A Tale of 2 Sisters...Disneyworld and Halloween.

Clara and Freya are now 7 and 4, respectively.  Clara is funny and smart, and very kind. Freya is offbeat and silly, and she truly marches to the beat of her own, wacky drum.  As a family we seriously love Halloween and decided to take the girls to Disneyworld in October to show them the Disney version of Halloween.  When I asked the girls what princess they wanted to dress up as I got two very different answers.  Clara chose Tinkerbell - not technically a princess - but totally suited to my quick witted 7 year-old. And Freya...oh, Freya, chose Malificent.  The Queen of all Evil from Sleeping Beauty.  You go girl! 

Maleficent and TInkerbell waiting for the bus.

Freya took her role as Malificent very seriously.  She was always in character.  When she got her hair styled at the Bippity Boppity Boutique - she told the Fairy Godmother that she wanted" The hairstyle with the tiara because I'm the QUEEN."  

Freya puts on her "I'm Evil." face.

Evil meets Sweet.

Watch Out!

2 Tinks - twice the sass.

Our trip ended. and we returned to New York in time for more Halloween fun.  I thought I was all set with costumes. Clara was eager to roll out her Tinkerbell outfit for everyone to see. She had taken lessons in attitude from the real Tinkerbell.  Predictably Freya had other ideas.  For an entire year - since last Halloween - Freya has insisted that she wanted to be a Baloney Sandwich with a Baloney Sandwich hat for Halloween.  How did she get this idea, you may ask?  I have no answers.  I think Freya had a baloney sandwich maybe once in her life.  The only sandwiches she will eat are peanut butter and jelly.  So who knows. But do you know what I KNOW?  You can't find Baloney Sandwich costumes at Target.  So during the week leading up to Halloween I cobbled together a Baloney Sandwich costume out of: pink leggings and shirt, toy food  from the kids' room, and I miraculously found some crazy person online who makes cat beds that look like slices of bread.  Perfect scale to sandwich a 4 year-old.

Baloney Sandwich.

Sassy Tinkerbell and Happy Baloney Sandwich.

Tinkerbell is hungry.

Another fun fact about Clara.  She absolutely adores roller coasters.  The scarier the better, and she's so tall she can ride on all of them.  Unfortunately for her, she was born to parents who DO NOT love roller coasters. But we do love her, so we go on these crazy rides with her.  On our last trip to Disney, Gerald bit the bullet and went on Expedtion Everest  - the SCARIEST roller coaster at Disney with Clara.  This time he totally chickened out and made ME DO IT!  I present to you - the proof.

There is so much to unpack here.  Clara is smiling/cheering.  The two people behind us - also clearly enjoying themselves.  Me - what has happened to my hair?  Is it literally standing on end?  I'm the Don King of Expedition Everest.  My eyes are squeezed shut - I grab Clara's leg, consumed with terror while Clara's hands are neatly folded in her lap - Ho Hum.

Happy Halloween.

I love Halloween. 2017

It is no secret that I love Halloween.  Always have, always will...and what I love about being a parent is that I can instill that same rabid loyalty to the excitement of Halloween in my children.  This year I had Clara decide on her costume in the beginning of September - I need time to plan these things, people!

All summer Clara had wanted to be Powerpuff girls.  Clara, Freya and I would be the Powerpuff Girls and Gerald would be the villain, Mojo Jojo.  But in a surprise turnaround, Clara decided we would all be Trolls after watching and falling in love with the Trolls movie.  Clara would be the heroine, Poppy Troll, Freya would be the Justin Timberlake Troll -Branch, and Gerald and I would be Background Trolls.  

Over the weeks I began cobbling together their costumes, and took on the task of making the wigs because everything I could find for sale looked stupid and expensive.  When October 1st rolled around, I surprised Clara with a Halloween Countdown Calendar which stoked the embers of excitement into flame.  Freya even joined in practicing saying things like: "Happy Halloween!"  "Trick or Treat?" and "Hee hee hee, I'm a witch!"  It was awesome.

Finally the big day arrived - we were ready - and as usual - it's nearly impossible to get a family picture, especially one where Freya keeps her wig on - but here are the results of months of work.

Freya is not pleased about the wig.

Clara as Poppy Troll.

Gerald and Branch.

Background Trolls.

I host  a Pre-Trick or Treating Halloween Party for the kids in our building.  This year I went with a witch theme - I invented 2 games - throw gooey eyeballs into a witches cauldron, and the Witch's Gauntlet which involved throwing glow rings over obstacles - witches legs, a black cat,flickering candles, and a witch's hat.  Both games were very popular.

Cauldron, bowl of eyeballs on the side.

Witch's Gauntlet.

Then it was time to Trick or Treat.  Clara's friend Sara was there as well as their cousin Fred and his parents, Becky and Dustin.  The only person I know who like Halloween more than me is my sister Becky - their family costume took it to a whole new level.  I present to you Fred as Mike Wazowski from Monster's Inc, Dustin as Sully, and Becky as Boo's Closet door.  Come on People!

 As we tromped around the building knocking on doors, enthusiastic neighbors got into the spooky spirit. 

Babette chased us down because we missed her door.

Trick- or - Spider Man!

Nightmare Nurse!

All in all it was another Halloween for the record books.  Though I have notcied a pattern in Halloween costumes Freya may want to remedy next year...so far all three of her Halloween's Freya has been a sidekick to Clara's star attraction...and a boy.

Year One: Clara - Princess Anna, Freya- Olaf.

Year Two: Clara - Snow White, Freya- Dopey

Year Three: Clara -  Poppy Troll, Freya Branch Troll.

What will next year bring? Only the ghosts and the goblins know.

Freya and Clara.

Poppy Troll and Sky From Paw Patrol.

Freya and Fred get some candy.

Halloween and November

The Fall has been a bumpy ride - beautiful weather, autumn trees, starting school, Halloween, taking ballet (Clara), talking up a storm (Freya), and an election with far reaching effects for everyone I know...but through it all there are these two little girls, bouncing along and taking it all in.

Halloween in our house is always a big deal.  It was preceded by many days of Clara dithering over costume choice.  She was pretty set on being a princess (with the occasional "ghost" or "ghost witch" thrown in) but which princess would she be and who would we all play as her supporting cast?  And make no mistake, Gerald and I were background players and Freya was  promoted to sidekick.

After much discussion Clara finally decided she would be Snow White.  Freya would be the faithful Dopey, Mom would get to be the Poison Apple, and Dad would be the Magic Mirror.  Halloween finally arrived, and it was an action packed day.  I attended a Halloween Party in Clara's Pre-K class.  There is nothing more fun than a bunch of 4 year olds clamoring to tell you about their costumes.  (It was heavy on the superheroes and princesses)

Snow White.

Dopey.

Snow White and the Poison Apple.

Magic Mirror and Dopey.

Then it was home for the Halloween party I put together for the kids in our building.  There were spooky decorations and a Monster Corn Hole game that I made.  You had to "feed the monster" to get a prize.  

Feed the monster.

Freya tries her hand at the Monster game.

The only shot of all four of us.

After the party,  it was time to trick or treat - Freya's second time but her first where she could knock on doors. As each door opened, Freya happily walked into each person's apartment, much to their chagrin.  Who needs a bowl of candy when you can go check out all those things on the coffee table?

Freya on her way out from checking out an apartment.

Freya made it through one building before Gerald whisked her off to bed.  I kept going with Clara and her friend Sara.  It was really fun and Clara is already talking about next year's costumes.

Shortly after we were hit with Election Day.  Clara was excited to be voting, as she always is, but she was also excited about "voting for  a girl" and talked a lot about Hillary Clinton.  We went to vote as a family and Clara went with each of us to fill out our ballots. Clara insisted on helping me to bubble in my vote.  It all felt so hopeful and exciting.

Going in to vote.

Post-voting lunch.

When the news came down the next day I tried to explain what happened to Clara without over burdening her with my disappointment.  She worked it over in her mind and said: "Well, can't both of them share the job?  It's good to share."

Wiser words were never spoken.

A Halloween Update.

I was so excited that Clara was old enough to actually enjoy Halloween but I was worried that she would be upset wearing her costume or be upset by all the whole "knocking on doors and interacting with strangers" thing. Instead, Clara had a fabulous time.

We started off at our building's kick-off party.  Gerald got her into her costume with no fuss and she was happy to walk around with the bubble-wrap stuffed cone-shaped starfish top perched on her head.  (This from a girl who won't let a hair-clip stay in her hair.)  I also made some hats for me and Gerald from the same material I made her costume in.  I quickly found out that the polar fleece made me extremely hot.  Clara must have been very warm in her costume...but did she complain?  Nope.  Instead she happily ran around with the other kids in the courtyard. 

Clara and Lessia playing with ghost makeup...(flour.)

Max as Raphael. Clara as Patrick Starfish.

Then it was time to trick or treat.

At each door Clara went up and knocked.  When the door opened, she would take a pieck of candy in each hand and refuse to let go of it until we went to the next door.  When a bowl of candy was proffered, she would drop the candy in her hands and grab more.

Highlights:

At one door the neighbor said: "Who is it?"  Clara answered: "Cla-ra."

At one point we realized she was chewing on something.  Gerald pulled a foil-wrapped peanut butter cup from her mouth - she had chewed it enough to get some of the chocolate out.

At the last two doors we visited Clara got the hang of putting candy in her treat bag.

Through it all she was engaged, interested, and happy.  We have ourselves a Halloween-lovin' little girl.  (And she slept like a rock when we got home - 12 hours without a peep.)

Dear Halloween...I love you.

I love Halloween.  I love the idea of dressing up as your favorite character or as one you made up with your own imagination. I love that you can be scary, pretty, ugly, funny, or silly.  It is one day out of the year that you can play dress-up no matter what age you are. As we grow up too many of us give into the peer pressure from friends who think "Halloween is stupid.  Dressing up is stupid."  It isn't stupid - it is an amazing way to remember what is feels like to be a kid.  We grow up so fast in today's world...what's so bad about one day reserved for dressing up, collecting candy from neighbors who exclaim in delight at your costume, and maybe making a little mischief?

As a child my mother taught me how to sew by helping us to make our Halloween costumes. Her mother made all of her costumes too. We would choose our costume sometime in June.  Then we would buy the pattern and the fabric and spend the next 4 months putting it together.  It takes a long time for 7-year old hands to sew an entire costume.  But to this day I am a fantastic hand-sewer because of my forays in Halloween costume design.

My sisters and I were hard core about our costumes.  In the early years we did a lot of team costumes.  And by early - I mean that Becky and I were three and Sam was 8.

Snow White (Sam), Dwarf(Becky), Dwarf (Me)

Cinderella(Sam), Mouse in a dress( Becky), Mouse in a Dress (Me)

Peter Pan (Sam), Wendy (Becky), Tinkerbell (Me)

Mad Hatter(Sam), Alice (Becky), Queen of Hearts (Me)

 Here's me as the Queen of Hearts...Notice how I took artistic liberty and gave myself a heart shaped mole.

I also sometimes went totally off-story and made up my own character.  Two personal favorites were Dot the Clown and the always unique Pig Goblin.  You don't see many Pig Goblins these days...or ever.

Our costumes always had to be kick-ass and as a result we mostly won our school's costume contests.  As the years went on we got good enough that there were a few costumes thought to be too good for us to have made them, and so we were unfairly excluded from prize consideration.  Becky's Merlin costume in the 8th grade and this Donald Duck Samantha made were too good to be believed.  

I suppose our love for Halloween should have died out in High School but we all went to LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and Performing Arts and Halloween was not for the faint of heart.  If you weren't making your costume you didn't come to school.  And the Halloween Parade for best costume was always incredible.  I made the scissor-hands for my friend Sara the year she won for best costume as Edward Scissorhands.  I never won myself but I made a kick-ass costumes every year and so did all the guys I had gone to Junior High School with who were as hard core about Halloween was I was.  My sister Becky and I have continued to dress up and find fun Halloween parties to attend all of our adult lives.  High-school friends Vinny Bova and Sean Madden started a Halloween Party in NYC called the "Greatest Halloween Party Ever" a few years ago - mainly for all of us adults who refuse to let the Spirit of Halloween die. Here's some of my costumes from the past few years - it's just as fun when you're in your thirties as when you're ten, believe you me.

Heather Brown as Peg Bundy.  Me as Wonder Woman Mid-Spin.

Becky as 28 Months Later - the Zombies have infected New York...

And me As the Illustrated Woman.

Becky as Werewolf Toto and me as the Apple Tree from Wizard of Oz.

Two Halloween's ago  Becky, Sam, Gerald and I did a team costume.  We were waiters from the Regal Beagle from Three's Company. (We won for best team costume) at Aaron Simms' Ghoulish Good Time Party.  I wouldn't know it for two weeks...but I was pregnant in this photo.  Which technically means that Clara was wearing a costume even then...

 Which leads me to my lovely Clara and Halloween.  She has no choice.  She has to love Halloween.    Last year she was three months old.  I dressed her up as the Great Pumpkin from Charlie Brown and took her to a Halloween Party. I crocheted the pumpkin hat.  I was Sally Brown and Gerald (who came home to take pictures and then had to go to work) was Linus.

This year I have gone bigger with the costume.  She is going to be Patrick Starfish from Spongebob Squarepants.  I made the costume myself without the benefit of a pattern.  I think it looks amazing and if there was a costume contest she would win it.

It's the first year I haven't dressed up for Halloween in many, many years.  But seeing my little girl dressed in a kick-ass homemade costume makes it all worth it.  (That and she's totally going to let me eat her candy)  I can't wait to see what costumes she comes up with in years to come...