This was a really strange year for us…. no kiddos to take Trick-or-Treating! I didn’t see THAT coming- after all our kids are 9, 11 and 15.
But first- exciting news!! The kids were FINALLY allowed to dress up for Halloween!! I’ve posted rants several years now about the school policy….it’s ridiculous. If you click on the image below you can follow along and be outraged with me!
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Anyway- I was so excited that FINALLY the kids can wear actual COSTUMES! Sadly, Riley chose not to dress up. Brooke wanted to wear a costume but I wouldn’t let her wear her official Halloween costume because I was afraid it would get wrecked. I was trying to think of something ‘school friendly’ because I don’t want to be the parent that ruins this for future years (no zombies or politically offensive costumes, you know).
I remembered that we had a Norwegian Bunad hanging in our pantry…and I really really hoped it would still fit her. The last time it was worn, was by Riley when she was about 6 years old. Brooke is smaller than Riley, so I crossed my fingers as she put it on. It fit! BARELY. It was so tight I was afraid it might not make it through the school day, but decided this was the last chance for anyone to wear it. She loved it!
Of course I sent this picture to my Norwegian relatives to show them- they loved that she wore it to school.
OH, and Jim dressed up for work- as an Old West Saloon bartender… I love it!
They wanted to do a picture together:
I commented that it looked like he’d kidnapped a little Norwegian girl visiting his small Western town- lol!
Fast forward to after school….
Brooke was invited to a Halloween party- so she was out the door by 5:20….dressed as a vintage princess.
Some commented that she looked very “Breakfast at Tiffany’s Audrey Hepbern-ish”. I would agree.
Riley was going to go trick-or-treating with some friends- so they came to pick her up around 5:40. She was dressed as an Olive Garden server.
She wanted to replicate Trevor’s Benihana costume from a few years prior, but we didn’t have that apron (had borrowed it) and I didn’t have enough time to get it from my friend.
I think her last-minute Olive Garden costume worked out well. And of course she was hamming it up for the camera.
Trevor had gone to a friend’s house after school with the intent of hanging out, then going to the football game, then going to another friend’s house to stay the night. His plans were thwarted by a hefty rain storm, so he ended up just going to the latter friend’s house to stay the night. No trick-or-treating.
Jim and I stayed home. No costume for either of us. The only thing I did was put some fuschia in my hair…which ended up clashing with my orange sweater. My bad.
I had purchased three bags of candy (small bags) and took the time to assemble “packs” to hand out- each baggie had a candy bar, a Halloween pencil or silly band and my daycare business card attached to it. I made up about 18 baggies.
The doorbell rang- 2 trick-or-treaters.
The doorbell rang- 1 trick-or-treater.
The doorbell rang- 3 trick-or-treaters.
The doorbell rang- FORTY trick-or-treaters. OK, maybe it was more like 30 kids. I don’t know. All I know is I opened the door to a herd of kidlets- many of whom I knew, so I didn’t want to hand out my business packets….so I told them to wait and I grabbed the two bags of candy that I hadn’t opened yet- and handed that out- and when that was all gone (yes, in a single ding-dong-doorbell) I started handing out silly band bracelets. They had cleaned me out! Except for the 12 remaining baggies.
See, our neighbor’s have a Halloween party every year. In years past it was usually 10-20 kidlets. This year I hollered out to her as I was swarmed and she said there was probably 30-40 kids. That they had an RSVP of about 50. O.M.G.
I told her next year she needs to give me the head’s up so I can buy enough goodies for her crowd!!!
The doorbell never rang again. I still had my 12 goodie bags the next morning.
Anyway, I picked up Brooke from her party at 8pm and she was so disappointed that they didn’t go Trick-or-Treating. Devastated like any 9-year old girl I suppose. When we got home, I told her I’d take her around our neighborhood. It was about 8:15pm, so not too late.
As we started our journey, Riley was being dropped off by her friend, so they joined us.
The kids fared well- we hit up two neighboring cul-de-sacs and most of the people said they expected the girls to be the final trick-or-treaters so they told them to take as much as they want. The girls were happy with their loot.
Riley was especially happy because trick-or-treating the Deline neighborhood resulted in cans of soda, full size candy bars, rice krispie treats and other ‘quality’ goodies. So next year it looks like we’ll give that a shot. Brooke says if given the choice between going to a Halloween party or going Trick-or-Treating….she’ll totally choose the Trick-or-Treating next time!
Oh- and the best part (for the kids)….since Brooke and Riley both made costumes using things we had on-hand…..each girl received $20! We have a Halloween policy that we will either buy the kids whatever costume they want… or if they create something using what we have on-hand, they will get $20 instead. Seeing as how most Halloween Costumes run about $30-$50, we come out ahead this way.
Elisa's Ramblings 