Monday, October 31, 2011

The Knights Who Say "Ee!"

Today is my kids' first Halloween ever. Really.


No, I'm not one of those people who hates Halloween, but every year from October 25th until November 5th, our family has gone camping, and so we've never bothered with Halloween. 


Kindergarten changes everything!


My son came home from Kindergarten in early October, and said "Hey Mom, there is this day, it's called Halloween, and you're supposed to dress up and people give you candy!" 


My response: "It must be a brand new holiday!"


So Eli told me he wanted to dress up as a knight. (Halloween is a foreign concept, dress up is not)


His tabard is 1 yard of muslin, cut in half and sewn into a long strip, with a hole cut for his head (edged in bias tape) and his personal "coat of arms" appliqued on the front. For his coat of arms, he wanted a dragon, a lion head, and a letter "E". After I made the uppercase "E", I was informed that it should have a lowercase "e" also. That is so Kindergarten!




He also has a belt and a "sword holder", sewn from red flannel, interfacing, and a couple of "D" rings. I bought a sword for $2.97 at Wal-Mart. The crowning glory of his Halloween costume is his shield. I drew a template for the shape, my husband cut two pieces of thin oak veneer and glued them together. I painted the coat of arms on the front and we stapled nylon webbing straps on the back. 
Easy peasy. 




He is in love. 



(some action shots...)


Iris was going to be a dragon, so Eli would have someone to fight, but when she saw his costume (the sword especially...) she wanted to be a knight as well. 


So she's the purple knight. 




Same concept, except that she is shorter, so I got away with using only a half yard of muslin for her tabard. Her coat of arms is a kitty, an iris, and an "Ii". She also wasn't interested in a shield, so we skipped that bit.


Baby Greta ended up being the ferocious cuddly dragon. I had a size 0-3 month fleece sweatsuit from Old Navy. I used a bit of red fleece and green felt to make the tail, ears and spikes, and some shimmery green scaly fabric from JoAnn for the belly. Red socks complete her scary adorable dragon costume! 






So having your first Halloween at age 5 is slightly hilarious. We went to a Trunk or Treat, and Eli went to the first car in the line, said "Trick or Treat!" as instructed, and got 3 pieces of candy. He was thrilled, and went to get back in the car. His eyes almost popped out when I told him that he could go get candy from EVERY car.  
We'll see what happens when we go Trick or Treating in our neighborhood tonight!


{HAPPY HALLOWEEN!}


<3 AmberLou

4 comments:

  1. Did he use the bag I made him for Trick or Treat?

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  2. Super cute costumes! I can't believe this is your first trick or treat! Have fun!

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  3. These look awesome.. and I just love that you gave them each a letter! They are too stinkin cute! And yes.. kindergarten does change things..
    Thanks so much for sharing with the Pink Hippo Party.. can't wait to see what you share next!
    I am your newest follower and I hope you stop by enter my current 500 follower giveaway @ http://pinkapotamus.blogspot.com/2011/11/one-artsy-mama-giveaway.html

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  4. These costumes are fantastic! Looks like the kids loved them, great job!

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