Now, as I was saying:
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I had visions of grandeur when it came to Halloween with my newly-turned-1-year-old. I pictured a caravan of her neighborhood buddies (also recently-turned-1-year-old's) going from house to house saying 'wick or tweet' or whatever other sounds they could come up with to get their point across. We agreed to meet at our house for pictures and decided that we'd go up the main road towards my mother-in-law's - about four blocks.
Here's what really happened.
It was chillier than we'd expected, so quick costume modifications were needed. My little giraffe donned a cape. So she ended up looking like either a race-giraffe (do they do anything competitively?) or The Giraffe who ate Little Miss Riding Hood. Either way, it was cute, and nobody cared.
There are no perfectly posed pictures because it was much like herding cats getting them to look at any camera all at once. Baby B didn't really understand what Trick-or-Treating meant and was pretty gun shy about walking up to a stranger's door with her little hand stitched sack. So we tried over and over and over and OVER again until finally we reached Grammie's house. Instead of taking candy from people, my Giraffe tried to share or trade her candy away.
I'd say that for a first (well technically 2nd Halloween) she did pretty well. There was no crying or melt downs and she started to understand what was happening as we walked back to our house.
Lessons Learned
- Go out early. Big kids are ruthless, mean even. Toddlers aren't candy-hoarding monsters yet.
- Take lots of pictures. You can use them as blackmail later or in a wedding montage - is there really a difference?
- Choose a costume appropriate for the weather, your child's temperament and ease of movement. Baby B's costume was a full jumper with long sleeves and full pants which made it perfect for a Fall day in Chicago.
So what am I going to do with her this year? I've sewn her a Princess Jasmine inspired romper to wear as her costume. I started with instructions from Make It Love It and made some modifications such as using ribbon instead of casing elastic for the sleeves and wider elastic at the cuffs along with a wider flare to make the bottoms look more like harem pants. I have some finishing to do and modifications to make since I made my own pattern and didn't really measure her waist. It's my first attempt, so we'll see how it goes. The romper was easy enough...the bias tape out of satiny costume fabric....not so much. Next up is attaching a tulle 1/2 skirt and some bedazzling to finish. Ideas welcome.
