It has been an incredibly busy week for me with Halloween preparation and festivities. We had a Halloween party at playgroup on Tuesday for that I prepared treat-filled pumpkins and a Halloween wall hanging craft for. On Wednesday I carved our pumpkin and we were out and about almost all day on actual Halloween.
Camden was a Ninja Turtle for Halloween. I looked everywhere to buy a costume, but the toddler sized one seemed to be out of stock everywhere I found it in-store or online. Luckily, I had ordered this awesome Michelangelo hoodie from Mamabargains.com earlier in the summer and it ended up being his costume. To complete the look, I found a pair of green pants I safety pinned orange bands to (cut from a dollarstore tea towel!) and I repurposed the shell from a 6-12m sized turtle costume into his ninja shell by pinning it to one of his old mini backpacks and adding on toy nunchuks. The turtle treat bucket and turtle socks were Target find’s.
My original plan for Keira was to make my little Doll into a cabbage patch, but that was quickly abandoned after several tantrums just attempting to try the yarn wig on her. I had some returns to make to Old Navy late last week and just happened to notice their costumes were marked 50% off so I decided it was probably easier to pick up a costume for her. The leopard wasn’t my original plan, but it still turned out pretty cute!
Last year I carved a Spiderman pumpkin to match Camden’s Spiderman costume so it only made sense to make a Ninja Turtle this year. I started with a pumpkin from my mom’s garden and spray painted it green. I then carved out the turtle mask, eyes and mouth. It was a lot of scraping and cutting but the final result was worth it.
And the treats we handed out? Ninja Turtle candy, of course!
Camden’s weekly preschool class fell on Halloween so he got to wear his costume and spend the morning playing Halloween games, trick or treating around the recreation centre and creating a Halloween craft. The morning started off very well when we got to class and Camden discovered one of his little buddies was Raphael – I think the two of them ended up being inseparable for the morning because of their shared love of Ninja Turtles.
While Camden was in class, Keira and I made a quick run to Walmart to get her a treat bucket and then went back to the rec centre to play at the indoor playground. We also stopped for mom to enjoy a treat – a pumpkin spice latte.
After lunch and an unsuccessful attempt at a nap, the kids and I headed out to enjoy the Halloween festivities at one of the local malls – Bonnie Doon Centre. It was a little out of the way for us, but I am so glad I chose this mall over the closer one we went to last year. It was far less crowded and they had trick-or-treating as well as all kinds of kids friendly activities including crafts. bouncy castles, face painting, balloon animals and a petting zoo. We will definitely be going back next year if they offer the same event.
After the mall, we came home to have dinner with daddy (pizza for our little turtle) and then Camden and I headed out trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood. We didn’t go far, but his turtle pail filled up quickly and we now have more then enough candy and chips for the next several months!
And not to be left out of the fun, our hockey hound wore her Edmonton Oiler’s Jersey and Rumbull dressed up as the Rufferee. I know some people find it ridiculous to dress up dogs, but I have always done it and enjoy it. There is also something about a dog in costume that makes them look far less intimidating to the trick-or-treaters coming to our door!
So there you have Halloween 2013 with the Doll’s. It was a busy day, but well worth it to see the smiles on my kids faces. As we were walking home from trick-or-treating, my little guy kissed my hand and told me what a nice mom I was. I am so lucky I get to make these memories with them!
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