Oh How We Love Halloween!

So there's this cool new Halloween Community over at Blog Frog.  And of course what would a new holiday community without a fierce giveaway?

And no giveaway is complete without a thought-provoking question; in this case it is, "What is your favorite thing about Halloween?"

So here's my answer, which after re-reading and thinking about some of my bloggy friends who live outside of the U.S. and don't really have much Halloween experience, I thought I'd share it here as well.  So here ya'll go!

Halloween has been my fave holiday, besides Christmas and my birthday, since I was a baby!  No joke. 

My birthday falls in October, so it's only natural that my mom would've made a big deal about my day, that month's big holiday, and the month altogether.  So you could say I'm an Octoberholic.

Plus EVERYONE in my family always got into Halloween...as in even my grandma dressed up.  We'd all hit her neighborhood door2door, and then wind up back at her place for chili, goodies, and enjoying all the other TorT'rs and their costumes.

For costumes we always went all-out with our own homemade costumes.  Instant store-bought costumes were out of the question since a) we couldn't afford them and b) they lacked creativity.

Let's see, some of my most memorable costumes of my life?

• a bat, as an infant
• yoda, as a toddler
• traditional ghost with the big white sheet
• a gypsy while in preschool
• a pumpkin (totally 3-d using orange sheets, orange cabled tights, pillows, a big green collar, green face paint, and green hair dye), 1st grade
• the ace of spades (using construction paper cut-outs on poster board in a sandwich board style, some glittery black accessories), 4th grade
• roaring 20's flapper, 5th grade (thank you good will for the fab red fringy dress!)
• dead cheerleader, 9th grade
• dead volleyball player, 11th grade
• genie, college
• 50's housewife, '04
• mouse, '05
• queen frostine, '06 (from candyland)
• dolly parton, '07
• heidi, '08
• was gonna be the SNL church lady for '09, but due to the swine flu, i kicked it in my footy PJ's, pigtails, & freckles....and waved at TorT'rs from the couch!
• this year, i'm still undecided.  better kick up the creativity a notch or SEVERAL!

As a mom though, the fun shifts.  Still fun, but emphasis turns to my daughter & nieces & nephews.  Making sure they have fun and enjoy the holiday is where its at.  That's the motivation even down to the decor.  Matter of fact, every year now we've had one scene or another from It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown that I paint in our big picture window.  (This year I'll have to improvise since we bought a house WITHOUT a big picture window.)

My daughter's costumes have been fantastic through the years.  She's been: 

• Winnie the Pooh 
• a lion 
• a dragon 
• Britney Spears in a red sweatsuit (when Miss B. was still innocent) 
• the Tooth Fairy
• Cindy-Lou Who (before the Grinch was a popular costume inspiration) 
• a monarch version of the MSN butterfly 
• Cindy Brady
• Pippi Longstocking
• the Pink Panther
• Miss America 
• Puss in Boots

....and we're still working on this year.

So I guess what I've always loved most about Halloween through the years, besides the dressing-up fun, was the fact we have always had family traditions rooted in the holiday.  We love any excuse to get together with family and have fun!


For Halloween inspiration, or to see some of the costumes in action, just click here or search through the Halloween labels at the bottom of this blog.


Happy Halloween planning!