Halloween 2018

One of my friends commented this year how much I must love Halloween. I had to laugh because I really dislike Halloween. It is one of my least favorite holidays. I much prefer the fall theme to the spooky theme. At the same time though, I love making my kids happy, and dressing up in fun costumes makes them happy. That is why I go to so much effort to make costumes every year. While it is a bit stressful and quite a time commitment, I think that I will miss it when my kids decide they no longer want to dress up. It is one of those interesting ironies in life.

Our ward decided not to do a trunk-or-treat for our ward party this year. The boys were pretty disappointed, but so goes life. Jonathon and I decided it was pointless for us to have costumes since there was nowhere to wear them. So, since we didn't do a family costume like usual, I just let them decide what they wanted to be.

The boys have been pretty obsessed with The Legend of Zelda (the video game) this year, so I wasn't surprised when two of them wanted to be the main character, Link. Andrew wanted to be Link from Breath of the Wild, and Hyrum wanted to be Toon Link from Windwaker. I found a pretty cheap costume for Hyrum on Amazon, and when I looked into making it, it didn't seem worth my time for the small amount of money I would save. The costume came with the tunic and the hat, so all I had to sew were the boot covers and pants. I cut the shield out of thick foam board and then hand-painted it. It still took a bit of work, but he looked super awesome when it was all done. Andrew's costume was a little more challenging. I bought a very cheap shirt from Hobby Lobby and then used iron-on vinyl to make the design. We found perfect boots at D.I., and then I hand-painted his shield as well. I think they both looked so great!

Andrew and Hyrum got to wear their costumes to school and participate in a parade at the end of the day. They were both very happy with how everything turned out. 

Christian is at an interesting age where he is still trying to figure out what group he fits with. He isn't a little kid, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't like to do fun, silly things any more. He didn't really want to go to a lot of trouble for a costume, but he still wanted to participate in his school's costume day. We compromised by re-using an old costume that was right up his alley. He went as Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter. He looked pretty great with his turban and Voldemort peeking out from underneath. When he left for school, I was laughing uncontrollably watching him walk down the road. 

That afternoon, all of the kids went Trick-or-Treating at Grandpa's work. They always have a big party with tons of candy, so it made up for not having a ward party. They got tons of candy, and like every year, they chose 20 pieces to keep and we gave the rest out to our trick-or-treaters that night. I do not like having loads of candy around our house because none of us needs that much sugar. When it is easily accessible, we tend to just eat it without thinking. We have been doing it this way for so long that the kids don't mind too much.

That night, they all went trick-or-treating on our street. The older boy went with friends, and Hyrum and Jonathon went together. Overall, it was a successful Halloween, even if it was a bit different than usual.