Halloween Costumes--Whew!

Well, we made it.  Halloween costumes were finished just under the wire.  Sort of.  Here they are, in chronological order.

Rollo, the Purple Ninja, has been planning this costume for a long time now.  Inspired by the colorful characters in Lego's Ninjago world, he has assigned colors and elemental powers to his brothers and some friends, too.  Purple has been D2's favorite color, but Rollo chose it for himself, to go with his gravity powers.  The manipulation of gravity helps him fly, and attract objects to himself at will.  Handy, right?  And he just associates gravity with purple.  What colors do fundamental forces remind you of?

Rollo wanted to get an early start on construction, so we bought the purple flannel and he cut out the trousers (from Simplicity 3577, a pajama pattern) this summer.  And then we didn't get back to them until about a week ago.  But Rollo did it.  He sewed his pants, and finished them on Thursday.  Just in time to wear them to school on Friday.

I took over for the more intricate top.  He wanted a kimono-style jacket with normal sleeves.  So I started with the Simplicity 5839 kimono pattern, and borrowed the shoulders and sleeves from another pajama pattern, McCall's 7950.  (Wow, all my patterns are out of print.  How long have I had these?)  At Rollo's request, I appliquéd the Japanese character shizuka, for silence.  It's a good attribute for a ninja, especially one with a loud purple outfit, don't you think?

The badge on the front is a literary allusion that has nothing at all to do with ninjas.  But Rollo likes it, and it comes from a really good book, Elantris. 

I finished the jacket on Thursday, too, before helping Rollo finish the pants.  He wanted to make a hood, but I was worn out.  Later that evening, after the older boys' band concert, I draped some cloth around his head and used a few hand stitches to sort of make it stay that way.  I think it makes him look more like a surgeon, but he accepted it.

About a week ago, D2 announced his intention to be a Steampunk Dwarf.  This was certainly influenced by the Caterpillar's recent musical choices, but I'm not sure how much.  And I wasn't sure what to do about it.  Luckily, D2 had the right attitude about it.  "Steampunk is about using what you have," he said.  So we did.

D2 is short, but not very noticeably dwarfish.  He used a pillow to make himself appear a little stockier, and I crocheted him a beard.  I used some thick brown yarn that had previously been in a Princess Leia bun, and made it up as I went along.  I did this during Rollo's band concert on Tuesday (busy week, huh?), with D2 at my side for periodic fittings.  I'm sure it was a curious sight for the people on the bleachers behind us.

We did some more recycling to steam things up.  Scoot spray-painted a non-functional squirt gun and a pair of Rollo's old glasses frames.  Then D2 had a wonderful time hot-gluing various bits of hardware to them. 

What wonderful creativity!  Of course, he couldn't take his weapon to school.  Then he decided it was too awkward to carry around at the trunk-or-treat.  So take a good look--I don't know if anyone will ever see this in real life!

 Scoot wore his referee uniform to school on Friday, and even gave a red card to someone in the hall.  "I should have given more," he said.  "People are always swearing at school."  I'm glad that's illegal in soccer.  Anyway, he decided to go more formal for the trunk-or-treat, and declared himself a Gentleman Rogue.  I was disappointed that he came home without any lupines.

When it was time to go to the trunk-or-treat, the Caterpillar picked up the ceramic skull he made in his Materials Science class last year.  Obviously, he was Hamlet, in one of those modern productions.  (Would a Hipster Hamlet duel with unbated LPs?)

This morning, he changed things up.  The Caterpillar and I had signed up for a Halloween 5k race, and he didn't want to run in jeans.  Or shorts, or sweats, because it was pouring down rain.  So, naturally, he wore his kilt and a shirt from a Boy Scout adventure.  And he borrowed his aviator cap back from D2.  He said the kilt was actually pretty comfortable for running in, and the hat stayed dry inside.

I finally made myself a superhero shirt.  Because who needs, or has, super powers more than parents?  (Eyes in the back of the head, anyone?)  So I went as Super Mom, or Wonder Mom, or, as the Caterpillar called me in a moment of desperation many years ago, "Mom, a Woman!"  I needed all my super strength, and his, too, to keep running through the storm.  But we had a good time running together and encouraging others.  And we came away with an age-group ribbon each. 

They just had to change things up for this evening's trick-or-treating.  Now a Bearded Wizard and a Pirate join the Rogue and Ninja.  Their candy should be safe with that machete along, shouldn't it?

What have you done for Halloween?