October 18th, 2006 - Halloween party
Last night, Maggie and I went to a Halloween party with a playgroup I just joined. A number of children had costumes such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Piglet, and Mickey Mouse. There’s an off chance Maggie would get Piglet, as she has some Winnie the Pooh items, but it was Disney Piglet and hers are almost all Classic Pooh. Other children her age recognized and spoke of the other characters. Maggie had absolutely no clue who these were.
We all brought treats for the kids to take home. I wasn’t sure how this would work, so I just brought my cookies in a container. Everyone else had either purchased treats or had wrapped theirs up. Well, I did save wrapping (and I had thought about this issue and couldn’t figure out how to wrap cookies in plastic wrap and had nothing else. I wasn’t about to buy sandwich bags just for 20 treats!), and there was another benefit: As the only unwrapped treat, it was easy for kids and adults to snag one during the party! (There wasn’t any food provided as this was just one hour right after dinner.)
PS. I was feeling just a wee bit smug about having made Maggie’s costume, seeing no one else had. Until the two airplanes showed up. They were fantastic! And it made me remind myself that I should *not* feel smug about the way I choose to live my life. There, just wanted to be honest on here that I’m not perfect! LOL I was, on the other hand, thrilled to hear another Mom (who lives just up the street from me) comment that she had planned to make her son’s costume, but she found a Humpty Dumpty costume for only $3 at a yard sale. Another Mom chimed in about yard saling as well. Someone else said she had seen costumes at GoodWill or had bought her child’s there. Another reminder that there are different paths to frugality. Well, and actually, Maggie’s costume was purchased at garage sales, too.
Maggie was a ninja, after Daddy’s nickname for her, Midget Ninja Assassin. She already had black pants (gift from last year?) and I found black boots and a black turtleneck at sales. Since it was chilly, she wore her black sleeved Eagles shirt underneath. Since she only has white socks, I loosely wrapped black electrical tape around them so that they wouldn’t be noticed. I also picked up a knit shirt and a black cape out of which a ninja mask could be formed. In trying to figure it out earlier in the afternoon, Maggie screamed bloody murder at having something on her head/face so I wasn’t going to bother. But Eric suggested a headband. The knit shirt had exactly the right shape for this! It made the outfit, as otherwise she just kind of looked like a cat burglar. At the party, she ignored it and it stayed on the entire time–which was lucky as a child dressed in black with dark brown hair is NOT easy to spot after 6pm in Wisconsin in a dimly lit backyard! Over the last three days, I also made three throwing stars for her. This was the longest, most involved part of the costume! I cut them out of a white milk jug. Then I colored them with a silver sharpie (only 2 because it ran out) and a black permanent marker (wish I’d started with black, it was much, much faster!). But the inks didn’t stay very well. They wouldn’t easily rub off, but would scratch off. Not a good idea for a little kid. Even I scratched off a good bit working with them. So I coated them with clear nail polish (around the house for fixing scratches on the backsplash in the kitchen and, formerly, repairing nylon runs). That took a very long time. But they held up wonderfully and will probably be put in the dress up box for the future.
Maybe I’ll post pictures later on. I did manage to get a couple quick ones before the party. Maggie stayed in character for the group photos at the party. She stood in front of the other kids looking at them. An assassin, after all, can’t be having their picture taken!
October 18th, 2006 at 1:12 pm EDT
Post pix plz. k thx bye.