Ain't No Mom Jeans

Ready For Halloween Weekend?

We are not.  I had to keep R from school today (and he missed his field trip...on a bus) and we're still just all feeling off.  By the time the cold/flu/whatever circles through all of us...someone catches something new.  I am going insane.

But whatever.  It'll be fine.  Halloween is not a big deal here, ever since Raines informed me (two years ago) that he "jus wanna be Raines for Halloween."

Oh.  So I dialed waaaay back on the "What are you going to be for Halloween!!" hype.  Apparently, I was the only one excited.  If R chooses to dress up this year, we'll just throw something together from his dress-up box.  I figure that I have one (two, max) more years of being able to take this approach and then he'll probably want one of those creepy muscley costumes.  

But I'm not sure what to do with Pax.  I feel like this is my last year to dress him in something fluffy and cute.  Hence, the too-small chicken costume (which is adorbs, right??  I know everyone has it, but OH HOW I LOVE IT STILL).  But since Pax's hero-worship of his brother knows no bounds, he may insist on dressing EXACTLY like R...and then I have a problem.  Sooooo...yeah.  I may not have totally thought this through.

But my parents will be visiting, so fun will be had by all.  If I'm feeling really festive, I'll probably pull out the standard-halloween-momiform of trying-to-be-cute-but-not-trashy moms everywhere and wear all-black with some sort of animal ears.  I think we have a tigery-ear headband in the dress-up box.  Rawr.

It's OK.  You can boo.

BUT.  I loved Design Mom's recent video.  She's adorable, and her suggestions are, hands-down, the easiest little...(costumes is too strong a word)...spooky outfit tweaks for parents.  Observe:

 

Also, Shopbop had some cute ideas based on pieces you may already own, and Real Simple has 10 easy last-minute costume ideas (albeit corny ones).  My fav is "Ceiling Fan", where you carry pom-poms and make a shirt that says, "Go Ceiling!!"  

If you have an actual Halloween party to attend, The Glamouri has three Halloween DIY ideas that key off of rad makeup tricks.  So awesome.  

Lastly, check out Rookie Moms' Costumes for Babies.

All other thoughts that M or I have ever had on Halloween costumes (and we've had one or two) can be found under our Halloween category.

Happy Haunting!

xo,

S

Mom Street Style - Halloween Edition

Getting all geared up for Halloween?  Denver Mamas, I'll be thinking of you this weekend, and I hope you're heading over to Old South Gaylord St.  My fav.

Um.  It does get kinda crazy, though.  A little secret?  I have beer in that cup.  (Shhh...we kept it stashed in the trunk.) We were accosted by parents the entire time, wondering where the beer tent was, LOL.  This year they are adding a pet parade.  (M!  How cute would Henry and Obi be?)  The pic above is obviously from 2 years ago (when I attempted the owl costume)...last year I was too pregnant to move and R refused to dress up.  

But this is my year, so to speak.  I'm not a huge costume person (M has all the good ideas in this department), but I do remember feeling like a party pooper with no semblance of a costume.  My friend Amanda did it perfectly:

Isn't she cute?  So of course I blatently copied her.

 

Found on Etsy, of course.

However, Raines is currently saying that he wants to be Hercules this year.  Yeah, yeah...we've heard it before.  After last year we're not holding our breath.  We'll just wait until the day minute it's time to costume, and figure it out.  But the kid does seem serious.  He's assigned us all costumes.  Mike must be Pegasus (um...any ideas, crafty mamas?), I must be a princess wearing this dress specifically, and little P must wear Raines' old lion costume.  

But if R backs out on the big day, I'll just wear a cute little mask. I know Mike is dying to wear the Spiderman one anyway (he's a comic geek, Spiderman especially) and we'll go explore one of the cool-sounding events that Philly Parent Circle has featured. Any recommendations, Philly Mamas?

Happy Halloween!  We'd love to see what you're wearing this Halloween....so feel free to upload some cute costume pics (of you, the kiddos, both...) onto our Facebook page....

xo,

S

ps.  Seriously - any help on the Pegasus front would be very much appreciated, LOL!

Scary Style – Mom & Baby Halloween Costumes You’ll Wear Again

Wahahahahah. . . in the spirit of the season, we thought we’d jump on board with the Rookie Moms Halloween Carnival.  The Moms challenged other bloggers to come up with costume ideas that would re-use items they already own or make use of items that could easily be re-purposed.  It just so happens that last year, I dressed the entire fam in a coordinating ensemble of mainly re-used clothing items to fit a last-minute western theme.  It all started with young Huck wanting to wear his cowboy dress-up costume, and while the prospect of three cowboys and a saloon (read brothel) mom was more to Hub’s taste, I thought we should push the theme a little further, because a.) Trampy Halloween costumes are sad enough, but on a mom. . . even worse, and b.) As a second child myself, I wanted to carve a unique, non-sidekick Halloween persona for Little Lou (and he wound up stealing the show!). 

Reading: A Few Halloween Costume Resources For Non-Crafty Moms

  We are attending a wedding this weekend in beautiful Cambria, Califonia.  And the rehearsal dinner.  The catch?  The rehearsal dinner must be in costume.  We are also flying to this wedding, so the costumes must be easy to pack.  After much deliberation, we settled on a Harry Potter theme.  Mike is Harry, I'm going as Hermione, and the little man is Harry's owl.  I bought Gryffindor ties, and we're just wearing white shirts, gray sweaters, ties and black pant (skirt for me).  And yes - we will wear these outfits to the opening of the next Harry Potter movie!! Too bad the little man is too young to be embarrassed by his parents.

Crafty I am not, so I searched for a store-bought owl costume.  The only one I could find is pictured above.  I apologize in advance if you have purchased this costume for your child....but seriously.  It is quite possibly the stupidest costume I've seen.  It's as though an owl is perching on your child's head.  An owl with huge eyes and no body.  As if toddlers aren't top heavy enough. 

Cute Animal Costumes that Won't Overheat Your Baby and Can Be Worn Year Round

Babies don't make very good trick-or-treaters.  They fall asleep just as you'd want to start out, they don't walk by themselves, and unless it's freezing, they have NO interest in wearing the cute hood/footies/mittens that come with their costume...but on the upside, they will most likely be ready to do the circuit at 2AM, should you really hate your neighbors. 

Nonetheless, last year I bought no less than 3 costumes (3!!!) for my little man.  Two of them were Ebay mix-ups (a lion and a chicken  - it's a long story)...but I still went ahead bought the third costume due to the sheer perfectness of concept. 

The lion and chicken costumes were the usual fleecy, hooded, hot style of Halloween costumes.  And they did come in handy for some adorable fall photo shoots on a chilly day (see pic). However, if it hadn't been roughly 40 degrees outside, zipping my son into this costume would've resulted in a stiff leg kicking, back-bending, arm waving screaming fit.  You know - my favorite.    

Most of our actual Halloween activities with baby include a photo shoot and indoor parties or playdates.  So the hot fleeces, for us, are not practical.  Enter my new favorite Halloween costume for babies:  Noo Australia.  Noo makes soft little pants, shirts, hats and booties out of 100% cotton that look like animals.  Even better, they are lightweight, comfy to wear, and are really just outfits - so Raines wore his Bee suit long after Halloween was over (it makes great pajamas, too).  Check 'em out:

A Costume for the True Procrastinating Mom

My friend called the other day. Halloween was less than a week away, and she didn’t plan on getting a costume.  Until she found out the other Moms in her playgroup would be dressing up.  She wanted to know if wearing black and orange socks would be OK.  With an Old Navy Halloween themed tshirt.  No.  No, No, No.  Halloween themed Tshirts are one step away from the dreaded Christmas sweater.  My friend didn’t want to be in costume but wanted to look festive and be able to blend in with the other moms.  Here are a couple of ideas:

Cool Mom Halloween Costumes

Let me go out on a limb and say that most of us are going to leave the “naughty nurse” costumes in the back of the closet this year.  Which is really too bad for those of us who are breastfeeding...we certainly have the boobs to pull it off, if not the stomach, butt, or desire.  Ah, well.  Such is life.  However, for those of us cool moms who still want to get into Halloween festivities without resorting to wearing plastic Halloween-themed earrings (NO! NO!)...here’s two ideas based on items that are already in your closet.

Draculean Diva

Ok, so it’s no naughty nurse, but you can look...well, a little elegant and still be festive for Halloween.  Dress your little one up as an adorable bat, and you can go as a feminine version of Dracula.  Sweep your hair into a french twist, powder your face with too-light face powder, add some black eyeliner and red lips.  For the costume, simply pull on a black pencil skirt, black tights, black boots and a white button down shirt.  Add a cape.  Plastic fangs are optional.