Halloween 2018

Sadness.

*deep sigh*

Halloween is over.  Whatever will I do until next year?

Um, duh ... we all know I'm already working on Halloween 2019.  LOL!

I mean, first of all, it's OFFICIALLY the best time of year now:  Halloween clearance shopping!!  And second of all, now that I have boo baskets and teachers gifts like these in the mix, I have even more fun stuff to plan for.

But next year's planning aside, I suppose I should recap Halloween 2018.  Because you know for me that meant multiple costumes, treats galore, and family ensembles as well!

So ... let's go!!


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First up - sending my son off.

Being a kid with an extra mom does have it's bonuses.  To be fair - the bonuses right now are mostly in favor of my son's teachers. But, there's also a little bit in it for him.  I mean, what other kid do you know that gets three Halloween costume changes each year?  (Footnote: as you can tell, I try to select "costumes" that can be multi purpose.  Clearly my son can wear the below t-shirts again any time, one hat will be his outdoor head covering for the next month or two until we hit the real MN winter, and the other hat has actually been a part of his dress up box already for over 6 months.)

Costume A: This year my son was a robot for his Friday before Halloween "school" party.  His costume consisted of a hat and shirt off Amazon, and a pair of gray sweatpants:

 

Costume B: For actual day of Halloween, my son wore a shark hat off Etsy, another shirt off Amazon, and yet again a pair of tried and true gray sweatpants:

 

Costume C ... well, more on that later.

As for the teachers - you know I try when possible to avoid candies at Halloween.  I figure since everyone ends up saturated with junk food from now through New Years, it's nice to NOT have food presented to you during this time of year.  So, when I can be creative with alternative gifts, I do.

This year, I ended up stumbling across a special deal on black sequined clutches and pumpkin headbands.  I also had a surplus of car wash coupons to the gas station nearby.  Throwing those three things all together, I think it made for a fun little gift:

Gifts in hand and shark on head, my son merrily strode into class Halloween morning.  He loves giving people presents, so he was happy ... even if the shark hat took a little convincing on my end.  #terribletwos


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Next - my costumes.

For the day at the office, I ended up taking a page from last year's play book; I defaulted to Tipsy Elves again.  Though they somewhat burned me last year on pricing and stupid customer service behavior, when I saw their pinata costume, new for 2018, I just couldn't say no.

Lucky for me, Tipsy Elves screwed up when they first listed the pinata and only put it at $65 - like all their other dresses.  With a quick "new customer" coupon code, I had that thing in my pocket with shipping included ... and then, they bumped it up to $99.  Hahaha, suckers.

After getting my dress in the mail, I spent ages trying to figure out a candy dispensing contraption to go along with my newly acquired pinata, so I could just casually drop candy as I walked around on Halloween.  But alas, I just never came up with a good concept.  In the end, I settled for a bulk bag of Fleet Farm fruit tootsies, and utilized the built in zippered pockets on the dress.

On Halloween proper, I wore the dress to work with basic black leggings and black sequined Chucks.  When anyone complemented me on my costume, I simply threw handfuls of fruit tootsies at them.  It was an oddly ... rewarding experience.

And despite getting whacked with candy, everyone just laughed and laughed.  Better yet, almost every single adult ran around like little kids scrambling to pickup the candy!!

At one point in the day, a coworker even "beat" me with a broom.  Heh.

Later that day, I came home from work and changed into my $1, 90% off 2017 Halloween clearance jacket from Target.  Yes, yes - one costume on Halloween just doesn't cut it for me. Say what you will.

Interjection - no lie - when I moved into my new house, I ended up dedicating an entire guest bedroom closet to Halloween costumes.  Ooops.

Since it was almost time for the main event, this time my son and husband got in on the game with me.  Both of them took to wearing Target's season past, family sized lion union suits (of course now that they're so old, google only yields the female version, but you get the concept).

A lion tamer their lions.  LOL!

At 6 pm on the dot, my son lead the way on his first official night of Trick-Or-Treat.  He had a blast, even if we only let him hit up about a dozen or so houses.  Honestly, though ... how much candy does a two year old really need?

Besides, we had to be home to give out our bounty, too.

Yep!  I found a resource for a 60 piece bulk purchase of miscellaneous beanie boos, and handed them out to kids who rang my bell (in addition to candy, for kids who preferred those). 

My favorite moments of handing out included a little boy choosing the blue fish shown above, running down the block screaming "I GOT A DORY!!!!!!", and this:

I cry, I die, OH MY!  How sweet is that?!

The toys seemed to be a hit with most of the kids, as is evidence to the photos shared on our neighborhood's group chat the next day:

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And ... well ... I guess that's it.  That was Halloween 2018.

Now I surf the clearance sales, start my scheming, and attempt to make 2019 equally as awesome.  Though with the beanie boos this year, I may have a hard time doing that.

Happy late fall, everybody!