my brat child wants to be scoobydoo for halloween. I said no. (mean mommy, I know) and then I talked him into being an Octopus instead. But I can't find one to buy that he likes. So I need your help as apparently I will be sewing an octopus costume.
Advice of all sorts welcome - I'm a fairly beginnery beginning sewer but I'm brave and will jump into big projects without too much fear.
"my brat child..."?
How unpleasant.
If you don't care, why would anyone else?
One of the kids in my daughter's class at school played an octopus in a recent choir production. His mum made a costume out of a swimming rubber ring (not sure what you call them in other countries - I mean the inflatable rings that go around your waist) and attached long strands of bubble wrap from it. Simple but effective and no sewing involved.
Given the collective knowledge of people on this ng, I'm sure someone will be able to come up with something far more creative!
I agree. Mean mom is right -- let the kid be Scoobydoo. Where's the harm in that? The reason you can't find a costume he likes is because he DOESN'T want to be an octopus he wants to be Scoobydo..and he's going to remember this for the rest of his life - trust me, I know.
You know, I thought I'd be done with Halloween costumes by this time; my daughter will be 18 this All Hallow's Eve, my son, 14. They no longer trick or treat but they do a big display out in the front yard and dress up to hand out candy.
Last year we carried the fireplace around front to the driveway and laid a fire out of the remains of my poor, dead plum tree.
They set up the shade shelter (a tent without sides). Inside, a card table topped with masses of dribbly candles, gourds, a skull and a basket of apples. Just behind the table, my dressmaker's dummy, topped with a skull and cloaked in a hooded cape
In front of the table they put three bales of hay arranged in a U-shape, with the open end facing outwards. Covering it with a dark sheet, with the dogs' cooling tank with cauldrons of candy and bottled water on top created a space that a 13 year-old boy wearing skeleton gloves could hide in.
DD had gotten herself an Elvira ensemble and a long black wig. Framed in solid black, DD, the whitest human on the planet, virtually glowed in the dark. A wore a long black gown cinched with a green basque and a deep purple hooded cloak over the top. R wore a black velvet pirate shirt over black leggings and black boots, and a black crushed velvet hooded cloak.
The only light came from the sweet-smelling fire and the candles. The effect was genuinely creepy. When a group of trick-or-treaters would approach A and R would stand to either side of the entrance to the shelter, arms crossed over their chests, heads bowed, hoods pulled down to conceal faces.
Then DS, A and R took turns scaring the bejesus out of the local kids and their parents. DS would wait until they approached to collect their candy from the cauldron. Then he'd reach out and tickle their ankles. Basically the only thing A and R had to do to freak someone out was move, even a little bit. People tended to assume that they were dummies, just like the one at the back. R, though, took it to the next level. She'd throw her had back and scream at the top of her lungs.
You would be amazed at how many parents will just flat out bolt, leaving their kid(s) behind. One guy tripped over a tombstone while running away and snapped the stake right off.
And it's human nature to react to a major freakout by dragging a new victim over and watching from the street, hopping from foot to foot, giggling madly, while *they* get their dose of adrenaline. So we had tons of repeat customers.
M, one of DS's younger packmates from around the block, came up with his mom. She declined to have anything to do with the display, choosing to warm her buns next to the fire.
M advanced to within maybe five feet of the straw table, bent down and said, "I see you under there with your skeleton hands. You scared me last year and the year before, too, but you're not getting me this time." There was a muffled "Okay" and the hands withdrew. So, all full of himself, M advances to collect his sugar and R lets out a blood-curdling scream. He went straight up and hit the ground running.
The next day my belly muscles were sore from so much laughing. Man, I love Halloween!
Oh, and P.S., ignore the trolls. You're not going to scar Monk for life by giving him a little guidance on his costume choice. My kids enjoyed having one-of-a-kind costumes that were then handed on to smaller if not younger friends and family.
snipped fabulous halloween household story!!!!
Me too!! I'm saving this post and we are going to do this when monk is old enough! We live in a neighborhood where we will actually get kids now too!! I'm so excited for halloween this year now!!
No worries! I'm thick skinned!! Certainly, if I were a REALLY good mom he wouldn't know who scooby-doo was in the first place, LOL but I have MIL to blame for that. I think this is the last year that I'll have ANY influence over his choice, so we are going with OCTOPUS!
LOL you obviously aren't a parent!
actually there is lots of harm in three year olds watching scooby doo including terrible nightmares. Its not an appropriate show for a three year old.
The front-yard spookhouse thing works nicely to cover the age between "too old to trick-or-treat" and "too young to go the the clubs on the landing". And also "too old to go to the clubs on the landing".
People around here really get into it. It's not uncommon for several households to pool their resources to set up really elaborate displays. Ours is more homegrown, but my kids and their friends have the advantage of access to years' worth of home sewn costumes and accessories and their own demented imaginations.
We do Mardi Gras, too (even the dogs get costumes) and last year I outfitted the entire cast of a Lord of the Rings-type play at my daughter's high school out of our Halloween stash.
"Beth In Alaska" wrote in news:z7KdnR0XwsrFOTbVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@posted.gcicommunications :
hmmm. i'd do an octopus for a toddler (he's 3 or 4 now, right?) the same as a spider, only in green, purple, blue, some watery color. get a pair of sweatpants & a sweatshirt that fit him, or make a set out of lightweight fleece. get two pairs of adult kneesocks in a matching color, or make 4 extra arm-size tubes from the fleece. stuff the socks/tubes with polyfill & sew 2 on each side of the shirt under the sleeves. if you want to get fancy, run a length of heavy thread loosely through the toes of the socks & attach to the cuffs of the sleeves so that all the "legs" move with the arm. hopefully you can understand my instructions... lee
Well, I for one, think the idea is cute.
We don't usually "do" Halloween, however, DH thought the decorations that Michael's has for sale were just too awesome to pass up (he's the one that isn't really for any celebration of a pagan holiday...argh). Well, since he finagled a hanging skeleton in a cahge - motion activated, no less, that screams out various phrases (which, sadly are appropriate to his work area - about being left alone in the dark, that there are other begging for mercy, etc.), he is all for decorating this year. Now, on one hand, that's cool because I get to do the elaborate pumpkins that I used to do, but on the other hand, all that work, just for a night or 2?? And where we live, we don't get tons of visitors...oh, and there's NO sidewalk and fast drivers, so people walk right through yards and such....argh argh argh. What we might do is something simple this year, and build from there, but our church holds a "Harvest party" on Halloween and or children usually go to that..I will NOT be taking them by myself again this year! I did that once (DH was on work travel) and nearly lost what little mind I have left.
As for costumes, DD has been Tinkerbell and a generic fairy, DS has been a knight, pirate, dragon, oh shoot, can't remember everything. And yes, I usually dress up as well, though hubby usually doesn't (he might wear the scarecrow costume that I whipped up, just for something to use this year..that is, if I still have it around).
Larisa
LOL. I fall in that last category. I'm excited to have the right house to decorate for halloween!! We never did before.
Its weird that you are on this group as well as the dog one. Never made that connection until this post because its so eloquent.
where are you? sounds like a nice place.
My mom always made my costumes - they were awesome but we were very weird kids - you'd have a hard time reusing a carrot costume you know?
I do get it . that would be pretty simple. Even I could do it! thanks!
Larisa, Its always a bummer to me that kids don't trick or treat much anymore. They go to the mall or the halloween concert here to trick or treat instead. But in your neighborhood without sidewalks it sounds safer!!
I'm amused at your daughters fairy fetish!!!
Well, I figure, if one were to look at Tinkerbell, she's this little bit of a thing, with BIG blue eyes, blonde hair, and a HUGE attitude...that pretty much sums up my daughter as well, so her nickname is Tink (or when she's especially snotty, Stinkerbell). So, she's just gotten into the whole fairy/ballerina/princess thing . She doesn't know it yet, but, if I can finish up some paying jobs, she will be getting a pink/purple, MommyMade princess dress as a birthday present, and NOT like the ones from the stores that can't handle wear and tear, but one that she can wear for a while!!
I have no idea what they are going to come up with this year....they tend to wait until the begining of the month and hit me with at least
5 different costumes that they want.....we'll see what happens.Larisa
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