Halloween 2021

Did you have a fun Halloween?

I've already shared my Halloween pics over on Instagram, so if you're following there you've likely already seen our costumes and decorations, but I love looking back over our adventures and various holidays in more detail so I'm posting them here on the blog too. With a few extra photos, of course.

This year we ended up with a family costume for the first time ever. There have been years when the girls had costumes that go together (remember that time they were the Powerpuff Girls? You can see them here) but we've never done a whole family costume until now. It wasn't actually my plan to make a whole family costume, but it worked out that way and it makes me so happy. 

Ava decided that she wanted to be Mabel Pines from the Disney cartoon Gravity Falls. This inspired Lola to dress as the character Bill Cipher (a maniacal pyramid from another dimension) from the same show. Mathilde then decided she'd like to be Mabel's pet pig Waddles. With these three characters in mind, the girls decided that I should dress as Grunkle Stan. Kim doesn't usually dress up (unless he's wearing the nerd costume he wore for years) so I figured he wouldn't join in. Then when I was buying myself a fez for my Grunkle Stan costume I came across the hat worn by Mabel's twin brother Dipper Pines, and that was that. The whole family joined in!

Halloween 2019

Another Halloween done and dusted!

This year's Halloween came with quite a few firsts for us. Our first Halloween in Colorado, our first year having a house to decorate, our first year handing out candy, our first time trick or treating in the snow! That last one was pretty unexpected! It was also the first year that Kim didn't wear his class nerd costume that he's worn every Halloween since we arrived in the US. Unfortunately it was far too cold for a thin polyester onesie - no matter how hilarious it looks! Ha!

This year we ended up with an inadvertent computer game theme! Ava dressed as Link from Legend of Zelda, Lola was a Minecraft panda, Mathilde was Bendy from Bendy and the Ink Machine, and I was Pikachu. Without his class nerd costume, Kim chose not to dress up this year. Trust me, we won't allow that again next year!

We had a day filled with celebrations with school parades and parties followed by trick or treating in the early evening. It was so chilly we headed out a little earlier than originally planned and we didn't stay out quite as late as we usually would, but the kids scored quite the haul in our neighborhood so they were pretty happy. Given that none of us look especially warmly dressed it may not look all that cold in my pics, but trust me, the kids were layered up with thermals underneath their costumes and once the sun went down the warm mittens and jackets came out. 

Here's a look at Halloween 2019...

Halloween 2018

It may be November and everyone has already moved onto Christmas, but I'm here with a little more Halloween fun to share.

This year the girls' costumes were a pretty mixed bag. We had Ava as a Minecraft creeper, Lola as a mermaid, and Mathilde as one of her many alter-egos Pinchy the lobster. I did my usual trick of making a last minute costume out of existing accessories and dressed as a cat. Kim Wore his class nerd costume - the same one he has been wearing every Halloween since we moved to the US in 2011. If you've seen any of my previous Halloween posts, you'll know the costume!

Simple Last Minute Halloween Costumes

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links for Primary.com

Halloween is just over a week away, which means that if you're anything like me, there's a good chance you're frantically trying to get costumes made for the kids!

No matter how good my intentions are, I always find myself making the kids' costumes at the last minute every Halloween. I'm going to blame Lola's birthday falling two weeks beforehand for keeping me busy earlier on in the month! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Anyway, I've become a bit of a pro at making those last minute costumes so today I'm sharing some of my favorites with you and they all have one thing in common. They all start off as a basic pair of pajamas, dress or t-shirt from Primary.com! This year's costumes will be no different with colorful pajamas as the base for a lobster, Pikachu and Minecraft Creeper costumes.

Here's a look at some of the simple costumes I've made for the kids in the past.

Powerpuff Girls
Can you believe I convinced all three girls to go with a group costume? Neither can I, but it happened! These costumes are still my favorite two years down the track. These costumes consist of sleeveless dress in green, pink and blue worn over white tights with black shoes. I made wide black belts out of stretchy fabric, but you could easily use wide elastic instead. The masks were made out of felt and were the most time consuming part of the costumes. You could skip the masks and still look like the Powerpuff Girls, but for me they really made the costumes. To give Ava that Blossom look I sprayed her hair orange with a washout hair color and tied it back in a high ponytail. I topped off the look with a giant red bow made out of felt and wire (to keep it upright) attached to a headband. For Lola's Bubbles look I tied her hair back into piggy tails. I stitched blue felt balls onto hairbands as I was unable to find blue hair baubles for her. I thought about spraying Mathilde's hair black to complete her Buttercup look but seeing as she was still young enough for naps at the time I figured there was a good chance we'd end up with black hair spray all over her bed! One of my favorite things about this costume is that the girls got a lot of wear out of these dresses. They're such great every day dresses. Surprisingly, two years down the track the girls still fit into the dresses. Extra value for money!

Halloween 2017

Halloween has been and gone for another year.

As always the girls had an absolute blast. We celebrated the day in two parts, with celebrations at school and then trick or treating as a family in the evening. Ava dressed as a Hufflepuff student from Hogwarts, Lola dressed as a unicorn and Mathilde had two costumes; a coyote and Smurfette.

Here's a look at our day and night of spooky fun...

Last Minute Halloween DIY: Smurf Costume

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Another easy, peasy last minute costume today for those of you who still need ideas for Halloween.

Today we have a Smurf costume. Now, when I say that this one is easy, I really mean it. There's only one thing to make, and that's the hat, which you can find the DIY and pattern for below. This can be used for either Smurfette or a boy smurf.

Last Minute Halloween DIY: Robot Costume

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Every year I like to make my kids' Halloween costumes, but pretty much every year I find myself leaving it to the last minute. I always have good intentions to get the costumes made early - I usually  have all the materials purchased months in advance - but when it comes to the actual making of said costumes, I always leave it to the very last minute. It probably doesn't help that October is always a super busy month in our home with Lola's birthday right in the middle of the month and many of our favorite festivals in the lead up to Halloween.

One thing I always try to do when making the kids' Halloween costumes, is work with clothes that they already have in their closet. Rather than full costumes, I like to make accessories that work with regular clothes. That way the accessories can be worn for much longer for dress up play

I'm sure that there are plenty of other parents out there like me who leaves costumes to the very last minute, so all this week I'm going to be sharing some super simple last minute costume DIYs.

First up we have a simple robot costume!

This costume is really easy to make and mostly consists of items you'll have at home - including recycling! You can make it to pretty much any size (just use a bigger or smaller box) and can decorate it anyway you like. You could paint the box or use silver contact paper to cover it, but I like to use duct tape to cover it as it strengthens the costume as well. We all know that Halloween costumes take a bit of a beating by the time trick or treating is over, so anything that makes the costume stronger is good in my books!