Growing up, I had an awesome mom. If I had one complaint, it would be that Halloween wasn't really a big deal to her. Now as a grown up (or as grown ups would say "an adult"), I see it as more of the pre-party to Christmas season...like if the holidays were a dinner party, Halloween would be drinks.
A super fun part of the party, but not the main event. Thanksgiving is totally appetizers (whetting your appetite for the main event) and Christmas is dinner AND desserts. New Years is the after dinner limoncello that you DID NOT need, but drank, semi-regret and eventually learn to pass up as you get older.
Anyways, as a kid Halloween was its own event and I want it to be that way for my boys. I want to start having a lot of traditions that they can look forward to. Carving pumpkins, baking treats, making popcorn balls, and picking out their costumes and me making them.
Well, since my kiddos were just tiny babies this year, I couldn't really do all of those with them. I mean, obviously I baked treats...and ate them all, but you know what I mean. The babes can't really carve pumpkins with me. But they CAN totally rock an adorable Made with Love by Mommy costume, which they totally did.
It was my first DIY costume literally EVER, and I think it turned out so great! What do you think?
For less than $10 at Hobby Lobby I was able to put this together.
My only materials were felt, yarn, a yarn needle, and my trusty hot glue gun.
I sewed the edged together by hand with a basic blanket stitch. I really liked the way that that stitch made for a real DIY vibe. It popped in a really cute way!
All in all, it was a perfect first Halloween costume for my twins. They only wore it for this picture. It was too ridiculously hot in Arkansas to leave them in a felt outfit all day, and my Bacon packed on a few pounds since I originally measured and cut his costume (lesson learned). The hubs had to take a running start to jump in and surprise the boys to get them to smile. But it was so worth it just for this little iPhone picture. (My guys super weird out in front of my Canon.) So happy that I was able to get this tradition started at the very beginning.
What are your Halloween traditions, or favorite DIY baby costumes?
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I love this post Naty. My parents took us trick or treating twice. That was it. Josh asked me if it was because of religion (my family is Catholic). Honestly, no. For my parents I think it was more of a what in the world is this holiday? type of thing. They grew up in Mexico and probably had no idea what to do. We were kids so we couldn't tell them about it. It must have been hard for them or even awkward to go join in on or "celebrate" such a strange (to them) American holiday. The last time we went trick or treating (2nd time in our lives) my older brother was too old to go and I was kind of pushing it. My younger sister could have dressed up and joined in on the fun for quite some time after that but my parents were, I think, done with trying to assimilate in that particular area. Strangely I don't really care that we only did it twice and even more strange is that I want to fully jump into every one of Anna's future Halloweens. Or not strangely. I did grow up here in the states so I guess I'm much more comfortable and familiar with this holiday than my parents were. For me this is one of those things where culture comes in. I am Mexican American so I love most things about Halloween. Can't wait to see what awesome costumes you create for B&B in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head! My parents and their parents just culturally weren't all about it!
DeleteThe thing that helps us as parents is understanding our parents and why they did what they did, but also recognizing what we want to change for our children! Halloween is just one of those things! I know the boys will appreciate it just like your sweet Anna will. Her Wonder Woman costume was to DIE for! She looked amazing, mama! You are so crafty.
Thank you. You are absolutely right. We work with what our parents taught us and go from there. 😊 I've met many people that blame their parents for many things instead of trying to understand WHY their parents might have done what they did. Yes I wish I had been in school sports and hate that I wasn't in any but no I will not be mad at my parents for it. Instead I can't wait to see what sports, if any and hopefully some, my Anna is interested in. Going to be checking out your awesome blog more often from here on out lol.
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