Whitney's Halloween Retrospective

Here are the things Julian and Scarlett have dressed up as through the years.

2004: This set of newborn giraffe pajamas were the first thing I ever bought for my unborn baby who was due October 16th. I pictured I’d be strolling around the neighborhood with him on Halloween. Wrong. I had a C-Section on October 29 and spent Halloween in the hospital. When we got home the next day, we turned our newborn into a giraffe.

2005: Skeleton jammies. Best value on the Halloween market. We got them at Gymboree but this year you’ll find them at Old Navy, Gap, and JC Penney’s.

2006: I am pretty sure I’m pregnant, but I can’t get any pregnancy test to show a real line, so I head over to the lab. Later that afternoon, they call to confirm I am pregnant with my second child.

Julian is dressed as a tiger in a warm costume I got at the second-hand children’s store. He’s still unaware of the holiday and what he’s wearing, forget about what’s going to happen in our family in 8 months. I tell Heather who is five months pregnant my news that day in the park and we snap this commemorative photo that’s on Heidi’s site in honor of our second concurrent pregnancies.

2007: Scarlett is an aerobics instructor and Julian is a skeleton again. Ryan was an Ace Hardware employee, having stolen a vest from the store when he was in college and kept it until we were in our thirties…? He went to the store that morning, not to apologize, but to buy a hat and get a bag to carry for his costume.

2008: Julian is a bat, bought at Old Navy. Scarlett is a zebra. I made her a hood and added zebra stripes to her pants. She borrowed a fluffy zebra jacket from a friend.

2009: Scarlett is Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba and Julian is a vampire, which surprised me because how did he know what a vampire was? He was five. I made the cape from scraps of a bridesmaid dress Heather had (the lining) and some scary fabric I bought.

I made Scarlett’s Foofa costume, using a pink sweatsuit as a base. I am damn proud of it, too.

2010: Julian was a clown and I made it all myself — a sleeveless jumpsuit and a collar. My stepmom made me a similar costume when I was little. Scarlett was Minnie Mouse for half the day and Tinkerbell for the rest of the weekend. She doesn’t want anyone to look at her or take her picture. This is not her favorite Halloween.

2011: Julian was Santa Claus, a nice warm costume that earned a lot of shouting out when he walked down the street. He basked in the glory. We bought the costume and I made the belly but adding stuffing to a tshirt I sewed a pocket into. Scarlett was Fancy Nancy, having inherited a bunch of accessories from her older cousin who was Fancy Nancy the year before.

2012: Julian will be Drew Brees, New ~~England~~ Orleans Saints QB. Pictures to come. We made the shoulder pads from a tshirt of his dads and stuffing. I added an iron-on “9” and “BREES” to the jersey and we’ve got a pink breast cancer ribbon since that seems to be all the rage in the NFL these days. Scarlett will be Cleopatra, which was half-price at Target the day after Halloween last year. (An older girl she admires was Cleopatra that year.)

How’s your (child’s) costume coming along?

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.