Halloween Through the Years (and tons of easy costume ideas!)

Going through photos can be bittersweet. My babies have grown up! We sure had fun over the years and there is more fun to have.

My son, Andrew, is now 26 years old. Shyanne is turning 24 in December. The baby is Emily, 22 years old, a new bride and the mother of my two beautiful granddaughters, Maryjane, who is six, and Ayla, who is turning one in three weeks. They are all creative, fun, holiday loving kiddos. Add me and my husband, Doug, in, and we have had some fun costumes!

That year’s costumes were super fun to put together. Emily is a chicken complete with rubber glove feet. I pinned a feather boa around her clothes and sewed a piece of red felt to a white winter hat. She was darling! Andrew loved that mask, and with a fake bird and sword, he became a pirate. Shyanne was Galadriel- the elf from *The Lord of the Rings*– with the addition of ears and a sword.

We used to traipse all over town to visit grandparents with the children in costume. Doug’s grandparents, my grandparents, and Doug’s folks all knew to be ready with the candy and the camera.

That year Shyanne was a Mardi Gras girl with the simple addition of a mask, and Emily was the dead Queen Mary with her crown. The girls already had the dresses. Andrew had bought a whole set of “Tom Swift” books from a garage sale and love them so much he transformed himself into Tom Swift!

At home, the house was set with fun-scary decorations and orange lights. Spooky sounds wafted from the CD player and “Halloween Hamburgers” thrilled the young goblins before trick-or-treating. Around our suburban neighborhood we would go, laughing and begging for candy; the kids all hoping for a big candy bar. The neighbor across the street gave quarters. (Not cool.)

I have dressed old fashioned for as long as I can remember so many of my costumes aren’t much of a jump! When Shyanne needed to be Emily Griffith for a school project, my accessories came in handy.

A simple brown robe sheath can be a caveman, a tree, or a monk!

We had a large bin of clothes in the playroom. The kids might get a new costume one year but then it would be replayed year to year as something else. We had a lot of fun with costumes and never spent very much.