Child of Noah, that sounds like SUCH fun! And KUDOS to you and your hubby for doing it in such a frugal and thrifty way! A best costume award for the best "Frugal" costume. I love it! Maybe word will get around and it will encourage other children to "DIY" their costumes instead of spending tons of money.
After I was past the trick or treat age but still living at home, I'd dress up in a white sheet and sit complete still on the bench on my parents' front porch, looking like so many of the fake ghosts on other porches. I'd wait until one of my parents had already given the kids their treats (I'm not THAT mean) but then I'd moan really loudly and stand and raise my arms like I was going to hug them. HA! You've never heard such screaming and carrying on! The parents LOVED it. We had some of them laughing so hard I thought they'd wet themselves. By the time the parents recovered the kids would be at least two houses down the street and still screaming.
Unfortunately, here in the buckle of the Bible Belt Halloween has been demonized for more than 20 years now and very few children actually trick or treat here anymore. Most of the local churches compete with each other to see who can host the most elaborate Fall Festivals where children are encouraged to come dressed as Biblical characters (some even refuse admittance to children wearing what they consider demonic costume i.e. vampire, ghost, zombie, etc.) and "trunk or treat" from the car trunks of parents who line the parking lot. Almost nobody decorates for Halloween anymore either. You might get a few houses here and there who put up a few Halloween'y things, but mostly it's sheafs of corn stalks and uncarved pumpkins because those can transition into Thanksgiving decorations and there is nothing "sinister" about them. In the subdivision where we rented, prior to moving way out in the country where we are now, the first Halloween we were there I decorated with everything I had brought with me from our time in California. Strings of lights, spider webs in the bushes, black cats, big plastic lighted Jack-O-Lanterns, etc. Not only were we the ONLY house in the whole subdivision with decorations, we had a grand total of 5 children show up. We had bags of candy left over that we both ended up taking to our offices to give away to co-workers. The following year we didn't decorate at all, I was too dispirited to bother, and we went to the movies instead. Now that we are out in the country there is zero likelihood that we will see any children on Halloween but something in me still wants to decorate anyway. I think it's because Halloween was and still is my absolute favorite holiday. I miss the good old days when the streets would be so crowded with children in costumes and parents trailing along behind that it was almost a steady stream as soon as the sun set until around 9pm when all the stragglers would finally go home. It was nothing for my parents to count 150 children or more on any given Halloween. It's sad what it has become now - a mere shadow of its former glory.
After I was past the trick or treat age but still living at home, I'd dress up in a white sheet and sit complete still on the bench on my parents' front porch, looking like so many of the fake ghosts on other porches. I'd wait until one of my parents had already given the kids their treats (I'm not THAT mean) but then I'd moan really loudly and stand and raise my arms like I was going to hug them. HA! You've never heard such screaming and carrying on! The parents LOVED it. We had some of them laughing so hard I thought they'd wet themselves. By the time the parents recovered the kids would be at least two houses down the street and still screaming.
Unfortunately, here in the buckle of the Bible Belt Halloween has been demonized for more than 20 years now and very few children actually trick or treat here anymore. Most of the local churches compete with each other to see who can host the most elaborate Fall Festivals where children are encouraged to come dressed as Biblical characters (some even refuse admittance to children wearing what they consider demonic costume i.e. vampire, ghost, zombie, etc.) and "trunk or treat" from the car trunks of parents who line the parking lot. Almost nobody decorates for Halloween anymore either. You might get a few houses here and there who put up a few Halloween'y things, but mostly it's sheafs of corn stalks and uncarved pumpkins because those can transition into Thanksgiving decorations and there is nothing "sinister" about them. In the subdivision where we rented, prior to moving way out in the country where we are now, the first Halloween we were there I decorated with everything I had brought with me from our time in California. Strings of lights, spider webs in the bushes, black cats, big plastic lighted Jack-O-Lanterns, etc. Not only were we the ONLY house in the whole subdivision with decorations, we had a grand total of 5 children show up. We had bags of candy left over that we both ended up taking to our offices to give away to co-workers. The following year we didn't decorate at all, I was too dispirited to bother, and we went to the movies instead. Now that we are out in the country there is zero likelihood that we will see any children on Halloween but something in me still wants to decorate anyway. I think it's because Halloween was and still is my absolute favorite holiday. I miss the good old days when the streets would be so crowded with children in costumes and parents trailing along behind that it was almost a steady stream as soon as the sun set until around 9pm when all the stragglers would finally go home. It was nothing for my parents to count 150 children or more on any given Halloween. It's sad what it has become now - a mere shadow of its former glory.
. ). We used to have a fog machine too but it doesn't work anymore. :/
