Thursday, September 24, 2009

Our Halloween Giveaway

Well it is no secret how much I love Halloween. The colors, sounds, smells.. the fantasy of being someone else for the evening. It's magical to me. Now my children prefer store bought costumes, but there once was a time where I handmade the outfits. We did everything from witch, mermaid, ladybug, pumpkin, woodland fairy, and robot. Seems my mom enjoyed making costumes too. Here is a picture of me on the far right as Ragedy Ann. I was wearing a mop on my head!! (that is my younger brother on the left with his matching frock)
I would love to hear about your favorite handmade costume. Whether you made if for someone or had to wear it yourself as a tyke.. .tell me about it. Leave me a comment. Then I will choose
someone at random to receive one of these fabulous BOOtiful
necklaces which have sweet halloween silhouettes encased in glass. Our drawing will be on October 1st so get your comments to soon.

17 comments:

Heather Crawford said...

Oh mercy, those necklaces are CUTE!

My favorite memory is that my Dad used to make my halloween costume by drawing skeleton bones on a pillowcase and cutting a hole for my head..and then I wore one of those old plastic masks of a skeleton face that make you get all sweaty when you were running around trick or treating..lol..what can I say? We didn't have a lot of money..

Margie Peppers said...

I remember putting on a bath robe, slippers and my hair in rollers and going as a housewife! Why did I think that is what a housewife looked like? I was probably 8 or 9, oh the memories!

Brooke Martin said...

When my twin boys (Jake & Sam) were two, and I still had a little extra time and a sense of humor, they dressed as characters from their favorite book, Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat. All t took was a brown sweatsuit with a knit cap, pipecleaner monkey ears and pipecleaner tail, and yellow sweatsuit with a straw hat spray painted yellow and a camera around the neck. I'll drop by to show you photos...it was a riot! Now, they too want store bought. It's much easier, but some of the magic is gone! See you very soon!

Mel said...

My parents tried to do homemade costumes most years. When I was in Jr. high, there was a Halloween dance and my mom helped me come up with a costume. I had one of my mom's wigs, a caftan kind of dress, heels, a fake mole and lots of makeup. I don't remember what I was supposed to be - an old time movie star?? I was one of very few in costume and no one recognized me!!!
Missy

Anne Boykin said...

My mother made our costumes when her 5 children were little since she couldn't afford store-bought. She was an excellent seamstress and one of the costumes she made was a wizard's black robe - complete with shiney sequins and beautiful detailed applique and embroidery. With a matching hat as well. I thought it was the most beautiful costume in the world. Oh, to have that "folk art" today!

Jodi Shelnutt said...

I love Halloween too! I can still remember like it was yesterday dressing up as a "baby". My hair up in pigtails, freckles painted on my face with eyeliner (Do babies even have freckles????), a pacifier in my mouth, and a teddy bear in my hands....how funny I looked!

Unknown said...

I loved Halloween when my boys were little and actually wanted to make my handmade costumes! Ben was an orange crayon, complete with the pointed, new crayon tip/hat and Kyle was a bag of groceries. I used a box slightly bigger than his trunk, covered it to make it look like one big grocery bag from our local "Pick n Save" store, put suspenders on it to hold it on his shoulders and filled it with empty packages of mac and cheese boxes, cereal, Oreo boxes, and other light "real" food ie: marshmallows, pasta, etc. and I finished it off with a long, dangling cash register receipt. They were adorable! Not to easily accessible for the bathroom at preschool though!!!

Unknown said...

My family can always tell when its Halloween by the endless nightly scarey movies I watch on TV. I'll watch'em all...what can I say, I love'em.

My mom loved Halloween too. Yes, we all had many homemade costumes, even mom. But what I remember most is how she would decorate the garage like a haunted house with scarey music and the neighborhood kids had to walk through to get to the candy.....spooky fun!

J said...

Oh the smells of Granny Vi in the kitchen making caramel corn and popcorn balls!

I still have the puppy costume my Granny made me 41 years ago.
Over the years many brothers, sisters, cousins and my chidren have worn the puppy.

I was lucky, as a child my Granny made ALL of my costumes! Although, when I was growing up there really was not much in the way of "store bought".

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Lindsey Fleming said...

Most of my costumes have been homemade. When I was six, my grandmother used polka dot fabric to make me a jumpsuit and painted a red dot on my nose like I was a clown. In middle school I decided to be a bubble gum machine, complete with a giant clear trashbag and colored balloons. Following the same balloon trend, I decided to be a bubble bath the next year and pin white balloons all over my white pants and shirt while carrying around shampoo and a loofa from house to house. And finally about six years ago I decided to go as a "black-eyed pea" and painted a black P on my shirt and used makeup to black out my eye. I'm a little costume crazy at halloween. :o)

alyson said...

My favorite memory was the last year I went trick or treating with my best friend. We made our own costumes and dressed up as aliens. We had football helmets covered in tin foil, antenna made of wire and painted Styrofoam balls, and green leotards. The best part of the costume was the green, gooey oatmeal facial. By the end of the night it was dripping off our faces.

nkitchenstheavonlady said...

I was probably 13 (I know, way probably to old to dress up and trick or treat but still a lot of fun) and my friend and I decidded at the last moment.....
Her mom is a physician so she just threw on a lab coat, stethoscope and a wild hair wig and I was her mad patient - rainbow brite colored legwarmers - on my arms, a wacky einstein like wig, green scrubs, and make-up just messed up all over my face. My parents didn't buy halloween costumes - we had to make them ourselves if we wanted to participate and I'll always remember this costume!
My daughter did the same thing just this last year when we raided her dress-up box - rainbow afro wig, silver sequined cape (fringed in fur), butterfly wings, ballet skirt, bright green stocking and silver face paint - no one knew what she was but we had all sorts of exciting guesses! p.s. she was only 3 at the time.

Jen Marvin said...

I loved when my mom made us costumes. I remember the first time I convinced her to buy a store bought costume. It was such a disappointment. My favorite costume was when I was in first grade. I had very long hair so it was perfect for the side buns and the matching Star Wars Princess Leia dress. I won first prize in a Halloween costume. It was a great day! I wish I had as much sewing talent as my mom.

Anne said...

The best costume I ever made for myself was a giraffe when I was in high school. I made my daughter a mouse costume when she was a preschooler -- and last year I sat in the garage stirring a Word Girl costume in a tub of red dye for what seemed like hours. Love the necklaces!!

Anonymous said...

Like many, we didn't have a lot of money, but you know what? I still think we'd have continued to make our own costumes. It was tradition!

My little brother and I were home-made skeletons for many many years. We had the black sweatshirt and pants to match, painted with white paint to show all our creepy bones! When I was 5 or so, I decided to be a dead cat, so I added a small cat mask to the outfit!

I suppose my fondest halloween memories are of those costumes, but I did also like the home-made pumpkin my gram made for me when I was 3. Though I can't remember it, every picture of me in it as a huge grin. I loved being a pumpkin! I believe it was just a lot of orange felt, rounded and plumped up to fit my little body. A big grinning face was put on with black felt pieces.

Although, the year I dressed all on my own as a dead soccer player was pretty decent! :)

Lori Craig said...

oh for goodness sake. those necklaces are darling.

my favorite halloween memory is the year that i was a fairy princess. we lived in minnesota, so halloween can be pretty chilly. i had a coat on under my dress. i remember so vividly my dad making me a star wand from a bent coat hanger and tin foil. he painstakingly created that star with pliers and such. one of my favorite halloween memories. my dad rocks.

Kelley Sue Photography said...

I know, I'm late on this....well, to win something anyway, but that is fine. Halloween is also one of my favorite holidays. As a mommy I also LOVE making my children's Halloween costumes. I don't know what is my most favorite...The Flintstone costumes my mom and I sweat over for our entire family of 4 or this years $4 Peter Pan costume for my 6 year old. Honestly, I made Peter Pan last year and my son loves it so much that he decided to recycle it. Fun times!