Halloween hootenanny

Recently I subscribed to Today’s Parent magazine, which fulfills my desire to get fun mail in an inexpensive way while providing reading material and education all at once (phew!) Recently, TP published an article, consisting of photos and essays, about 20 milestones of parenting from birth to adulthood: The Diaper, The [Little League] Game, The Crush, The Car, and so on. One of the milestones it listed, consisting of a single photo of a little girl dressed up like a princess, was The Trick-or-Treat.

I am really looking forward to Halloween this year. It’s the first real little-kid holiday since Liam has been here, and I want to do it up. A couple of years ago, I remember being at Cory and Megan’s house around Halloween. They had the place completely decked out. Evelyn and Audrey’s paper ghosts and pumpkins were taped to the windows, there was a holiday wreath on the door, that sort of thing. I remember saying to Chad that I thought any house with kids should absolutely go over the top decorating for the holidays. He wasn’t so sure (being much more of a minimalist than I am), but my opinion hasn’t changed.

Now I have become the person I never used to be able to stand. (Which seems to be a recurring theme for me this year.) It used to drive me crazy when the stores came out with their holiday lines months in advance. Who wants Halloween decorations in August? Well, as it turns out, I do. I have already bought a big glittery pumpkin centrepiece and two statues (for lack of a better word) as well. They are all funky and fun and the perfect touch for the dining room or the coffee table or anywhere else.

I am also thinking along the lines of Halloween costumes, which Chad and I have really gotten into from time to time in the past – when we’ve had a party to attend, or a thing at work. This being Liam’s first Halloween, he’s obviously too young for The Trick-or-Treat, but I definitely plan to dress him up. The other day I went to the store to look at sewing patterns for Tom Arma costumes. I have no idea who this guy is, but his stuff is reminiscent of Anne Geddes. There’s a really cute line of animal costumes he does for babies – a monkey, an elephant, a lion, a skunk, a panda… this all sounded like a good idea (the lion especially) until I saw the pattern – (a) it did not get an ‘easy’ sewing rating – and I’ve never sewed with fake fur or even set a zipper and (b) the lion’s mane, while beautiful, is made of 35 yards of each of four colours of ribbon – and the thought alone of buying that much ribbon is staggering (can you say $$$$$$?)

I’m still looking for Halloween costume ideas. I hear that the 2004 edition of Martha Stewart Halloween magazine has baby costume ideas in it, so I might need to log onto eBay to see if I can’t find a back issue for sale. I am still looking for decorations for around the house. And I’m not limiting those to Halloween decorations; I want things to decorate with all year long. Just a couple of weeks ago I found a gorgeous wreath for the front door that’s got blue eggs (think robin) on it. I picked it up even though to me it screams spring - now we have a great wreath for spring, in addition to our winter wreath, and I am on the prowl for two wreaths for the other six months of the year. I would like to get a few pieces of holiday dishware. I would love for Liam (once he’s old enough to ‘get it’) to eat his cereal out of a special little Christmas bowl during the month of December – how much fun would that be? I want him to grow up with something always going on at our house, something that marks the changing seasons and makes the everyday just a little bit more fun.