Happy Halloween!

This year we celebrated our first Halloween! Last year we had been home only 5 days when Halloween rolled around and between jet lag and pure over stimulation we took a break from it...we were one of those dark houses.

Not this year, no sirree! We whooped it up! We went to 2 Halloween parties and Trick-or-Treated twice, once at a Senior Living apartments and then on Halloween night.

We practiced and practiced our "Happy Halloween!" "Trick-or-Treat!" and, of course, "Thank yous." She also didn't want to keep her hood up at first either, as evidenced in the above pictures. But once we were out on Halloween night, every time we went up to a door she put up her hood and practically whispered "trick-or-treat." Most of the "thank yous" were a smile and a wave. It was so cute. She totally got into it and wanted to keep going and going for "more candy?!"

But by 7:45PM we were done and she had plenty of candy. She got to have one piece tonight and then it was off to bed to dream of more candy.

The Costume

"Mingos," as CiBaby likes to call, them are her most favorite animal, so it was appropriate that she goes as one this Halloween. As costumes go, a flamingo isn't one that is easy to find for a reasonable amount of money, so Crafty CzaMama got her thinking cap on (and consulted with her very crafty friend, Hippy Goodwife) came up with a plan on how to go about attacking this one.

First, I found a pink fleece jacket at Old Navy, then off to JoAnn's for matching fleece. Each "feather" was cut and individually sewn onto the jacket.

Recently, CiBaby received a Miss Mingo "Build-a-Bear" from Grams. Using that beak as a rough pattern I drew out a pattern on one of those annoying pieces of campaign junk mail and cut the pieces from fleece as well.

Before sewing and stuffing the beak, I added cording to the bill to make the "opening." The whites-of-their-eyes are done with white fleece and the pupils are large black buttons (that idea came from my friend M, thanks dear!)

To top off the outfit, I used a little fabric paint I had in my stash of crafts and made a coordinating bag for her loot.

I also made a pair of fleece pants, but the weather was so warm they weren't needed. She wore some pink velour pants instead.

There were some loooooong nights of stitching and cutting, but in the end it was well worth it. She was the cutest Mingo ever! And she loved it too.