Happy Halloween!

I had given up on Halloween this year. Costume shops are depressing things. They are places where you can spend $50 on fabric that will barely survive the night. Places where men get arrested for peeping under women's dressing room doors (yes, we saw this happen). Places that make you think lingerie is actual clothing. Places that sell things like "Lord Lucifer" costumes, reminding you of the satanic nature of the holiday and making you question whether that bumble bee costume will somehow lead your infant daughter into future pagan worship.

If I had my way, we'd have locked the doors, shut off the lights, made hot chocolate, and watched old black and white Audrey Hepburn movies all night. (Mmm. Maybe we can do that next weekend.) But I didn't have my way. We had a church-sponsored Harvest Party to attend and a "Bean the Pirates" booth to man.

So I had a bumble bee costume for Evelyn. I thought I'd get a bumble bee costume for myself to match. Can I just say that there's a HUGE difference between infant, children's, and women's bumble bee costumes? Yikes! So I thought I'd wear an old frilly green skirt with an orange top, make myself a wand and maybe a tiara and be a "Pumpkin Fairy." Then Craig reminded me I'd thrown out the old frilly green skirt to save space. So then I wasn't going to be anything. Then Halloween morning dawned and I put on an orange top and black pants and suddenly thought, "I should just paint my face like a jack o'lantern!" So we head to the pharmacy to buy orange and black face paint. No go: they're all sold out. So we go to the crafts store. Again: sold out. So we make our way to that dreaded place full of bloody vampire teeth, peeping toms, and wannabe porn stars: the costume shop.

By this point, I'm really excited about my jack o'lantern idea. It's funny. It's cool. It's cheap. But Craig isn't content to buy the paint and leave. He wants to walk around, see if there's any last minute costume idea inspirations. And that's when we see it: a "bumble accessories kit" for $10. It has a ridiculously flimsy yellow and black striped chest piece that ties around your waist and neck, silly little glitter wings, and a black hood with yellow antennae. Pair these with yellow and black striped tights, throw on my black skirt and top, and there you have it: I'm a bumble bee after all.

I was pretty pleased with it most of the night. Particularly while waiting for the cross walk signal on my way to church when other pedestrians and skate boarders came to admire mine and Evelyn's matching costumes. Of course, then we got to the Harvest Party, where she quickly overheated and came out of her costume. Then I just felt like a silly little bee buzzing around all by my lonesome.

Well, not really. There was a pirate and Thumper to keep me company! (There was a walking oven with a bun inside too, but she didn't make it into the photo.)

After originally publishing this post, I found a photo of the walking oven in my inbox. Yay!