life with girls: Halloween

Our second annual Halloween Masquerade was Saturday night and we had a blast! It was a lot of work but the girls and I really got into the decorating this year and now that it is over we just want to share all the details:

The Costumes

We actually got a photo of all of us together this year! Daisy made the coolest skirt from tulle netting, using a pattern we found on Etsy. She added a cute hat and a pair of fishnet tights and had a really cool costume! Hazel came up with her alien costume idea with her 2 best friends, and I made her dress to her specifications. She painted polka dots on her tights and added a wig, glasses, and antennae to complete her look. I couldn't locate my camera when we had the 3 aliens together, so I'll have to snag that photo from Sarah when she gets it uploaded, because they looked GREAT together! Stella wanted to be a Native American and I was able to sew her costume very quickly from one of the easy patterns they put out for Halloween costumes. She had a great pair of hand-me-down boots to complete her look (thanks, Hubbards!!) Jason was sporting the thrifted scrubs we picked up at the Goodwill and looked great as a nurse. The hair net that I had kept from my only hospital birth was the perfect accessory to complete his outfit too! Lyle has had a fascination with Super Why lately, and he was so thrilled that I was able to come up with a costume for him. I got the green shirt and pants on clearance at Target and then added the logo and cape and mask for his transformation into Super Why. He looked so cute! Lastly, I was very excited to find a formal gown at the Goodwill that fit me perfectly, and had a lot of fun wearing it since I never EVER dress like that! I added some pale makeup, gigantic false eyelashes, and a spider web shawl to make it a little bit creepy.

And just look at the fabulous costumes our guests came up with!

The Pumpkins

Daisy did everything for hers this year- the cutting and all, and made our first ever puking pumpkin. :) Lyle's is the "mean" one on the right, Hazel's is he one with the little fang, and Stella designed the big smiley one. We also invite our friends to bring their pumpkins to display during the party, so we have an even larger group out on the porch. They looked great together!

The Decorations
We are starting to accumulate a few more items here and there, and had a lot of fun putting our displays together. More candles than last year, and some branches and dead flowers again, as well as a few new ideas.

Stella helped me make this ghost garland out of freezer paper, and it looks so great on our black walls in the entry way! We also tucked a piece of fabric around the light fixture to give a nice orange glow to the front hall.

A piece of sparkly fabric draped over the mirror made a really nice effect too. Hooray for buying fabric on clearance during the off season for $1 per yard! That really helped me bulk up on draping material this year.

The vase above was something that was in the house when we bought it, only I updated it a bit :) It was all white so I took some acrylic paint to it and made it into a beautifully spooky Halloween vase. I added some silk flowers and I just love it!

And lastly, our mantel was the biggest project and got lots of ooohs and aaahs at the party. Our display of creepy specimen jars:

We scoured the internet for tips and picked up creepy items from dollar stores, craft and toy stores to put these together. We got jars and bottles from the Goodwill, and Jason even scored us some authentic laboratory glassware from work. Water colored with neon food coloring made all the stuff look even creepier, and candles placed behind lit it all up so everyone could see them well.

This is turning into a long post, so I'll just throw in a few photos of the fun quickly so I can get off the computer and start packing all the spooky stuff away until next year. Thank you to all of our friends who helped us celebrate- we had such a great time and can't wait for next year!