I used to HATE Fall...
It meant that the snow was coming and summer was officially a thing of the past. I totally dreaded this season... In my younger years anyway.
In my adult years I have really come to love Fall, more specifically October. My first born entered our lives on a beautiful October day. This is when my feelings about Fall began to change. I now look forward to October. We still have a few lingering warm days accompanied by some crisp cool/cold days that we get to bundle up in blankets on the couch or in bed with a cup of hot something to drink. I love that. In October I get to bust out all the spice candles/air fresheners, which in case you didn't know are my FAVORITE scents. In October we are given a little bit of the best of both warm and cold seasons. October really is that happy medium.
In my adult years Halloween has become one of my top favorite holidays as well. On October 1st you had better believe I am busting out my Halloween decor. I LOVE decorating for Halloween and I love busting out my creative juices to come up with fun original costumes for my kids. I have found that I get really bummed out when my kids choose costumes that come in a bag ready for wear. They are boring to me and look cheap, no matter how much money you spend on them. AND in all reality it takes away from my own personal enjoyment. Last year was one of those years... Brenna was Alice and Sam was Super Mario. I didn't get to make anything. This year October has been wonderful and my kids didn't let me down in the costume department. I am feeling very festive and my cup is overflowing. Brenna decided she wanted to be a Monster High Doll. She didn't really care which one, so when I happened upon a Monster High skirt at Ross for 5 bucks it was decided that she was going to be Claudine Wolf (the werewolf). I made her ears out of sticky back felt and just wrapped them around a headband then glued a bow to one ear. I used an old see through stretchy black shirt I had and cut it to shreds and placed it over a solid brown long sleeve shirt. I found some cute purple leg warmers for a buck somewhere (sorry can't remember if it was target or the dollar store) and put them over some cute black spiderweb tights. Easy and inexpensive costume that looks just as good as those $30 ones you can buy at the store.
We still may add some accessories to the costume before Halloween, but all in all it cost me less than $10 for the entire costume. SWEET!
Sam chose a Mummy for his costume this year. I was really excited about this because I knew that it would be another inexpensive costume to pull off, but I would still be able to enjoy making it. I got a sweatsuit from Walmart (shhhh don't tell Sam, but he is wearing girl bottoms because they were out of the heather gray in boys) and 2 yards of plain fabric that cost less than $2 a yard. I tore that fabric into strips and just hot glued it to the sweat suit. Below is a pic of Sam at Brenna's party and his costume wasn't 100% complete yet, but even still I think it turned out well.
As you can see there is still more sweatsuit that needs covered and come Halloween we will have his hair sprayed white and spiked up all over out of the head wraps. He wants a little bit of dirt and blood splatters as well. Not only was this costume cheap to make, BUT it will also be WARM on Halloween night. Double bonus right?!?! Though his girly friend would much rather him be her Prince Charming, I think she was okay with a "Mummy Prince" instead...
Yet another year of costumes to be proud of if I do say so myself!
All these above pictures come courtesy of Brenna's 7th Birthday Bash. Brenna's birthday party theme selection was a PERFECT choice to put me in the Fall spirit. I got to create a Monster Ball for my princess. Surprisingly, I didn't break the bank with this party either... though I personally think it looks like I did. The best part of homemade stuff is that in most cases it costs far less than what you can buy in a store. Homemade also looks better (in my opinion anyway). I have discovered that the dollar store really is the BEST place to get the bulk of stuff for parties (plates, cups, table cloths, spiderweb, goody bag fillers). My number one tip for birthday parties it DO NOT buy the cups and plates with characters on them to match the theme. They are rediculously priced and really unnecessary. After about five minutes of food on them they end up in the trash anyway, so go to the dollar store and just pick a color that coordinates with the theme. The dollar store really does carry the majority of must haves for parties, and it saves a GRUNDLE of Moolah! I can't tell you how many bags of spider web I used this year, but I can tell you that I was grateful for the dollar store for this one decor choice alone. I have spiderweb spread indoors and outdoors. My black, white, and red living room really is the PERFECT place to create that creepy, but classy, Halloween environment.
The Perfect place to host a Monster Ball...
Now Brenna's Monster Ball was no simple event. It wouldn't have been complete without all the homemade Halloween treats I made... We really had it all....
And you had better believe that the majority of this food was devoured by all the little ones that attended...
We painted little pumpkins too...
(Which may not have been one of my better ideas because paint ended up in far more places than just the pumpkins)
I should have known better.
All in all though, I hosted a pretty good Monster Ball and Brenna was very happy with the event as well.
Brenna has been blessed with some pretty awesome friends. She had a great turn out (above pic isn't even everyone who showed) and made out like the little princess she is.
October is in full swing and this is just a small amount of the fun I have been able to have this year. Being a teacher opens up a whole other world of fun and creativity. Up next in our month is all the Halloween celebrations themselves. I have two days of Halloween festivities at school with my own kids and my preschool kids, then of course there is HALLOWEEN!
I sure hope everyone is enjoying the Fall and October as much as I have been... It really is a time of year that brings joy to my house.
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