Greetings everyone. I have returned to wrap up my Halloween post even though it is now November 4th. Is anyone burned out yet? The timing on this is a little off because I am just realizing that the best time to post about Halloween costuming is while everyone is in the process of trying to configure one. I am going to have to make a bigger leap on this next year, and let this be a lesson to me: Sometimes certain blog posts are all about the timing.
So this post is dedicated to all of you stragglers out there, who are reluctantly letting Halloween go, or if you are anything like me, already laying out plans for what you will be doing next year based off all the Halloween inspo you acquired this year.
I also had the fortune of extending the spirit of Halloween because my cousin Lexi and her fiance Dago had a Day of the Dead themed wedding on Saturday. As you may have caught from her fiance’s name, this celebration was very much in line with the dates and his culture. This turned out to be a very special evening indeed because Lexi’s brother died last year on December 19th, and Lexi’s Grandmother passed away the night before her wedding. She would have wanted them both there in spirit, and I believe they were. Dago’s dearest ones were also commemorated. They even had a little paw print for Lexi’s dog Bandit.
So, what at first seemed a little eccentric, turned out to be one hundred percent appropriate, and it was all very touching. Lexi made her own wedding cake with a “godzilla” touch. Street tacos with chorizo, radishes, and cilantro were served, and every table had tortilla chips with his mother’s homemade salsa. All guests left the evening with their own cactus.
I am going to rewind to another Halloween event I had the honor of participating in with my friend Jennifer (who is practically a pirate). It was a carnival event for “the love of birds” and rescue birds. My daughter got to dress up as a bird mascot for the event, there was a magic show, and we had the honor of getting up close and personal with a few owls. Like…are these things even for real? My, what stunning creatures they are!
It seems like the carnival scene became the theme this Halloween, as we kicked off the season, with a huge Halloween bash, in which I had two particular girls in mind. These are my husband’s grand-daughters and they are so fun to party with. I let these girls go through our costume box and of course they picked flamboyant circus flair setting the tone for the whole entire season. What is Halloween without a little witch’s brew, and if you are not even getting a little excited about a little dry ice are you even living?
My daughter went to her first junior high dance and this is where my theatre skills came in handy. Now, let me tell you, a secret about costume shop. Working in a costume shop does not necessarily make one an adept seamstress. There’s a phrase we used in theatre:
“From row one, it may look undone, but from the seventh row, no one will ever know.”
To say that we used a lot of tape, safety pins, or stapled our share of hems would be an understatement. This turned out to be the case with my daughter’s circus collar this year. I have not sewed costumes in years and although I remembered the gather stitch, I went about the collar the wrong way. I cut my tulle extra long, it was a beast to work with, the layers kept falling out of line, my thread (which was extra long) kept knotting up and breaking. I ended up safety pinning my daughter’s collar to her shirt in several places, and the collar barely made it through the dance.
Thank god, my mother was on hand to guide me on the proper way to make a circus collar. There was a MUCH easier way to do it apparently.
I’ll admit there was a time in this process when I lost my sewing tomato and I almost wanted to throw in the towel, but I persevered. This did however wreck my plans to do ” a zero waste” Halloween with tulle I already had. The up side of this, is that the tulle collars I used for my daughters necks will make extra cute tutus for my husband’s granddaughters next year.
I also mentioned that I made a few hats with items that I already had, and I can honestly say, I did not have to make any new purchases to bling out their hats. The striped shirts and skirts were articles of clothing my daughters already owned. I even attempted a lion mane for myself and was going to paint my husband’s face like Rafiki. I did this for my daughter in a community play once, but for some reason the lion’s mane looked ridiculous on a grown woman my age, but my daughter’s boyfriend, Lucas wore it like a champ.
I was also touched, that my daughter who does not live on the mainland of America, still participated in our family themed Halloween from across the sea, and may I also add that I have the cutest grand dog ever?
Anyway, this is my wrap up on our Halloween and it really has been an eventful fun filled season for my family. I hope that a few of you were able to derive some entertainment value from any of this. I have been fortunate to have one of my earliest blog followers nominate me for a blogging award and I find this to be extra endearing because Mae has been with me on this journey from the very beginning. I will talk more about this on my next post, and am grateful for the writing prompt where I will be answering a few questions. If per chance, any other readers out there have any random questions they would like throw my way, feel welcome to include them below, and I will do my best to provide any answers in my next post.
Okay blog reading folk..NOW I am able to embrace November. Deep breath… November. We shall see what November brings, and with any luck I will be able to do some black Friday fishing. A tradition my husband and I started years ago (fingers crossed and the weather holding). Until next post!
Rachelle Whiting
The Obstinate Fig 