A lesson in begging

It strikes me as odd that each year we dress our children up in funny little costumes, and tell them to BEG strangers for treats. Every other day in the year is spent trying to get our kids to be cautious of strangers trying to give them candy or lure them into their homes...but on Halloween we encourage kids to go to strangers' homes!

Odd.

But fun.

The kids had a fantastic time dressing up and getting piles of candy again this year. I blogged about Henry's costume a while back, but I actually was busy making the costumes for the other kids too. (I just never got the chance to blog about them since they weren't done until last week!)

Emma's was my favorite that I made. She was 'long hair girl' (aka Rapunzel) from the movie Tangled. It's a very well made dress (not that I made it well...I just mean that the pattern consisted of 3 different skirts with a full head-to-toe lining and crinoline). It probably cost about $45 in materials...but was adorable! (And sorry in advance for the poor quality photos. My camera broke and I'm trying to figure out whether to buy a new one or pay over $200 for the chance it could be fixed. I'm SO sad...but thankful for cell phone cameras in the meantime.)

Isa's was also really cute...although it would have been cuter without the white shirt and crazy leggings. But, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep warm so you can stay out and get more candy, right? :)
She was a blue TinkerBell. I think the costume was technically for the water fairy, but she was thrilled with it! The funniest thing she said about it is that she wanted Daddy to dress up as one of the boy fairies from TinkerBell. What do you think Michael's reaction was to that? :)

Elliott was a superhero and wore the cape I made for him and the other kids in his class. He made the mask one night with Daddy and was a cute little superhero flying around to get candy!

Here are a couple pics from when we went trick-or-treating at the zoo. It's a fun tradition to do every year. The reaction to Henry's costume from other people really surprised me. Kids and adults pointed at him and talked to him everywhere we went...wanting to see the 'dragon.' So, I guess in the end, a dragon is what he turned out to be (instead of a dinosaur, or lizard, or monster-y thing).

I should just get started now on making next year's costumes so I get them done in time...with no stress!