Halloweeners

We had a great Halloween.  We spent less than 30 dollars on the kids' costumes, we came home with not too much candy, and managed not to lose any of our kids.  Win, win, win.

If you know me, then you know that half the fun of Halloween is making the costumes.  Not only does it pinch the few pennies that we've got, but it challenges us to be creative by using the things we have or procuring the things we need.  The kids have never minded.  Until this year.

One child in particular (I'll just tell you that it was Orry) was pretty set on buying the costume at Party City and being done with it.  No matter what reason you gave him for making it ourselves (cost, fun, creativity, quality), he was certain that he just wanted to buy the costume.  Finally he saw the light.  It took the choice between the purchased costume and no props, or the homemade costume and props.  And when you want to be a ninja for Halloween, a plastic sword, sai, and throwing star are so necessary.

Isaac wasn't nearly so worried about whether or not his costume was bought or made.  As long as he was the blue Power Ranger (and by the way, we have absolutely no clue what the blue Power Ranger does or who he is...), he was happy, happy, happy.

And Annie.  Oh, sweet, sweet, sweet Annie.  She went from wanting to be a butterfly, to wanting to be the pink Power Ranger (...), to wanting to be pink Batgirl.  She was pretty dead set on pink Batgirl until I finished the costume.  Then she decided that she didn't want a costume.  But when presented with "no costume = no candy", she changed her mind.  

Our night involved heading over to Miss Laura's house for some quick trick-or-treating.  The kids did remarkably well, walking up to people's houses, saying the magic words, and still remembering the manners (some of the times).  

Afterwards, we quickly headed over to the Richmond fire station to see what kind of fun was being had there.  Turns out every year the fire department puts on a Halloween celebration where kids get to come and see the inside of the fire station, explore the old and new fire trucks, see where the guys get suited up, and, best part of all, shoot the fire hose!  

It was pretty good night.  At the end of the night we talked about Halloween and our costumes and all the headache involved in deciding what we will be.  I explained that it would be much easier and way more fun if we coordinated our costumes each year, picking a different theme every year.  The kids loved the idea and have already decided that next year we will be The Avengers.  Now we have almost a whole year to decide who will be who.  You can join in on the fun.  Orry has pretty much claimed Thor.  Who should be the Hulk?