* I know this was posted in January… It’s been sitting in my drafts for months and I finally finished it!*
35 years ago, on October 31st 1981, Lily and James Potter were murdered by Lord Voldemort in Godric’s Hollow. Voldemort was defeated after he attempts to kill Harry and his curse rebounds. Harry miraculously survives with just a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and is henceforth known as “the boy who lived.”
October 31st is also Halloween!!
I love Halloween, especially the decorations. I don’t own many, but I love admiring them in stores and on Pinterest.
I saw a decoration on Pinterest of two crows holding up a Halloween banner. I liked the simplicity of it, plus I like crows. When I stopped at Michael’s the other day, they had Halloween decorations at 60% off so I grabbed two crows. I also picked up a wooden craft banner I’d seen. You’re supposed to paint it, but I really like it plain! Unfortunately, the set I purchased is missing the “O”! Oh, well! I decided to make my own out of some leftover felt from Greg’s costume. I made a little jack-o-lantern!
I also saw a few pins from people who had cut out bats from black construction paper and stuck them all over their walls. That seemed easy/cheap/cute so I made a few of those. It was fun and I like how it turned out!
Greg had an empty bottle of spiced rum that I thought could be used for something neat. I tried my hand at this craft by looking at the picture. I free-handed a spider web design using hot glue and painted over it with acrylic paint. I added two bunches of black fake flowers from Michael’s and there you go!
Greg’s coworker was hosting a Halloween party, so Greg and I decided we should make costumes this year. It was nice to have a reason to make a costume, because they are so fun to make! I wanted to be Rey for Halloween as soon as I saw “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” last year. She’s such an awesome character, plus her costume was easy enough! I already had brown boots that were similar to hers, I had a pair of white capris and a white shirt to use as the base of her outfit, and Greg had two belts I could layer. That just left the beige fabric overlay. We didn’t know of any fabric stores nearby, so we decided to try target to see what we could use. Greg is always on a mission when we enter a store, so he was heading straight to the back of the store to find some sheets to use. But I like to look at that little $1, $2, $3 section Target has in the front because sometimes they have really cute stuff in there! We stumbled upon some beige, burlap-y, Thanksgiving table runners that were perfect for my Rey costume! They were $3 so we bought 5: 2 to lay across each shoulder and then one to cut in half lengthwise and wrap the pieces around my arms. As we were admiring our find, I glanced past Greg at the rest of the display and saw a bin filled with “star swords” aka off-brand light sabers!! What luck! We picked up a blue one for $3 and my costume was all set! I sewed together 2 sets of the table runners and then assembled it together. I had already tried doing my hair like hers last year after I saw the movie, so I knew it would work with my hair. It all came together so nicely!
We decided that Greg would be BB8, another Star Wars character. Our design included a white shirt, a white beanie, and something to make orange, black, and grey designs. Greg used an old shirt and found a hat at Wal-Mart. He picked up some felt pieces and fabric glue at Michael’s and set about cutting the signature shapes of the droid’s design. It turned out perfect; just as I imagined it!
The force is strong at our house!
A few years ago, I started my own tradition of carving pumpkins while watching “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “The Addams Family”. We decided to buy a copy of “Nightmare” this year because it’s no longer available on Netflix. I wish they had all of the Addams Family movies on Netflix, but I was relieved to see they still had the first one on there. The jokes in that movie make me laugh every time.
I didn’t print out a pumpkin design to follow this year. Instead, I just free-handed a violin design! It didn’t turn out amazing, but I think it still looks cool. The pumpkins we got were super thick and kind of ridgy, which made carving difficult, but no excuses!
We had about 7 or 8 groups of trick-or-treaters visit our house this year, which was the most we’ve ever had! Last year, we only had two groups. Kids were already running around the apartment property while I was still walking home from work at 5:30! As soon as I got home I made sure our door hanger was displayed so kids knew to come to our house. Greg and I dressed up again and Greg was in charge of answering the door. A few kids recognized him as BB8, especially a girl dressed as Rey! She said, “Hey, I know you! You’re my buddy!” Greg didn’t know her and forgot he was wearing a costume so he was confused. Once she pointed out that she was Rey he figured it out. So cute. We watched “The Nightmare Before Christmas” again and also Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. That’s a pretty Halloween-y movie, in my opinion.
A few of Greg’s coworkers dressed up at his work and they held a costume contest. Greg dressed up as the equipment they are building and he won first place! He gets bonus points for working the whole day while wearing the entire outfit!
All in all, a great Halloween! I will probably keep these Halloween decorations up year-round. I just think Halloween decorations can be so pretty!
Thanks for reading!
-Rebecca
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