our front porch, helping us ring in Thanksgiving!

Luckily, all but one of my four piano students bailed out on me that afternoon; all the more time to unwind a little bit and make a simple dinner before taking the kids out trick or treating.

We made pretty good progress throughout our whole neighborhood. Only about half the houses in our neighborhood participate, but some of them decorate their house pretty neatly. One house actually set up a "scare alley"...erecting several black plastic "walls" with costumed freaks waiting around every corner to scare trick or treaters as they made their way to the house. The girls were nervous, but insisted on going through it (of course), and then Lorelai loved it so much she went back through the pathway two more times! By then, the "monsters" were giggling at her behind their masks, and definitely didn't seem so scary any more.

When all was said and done, we stumbled back home, chilly but satisfied...and with full buckets of candy! The girls took off their costumes, settled down in front of our fireplace, dug into their buckets of candy, and watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Perfect way to end a busy day!

And then...Halloween was over. I can't say I was sorry to see it leave. Aurora and I both fell asleep on the couch, and I eventually dragged my worn-out carcass to bed. In spite of all my grouchy old lady talk in this post, I really do enjoy Halloween, if only because my kids have such fun with it. At the same time, I'm always happy to see it go when October 31st comes to an end. Bring on the more meaningful holidays, I say!!

*puts on 'grumpy old lady' hat one more time*

And without all the commercialization, please! Can Christmas just be simple for once? Yeesh.