Lesson #19 "You're Never Too Old for Halloween!"

Fall continues to be my favorite season. And Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays.  Growing up I can remember planning my costumes months in advance, sometimes making them but often buying them, and going through stages of cute to scary to everything in between.  Some of the more memorable costumes included the time that Jenny Deitz and I made giant dice out of cardboard boxes and "rolled" up to our neighbors doors that night.  Unfortunately, we underestimated the size of our neighbors doorsteps, and didn't quite fit side by side.  Kind of defeated the purpose of a joint costume, but it was still fun. 

As I continued on in elementary school,  I went through a phase of "retro" costumes: sock hop poodle skirts, hippy bell bottoms and peace signs, disco polyester and glitter and so on.  Those were fun times.  But something happens in 7th and 8th grade-the neighbors that used to look at you with a welcoming "hi... what a great costume" suddenly scowl and ask, "aren't you a little old to trick or treat?"  So, needless to say, I took a break for a few years.

But then, in college, the costume party genre began and my dress up obsession fueled up again.  All costumes had to have a wig- that was key.  And then cool make up.  Some costumes, I'll be honest, were sexy.  That was when I was single.  When I had a boyfriend they tended to be silly.  Silly is more fun when you have someone to be silly with, I guess.

Years later, and now I get to experience Halloween through my son's eyes.  And Liam celebrated his first Halloween in an udderly monstrous fashion!

A couple of posts ago I put up a picture of him at Writers Walk in his cow costume. That was his outfit for Halloween but a couple of days earlier there was a Safe Trick or Treating event at school and because I am weird, I didn't want him wearing the cow back to SM West. I mean it had been seen and well photographed at school already, so I decided to mix it up.  Liam put on the cute Frankenstein's Monster T-shirt that Melinda Green Roumas gave him from her store, Mady and Me.  Then, the Margherios joined us for a crazy crowded time at West, but we all had fun.  They came to our house first and Liam decided that he would get into character and become a little Monster... he began crying for no apparent reason.

The boys didn't really know how to react to the little Monster's outburst.  Check out Dominic's face.



But after Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train calmed the little guy down, we headed off to West.  Mimi, Papa, Jenny, Shannon and Michael all joined in the fun.  There was candy, face painting, cookie decorating, costume admiring, and of course, scary, spidery decorations!

A few nights later on the actual Halloween holiday, we busted out the cow outfit again to go trick or treating in the Village (Prairie Village shops for those of you out-of-towners).  A couple of observations about taking an 8 month old trick or treating...

1.  Pick a costume that looks cute in a sitting position, because the costumes that need to be "vertical" don't really work yet.  The cow was a good choice for this one, but I saw many little ones in costumes that looked kind of strange because you couldn't see the legs.  I'm just sayin'. 

2.  Costumes that provide warmth are a good thing.  Unfortunately, I could only see a peek-a-boo tail here and there under fleece jackets on some of the kiddos. 

3.  If you choose a cute little cow outfit for your son (like we did), understand that many people will assume that he is a girl seeing how the eyelashes are pink. Also, let's face it, unless we totally dress him all masculine-like, the kid looks like a little girl anyway with those big blue eyes.  He is always mistaken for a girl... I say, own it.  Repeat after me Liam, "I'm pretty and I like it!" 

4. Because he can't eat candy yet, make sure to bring along sweet-toothed grandparents like Mimi and Papa so they can follow him and take the candy :).

After the Village, we headed to Ryan's receptionist, Jan's house.  She lives very nearby and is IN LOVE with little Liam and he loves her right back.  He had a wonderful time, especially when she gave him a funny wooden frog with long arms and legs to play with, and showed him her very large dog "Buddy" who makes Lola look as tiny as a bug.

Liam's first frog legs.

Finally, to wrap up a wonderful evening, Anita arrived at our house with balloons!  Liam and Anita played with them for a long time, giggling and really laughing out loud at times.  It was so adorable.

Liam's first Halloween was everything it should be- fun, costumed, and best of all- shared with friends and family!  And I had as much fun (or more) than he did, proving that you're never too old for Halloween!  Lesson well learned.