happy halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year! As our babies get older they become more involved and excited with each coming holiday. This year Kensi really wanted to be Rapunzel and we spun it to a princess and went with a fairytale theme. Our costumes consisted of a princess, dragon, unicorn, knight and queen.

We hosted a costume party over the weekend and had too much fun. We set up fun for the kids including a pumpkin decorating table, a friendly ghost piñata and movies in the backyard using a projector. The kids had a blast, especially watching their favorite Halloween flicks on the back of the house with individual bags of popcorn and caramel apples! I did a terrible job getting photos of everything, including the setup and due to our lack of lighting in the backyard [which Mike and I both vow to install this new year] Once the party started the sun was nearly down and took away any hope of light.

All of our costumes were semi-homemade and I couldn't be happier with the way each turned out. Unfortunately, we only got one photo as a family and it’s terrible! Aside from the awful lighting, I was telling everyone to hurry and smile because we had trick-or-treaters coming to the door, Olivia exhausted herself from crying, Kensi blinked, Finn didn’t want to wear any part of his costume and Mike’s costume is literally falling off as he was trying to wrangle our dragon. This poor picture didn’t do any of the costumes justice, but that’s real life and regardless of this imperfect photo, the kids had so much fun. This was Finn’s first year trick-or-treating and once he figured out he was getting candy as long as he kept the majority of his costume on, he was good!

Princess 

This dress is actually pretty special because Kensi helped design it. We did use a pattern, but with a little help of color guiding she picked out her fabric and I put it together. It’s a little rough and we made a few alterations along the way, but she adores it and that’s all that matters. 

// dress-handmade // crown //

Dragon

Finn's costume was easy to create since everything was its own separate piece, which allowed him to wear what he wanted or didn’t want throughout the night without being too hot. 

// black shirt + pants // dragon wings tutorial // dragon tail tutorial // dragon mask tutorial //

Knight

Mike does a great job of going with whatever crazy plan I come up with and I always try to keep his costume ridiculously simple. He wore a basic gray long sleeve shirt and pants. I made his armor from two cardboard t-shirt boards found in the craft department. I used spray paint and a permanent marker to create the armor details and attached them with straps over the shoulder. We both dropped the ball on making a helmet which would have really helped his costume, but oh well. 

// armor - handmade // sword + shield //

Queen 

To make my queen costume, I started with a black skirt and t-shirt. This allowed me to be comfortable and protected me from the itchy tulle. The main piece of my costume is a 15 layered cape-like dress that tied around the neck and secured with a ribbon at the waist. It was so dramatic and flowy! 

// black skirt // tulle dress tutorial // 

Unicorn 

Lastly, we have Olivia who was our little unicorn. Since she is so little her costume pretty much consisted of this amazing + crazy adorable unicorn crown. I'm a maker, but I'm in awe of the details  Elliot Everlasting put into this piece. It is definitely something I will treasure for our sweet girl. 

// tutu dress // unicorn crown // 

Well, there you have it! This year's Halloween has officially come and gone and we had a blast celebrating all month long. It’s pretty great being able to make such special memories with our babes as these years go by all too quick and this season of life will be over sooner than we would like.
Our costumes will now make their way to our dress up bin for the kids to play in for hours! We crammed a lot of activities in the past week and as much fun as it was I’m excited to enjoy this week of peace and calm....that is until next next week when I begin planning Thanksgiving! It’s really never ending.