Halloween

I was really hoping to do this Halloween on a budget. Not least because the girls' dress-up box is literally overflowing with taffetas and sparkles. It is Disney Princess-a-palooza, and I find it not a little entertaining that it's Lance's old toy box that now stores this raging river of pinks, purples, sequins and silks. Ha ha ha - nothing says he failed to produce that Y chromosome more than his childhood being annexed by the princess posse.

In the run-up to Halloween Anna had seen a 'Barbie A Fairy Secret' costume in one of the many junk mail catalogs that cross our path. I flat out refused to buy it because a) we already have 17 lookey-likey dresses and b) that would mean I'd have to buy something for Lucy too, and c) that's $34.99 that Chase bank were really hoping would go to them instead.

I was hoping she'd just forget about it, but when the lady at Girls Inc asked what she was going to be for Halloween Anna screamed 'I'm going to be Barbie A Fairy Secret and it's going to be SPECTACULAR!!'.

Groan.

I had to think fast.

Anna loves princesses and animals. She has been some variation of a princess for the last six Halloweens. It was time to embrace her animal side. Rather than cobble together a unicorn costume, I went with the path of least resistance. For some reason she has accumulated rather a lot of leopard-print clothes. She has a small leopard camisole and some leggings/pyjama bottoms. All I had to do was sew (badly) a long tail, use my entire eyeliner on a nose and whiskers, and jerry-rig some black ears.

Oh boy did she get in to character.

I can't get over this soft-porn pose she struck when I suggested a photo outside with her sister.  The bent wrist kills me. She loved this costume, and it being California all we had to do was add a t-shirt under the Cami for her evening trick or treating.

The costume did go a little awry for Girls Inc. Halloween happened to fall on a school holiday for Anna, so she was at Girls Inc all day. Her Dad was in charge of the costume. Apparently he ran out of time when it came to adding the whiskers/nose so by the time I picked her up her hair had escaped her pony tail, she had no face make-up, she was missing an ear and she actually looked more like Rod Stewart after a hard night in Glasgow than a leopard. Not that she cared a bit!

On the night of trick or treating itself (3 Halloween parties later....) Lucy had opted for a blue 'Cinderella' costume. Here she is channeling her inner 16 year old and giving me the 'evils'.

Photo courtesy of Jen - our host for the evening.

They had a brilliant time. Despite us losing Anna in the crush of trick-or-treaters in the biggest Halloween neighbourhood in the town. Three minutes of blind panic where both Lance and I were going 'I thought she was with you' and scanning for a leopard needle in a Halloween haystack. Fortunately she materialized a few minutes later and I got my heart rate back down from hummingbird pace. 

It was a great Halloween.