Halloween 2015 and a Time Warp

Once upon a time, Halloween was a simple affair. Perhaps it was because I only had one child at the time. Maybe it was because I was not yet confident in my sewing and creativity skills. Whatever it was, Halloween once looked like this:

Akiko's first Halloween - 2005

And then this:

Halloween 2006 - Minnie Mouse

Then for a Relief Society activity, we made poodle skirts and I ended up with just enough fabric to make Akiko one, too. That was the first year her Halloween costume had been planned well in advance. The skirt was made in March of that year.

Halloween 2007 - Sock hoppers. Matching costumes with Grandma Sachiko

She liked that costume so much, she wore it again. But this time, she was a "pink pirate." Moses had joined our family by then:

Halloween 2008 - The "Pink Pirate"

Moses the Not-So-Big Not-So-Bad Wolf.

Also the first year I coordinated some costumes.

The next year, we moved to California two weeks before Halloween. I was so stressed out about moving that I had decided to wait until we got to our new house and then just purchase some costumes once we got there. As I began shopping for costumes amidst all the moving chaos, I quickly became disappointed. The costumes were either horrendously expensive, or affordable and crappy low quality. Akiko was also old enough to have a very specific costume in mind. I'm still not sure how it happened, but I managed to pull together something, finishing them within hours of the ward trunk-or-treat party.

Halloween 2009 - The Snow Princess. Obviously pre-Frozen. 

Moses the Mummy.
This costume has since been worn by all our boys.
Hyrum will wear it again in two years.

And that, my friends, marked the beginning of my homemade Halloween costume insanity (though one could argue that it began the year I dressed as Chun-Li from Street Fighter II way back in 2001 - best costume ever).

Since then, I have been pretty adamant about making the kids' costumes. Sometimes they've been easy to put together. Other times they've been more difficult. Most of them since have blog posts, but here's a recap:

Halloween 2010 - Akiko the Black Kitty

Asher the Mouse

Moses as Anpanman - One of my favorite costumes.

The next year after that:

Halloween 2011 - Reused costumes are the best. I only had to make Little Red's riding hood.

And the year after that:

Halloween 2012 - Tombo and Kiki. Another of my favorite costumes.

Asher as the Mummy.

Simon making his debut as the Mouse.

We moved right after Halloween that year, and the blog, unfortunately got put on the back burner shortly after that. Here are the costumes you missed:

Halloween 2013 - The Incredibles.

Asher also had an Incredibles costume, but refused to wear it. He was traumatized about being a "scary monster" from the year before, he wanted nothing to do with Halloween and was genuinely freaked out about the whole affair. He stayed home with Joseph and passed out candy while I took the rest of crew to gather goodies. These costumes were a huge pain to put together. Finding long sleeve shirts and leggings in everyone's size and making sure the shade of red matched was nearly impossible. I honestly thought this was going to be a simple costume to put together, but it was not the case at all.

The next year was much more simplified:

Halloween 2014 - Asher as Fancypants

Moses the Orange Kitty

Akiko the Black Kitty, again

Simon making his debut as the Mummy

Asher's costume was so obscure, nobody knew who he was. They all called him a pirate. He would get irate with them and tell them, "I'm Fancypants!" Besides us, there was only one other person who recognized him, a missionary serving in our ward. But Asher knew who he was and that's all that mattered.

Moses' costume is an homage to his favorite YouTuber, Stampy, who plays Minecraft with his friends and posts videos of himself playing Minecraft with his friends.

Thankfully, Akiko and Simon were just using old costumes, so I only had two sewing projects: the fancy pants and the orange cat.

And, hey, with that, we're all caught up to this year:

Halloween 2015 - Asher the Blue Ninja

Moses as Harry Potter

Akiko as Luna Lovegood

Simon as Anpanman

Hyrum the Pumpkin

When I found out we were pregnant at the beginning of the year and realized I would be due within a month of Halloween, I told the kids almost immediately that they needed to think about what they wanted to be. In early March, I asked for their costumes and told them they were not allowed to change their minds. I thought I was doing myself a favor, but it ended up being somewhat of a disservice.

Over the next several months, I put together a list of all the things I'd need to gather, researched, started pricing things out, and planning what to do and when. I happened to go into the fabric store on a day when sewing patterns were on sale for $2 per pattern, so I snagged Asher's costume pattern immediately. That was fortuitous.

Unfortunately, because of the worst first trimester ever and the nearly debilitating anemia, my planning wasn't able to be put into action the way I'd hoped. I also had a three week long road trip that went through five states to plan and execute in the middle of summer (which I promise will be blogged about soon). Most of the costumes didn't get put together until after school started. I do not recommend commencing a sewing project when you're eight and a half months pregnant.

I'm very pleased with Asher's ninja costume, even though it took everything out of me to put together. Hyrum's costume was easy enough. I was able to work on that while Joseph and I watched Netflix in the evenings. Those two costumes were finished before the baby came. With Hyrum's costume, I thought I'd have a much smaller one month old baby to fit into a knitted sleep sack. He was too big for it the moment he was born. But knit fabric is stretchy and he only has to wear it a couple times, so we squeeze him into it anyway.

With the Potter costumes, I really just needed to sew a couple simple robes and gather accessories. I wasn't able to get to cutting and sewing the robes before the baby, and because of the c-section, I wasn't able to cut the robes myself, but our sweet missionaries came by and helped me measure and cut out the fabric. I'm not particularly happy with the end results, but it's because of the pattern and instructions I found and followed that are at fault. I know what to do to fix them, but I didn't have any more time (or fabric). Besides, the result I ended up with still gave the general idea of what we needed, so I'll live with it.

Simon was originally slated to be Elmer Fudd. I even went as far as purchasing the fabric I needed. However, with no pattern to work off of, little time, no energy, and no desire to try to track down a rifle, Elmer Fudd got scrapped and Anpanman was pulled out of retirement.

Simon is thrilled. He wouldn't have known Elmer Fudd anyway. He's not particularly familiar with Anpanman either, but we do have some toys that I brought back from Japan a few years ago that are super popular with our kids. For a few months lately, Simon has been asking us to tie blankets around his neck and then he runs around the house yelling, "I Super Simon, the hero!" So, when I pulled out all the accessories for the costume which, for the last five years, have been used as pajamas, getting him into costume and character was an easy sell.

I really should have kept things more simple this year, but you live and you learn. Five kids to get ready for Halloween is no easy task, but it is something I enjoy doing and I do know my kids appreciate the effort. It will be nice someday when they start doing their own costumes, but I know I'll miss all this craziness, too.