Halloween Decorations: Windows Edition

In 2011 my family moved to a new house.  It was our first big move as a family, and days afterwards my baby had his first birthday.  It was a tumultuous time with a new job, new house, unpacking, no nearby family or friends.   It took a couple of months to unpack and by the time I did, I had a hefty supply of large cardboard boxes taking up an entire room of my house and the calendar had just ticked over to October.  Instead of getting rid of the boxes, I decided to recycle them into Halloween Decor.  All it took was some black paint, tissue paper, and a trusty box cutter.  My new house was uniquely suited to monster silhouettes because of all of the windows in the front.  I made a different one for each window, and taped them in place with duct tape.  

A friend of mine shared the photo and moving box story with this website I hadn't heard of at the time -- "Reddit".  And from there it went a little bit viral.  Every year since I've seen it re-shared and re-posted across the interwebs.

Unfortunately cardboard moving boxes don't hold up over time.  We only lived in that house for 2 years.   When we moved we didn't take the old cardboard decorations with us.  In our new home, I decided to re-create the experiment but in a more permanently reusable medium: Wood.

Now set-up each year is easy and our home immediately becomes a Monster Sanctuary each Halloween season.  Take-down is also easy, and they store away flat! 

Featured Pattern: Yoda hat

Photo by Danielle Foster Creations: https://www.facebook.com/DanielleFosterCreations/
Hat made by me!
[Free] Pattern for the hat: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-yoda-hat

This went well!  I enjoyed making this hat for this little new one.   It would be the perfect addition to a cute little onesie for a newborn's first Halloween! 

Halloween Costumes!

Since my children were born, I have done a new Halloween Costume every year and most have been handmade.  There have been rules and guidelines for these costumes that I follow.  1) They must be Cold-weather friendly.  2)They must match when I have more than one child.  3) I prefer book-related costumes.  This year they are finally making individual requests (She wants to be a Pink Cat,  He wants to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are - (Revisited, as you'll see below), Sigh), and I will no longer get to choose.  So to celebrate 8 years of Halloween Costumes done my way, I would like to share those costumes with you!

Year 1: Astronaut [Bonus costume!  First Ever!]

Hand-assembled... Yes, I put my precious baby's head on a plate in service of looking like an astronaut.  I stand by my actions.

Teddy Bear [Official Halloween]

Store bought, hand-altered.

Year 2: Monster [Official Halloween]

Hand made all the way!  ... Mostly by my mom.  Though I did  do the adult hoodie decorations myself.

Year 3: Max, Where the Wild Things Are [Official Halloween]

I store bought the one-piece pajamas.  I hand-made all the detail (added the feet/paws, buttons, ears and tail.  Made the crown with fur edging)

Skeletons [BONUS Costume! aka My Daughter's first costume!]

Pajamas with skeletons from Carters, Shirt for me with Skeletons from Etsy

Year 4:  The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Beautiful Butterfly [Official Halloween]

The Hungry Caterpillar handmade from fleece as a slip on costume (sandwich board style) over top green pajamas.

The Very Beautiful Butterfly with a store bought Orange sweatshirt and handmade butterfly wings from fleece.

Year 5:  Sorcerer's Apprentice & Minnie Mouse [Official Halloween]

Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey was cheapy knit winter gloves and a golden rope I found at a craft thrift store.  My Mom made the hat, I added the ears.  I sewed the red robes!

Minnie Mouse was a machine stitched Red white-polka-dot dress from a pattern on Etsy with lots of petticoat material and lace underneath, over a black long sleeved t-shirt and leggings.  I made the ears from felt and bows attached to hair clips!

Bonus Costume!  I was particularly ambitious this year and made homemade costumes for the Renaissance Fair for both kids! 
Flynn Rider utilized leggings, a white button down shirt, this free pattern for boot covers using microsuede material, and a Flynn Rider vest of my own making!

Renaissance Fair princess was made using the same pattern as the Minnie Mouse dress, just with some alterations for the over-lay!

Year 6: The Cat in the Hat and Fox in Socks [Official Halloween]

Both costumes used store-bought solid-color one-piece pajamas.  The fox in socks used 2 pairs of blue soccer socks, and handmade ears and tail.  The Cat in the Hat costume used a store-bought hat and gloves and handmade belly and tie.

Year 7: Superman and Wonder Woman [Official Halloween]

Superman was store bought 100%.  Wonder Woman was partially store bought, and partially handmade.  I added glow in the dark stars, I altered store bought accessories to fit her. 

Year 8: Peter Pan and Winter Tinkerbell [Official Halloween]

Peter Pan was store bought.  Tinkerbell was almost all handmade!  I bought a hair-bun, as we had cut her hair short, and I bought green boot covers.  I found light-up fairy wings at a yard sale.  The Dress was made from an adult sweatshirt, and extra large pipe cleaners.  Brown accents are lengths of elastic!