Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Costumes

With less than an hour to spare I got my kids' costumes done and they loved trick or treating in them at our local zoo! Thankfully it's not even Halloween yet so they'll get to wear these costumes again...which makes me happy since they were a LOT of work to make! (Why, oh why, can't I just buy my kids' costumes and save all the craziness of making them?)

Early this year my kids watched the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie for the first time and it's probably the first non-animated full length movie they ALL loved. I also let them watch the Johnny Depp version, which they thought was ok, but the first version captured their imaginations more and I was not-so-secretly planning out how all 4 kids could dress as the characters for Halloween this year. They really didn't get a choice. (Sorry, not sorry.)

I love my little Willy Wonka, Wonka Bar, Oompa Loompa, and Violet Beauregarde! Want the details on how I made each costume? Here you go...

Halloween Treat Bag PDF Sewing Pattern - Available Today!

The Halloween Treat Bag Pattern is now available! You can get it by clicking here. It is the perfect addition to your child's costume! There are FIVE different options included in this pdf pattern: a Fairy/Princess, Cat, Jack-O-Lantern, Monster, and Strawberry.

Just look at the gorgeous bag one of the testers made for her little girl! Awesome job, Hyde! (she made that darling dress for her daughter, too)

The pattern testers really did such a great job! Here are a few more of their adorable bags.

Mel made a super cute strawberry. I love the contrast fabrics and lining.

Danielle and Maverick Designs made Jack-O-Lanterns and WOW...the bags hold a lot of candy!

Tara and Tracey both made great Monsters.

Here are Jill's Cat and Fema's Watermelon.

Aimee made an adorable Snow White bag and Danielle took the Strawberry style and turned it into a cute flower!

What is your child going to be for Halloween this year? Don't wait to get started on their treat bag today! And use discount code TREAT to get the new pattern for only $5 at my Etsy store.

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!

Too Much Candy

What a weird concept...go to someone's door, knock and candy will appear! The trick with young kids is getting them to realize they can't always go up to people's doors and ask for candy...it's a once-a-year thing. :)

The fun began at our local zoo on Saturday night. The kids walked through the zoo gathering candy and looking at the animals. Apparently there was record attendance at the zoo's event this year. I can believe it because we tried to go on an earlier day and couldn't even find a parking spot. Craziness!

Our street isn't one for trick-or-treaters so on Sunday night we went to a friend's neighborhood. Since Halloween was actually on Monday this year, though, another friend's neighborhood had trick-or-treating that night. So...we went there too. That's THREE times this year! Whoa!

Elliott also had a party at preschool where he got to dress up and get candy. All combined...the candy fills a box and hasn't seemed to lessen this week even though every snack comes from the box.

Here are my cutie pies this year.
Elliott the Vikings player. He got a lot of extra candy with this outfit because any homes where a Vikings fan lived would give him extra candy!
Although, he also got lots of jeers from people that went right over his head. Several would say 'Go Pack' when he'd walk by or make a silly comment. One woman at the zoo asked if he was supposed to be Adrian Peterson to which he replied..."No, I'm Elliott." :)

Emma wanted to be Elmo this year. This is the same costume Elliott wore when he was 3 and I was really surprised she chose this over something pink and girly...but she looked adorable. Everywhere we went there were other kids pointing out "Elmo" and were excited to see her! She loved it! :)

Isa was a cute little pink poodle. She has a funny run and it was even more adorable with a pink wagging tale and ears! :)

I made an attempt to get all the kids together for a picture. Elliott was ok with Isa hanging on his arm but as soon as Emma touched him...he was done!

 Henry had two costumes. The night we went to the zoo it was pretty warm so he had this silly glow-in-the-dark shirt that said "this is my costume". The other nights were much colder so he was a spider.

 Candy overload.

 They're already dreaming about next year. Can't say I blame them...it's a pretty fun concept for kids.

More fall fun

Some pictures from the last week...

We took the kids to the zoo for their annual fall fundraiser. The kids got to wear their costumes and get lots of candy! Elliott was a gorilla (a fitting costume at the zoo) and Emerald was an adorable little flower. We even found a costume for Isabella...she was the tiniest ladybug I've ever seen. Daddy decided to get in on the fun and wore one of his crazy hats that he normally saves for baseball games. (I did not dress up...maybe next year!)


Another highlight of the week was visiting my grandparents so they could meet Isabella for the first time.

It seems like our fall has been cut short by an early snow and lots of rain. Sadly, we missed the peak of the fall colors. But we walked to the park last night and got some pictures of the kids with some of the pretty leaves still on the ground. Emma loves picking up sticks and rocks as she walks and had fun being out of the stroller for a while. She actually kept up pretty well...she's getting faster. Elliott got a new set of golf clubs this week and was trying them out. He has an amazingly good natural swing and had fun aiming at trees.

Fall fun

For the past 2 years we have gone to a pumpkin patch to celebrate Elliott's birthday. Crazy enough, it's been 90 degrees both years...in October! This year we had record lows and I'm glad we didn't plan the pumpkin patch birthday party again. (I'll post pics soon of Elliott's big THIRD birthday party.)

We tried to pick a semi-warm day and take the kids to the pumpkin patch this year. Jo Lyn came with us and the kids had a blast!

We found this fun old truck to take pictures with. The close up of Emerald is my new favorite picture of her. You can see the original picture below that...I couldn't decide if I liked color, vintage, or black and white better...so here's all 3.



We made an unexpected trip up North this weekend (and were there less than 24 hours)! But we got to spend time with Janet and go to Amanda and Charlie's house to decorate pumpkins...SO fun! Emerald was especially adorable because this was the first time I ever let her have a paintbrush...she loved it!
Charlie helped Elliott scoop out the inside of a pumpkin but he wasn't too excited about helping or carving it. Although, he did love working with Amanda to push in some big Mr. Potato head-like pieces into a pumpkin. What a fun day!