Halloween Celebration 2011

I never realized how much production work goes into a Halloween celebration until last year when my kids got invited to Halloween parties. Looks like there's no going back to that old 'simpleng-sindi-ng-kandila-at luto-ng-biko' (light a candle for the dead and make sticky rice) way of celebrating trick or treat now that I have toddlers... but nobody's complaining, nah-ah, not me. I love doing all those works for my kids!

To start off, Sophie joined her school's Halloween party last Friday dressed as a flapper girl (she had to repeat several times what she was during the presentation of costumes because she's the only flapper girl in school). Although the parent judges voted a student dressed as a pink fairy for the best costume, Sophie won the Teacher's Choice/Ms. Halloween 2011 award! Yipee! All those hard work hand sewing yards of tassel paid off after all :)

with her classmates, aren't they cute?

giving that serious look again

presenting the Mr. and Ms. Halloween 2011

I took a half day off from work to bring my little girl to school and I'm glad I did because I wouldn't miss this for the world. Got to be a parent judge, too, for the nursery class. After the program we drove the kids to their classmates' house for trick or treating. Even Sam was able to tag along and he had such fun collecting all those candies!
That was such a tiring day but anything for my little ones. Got back to work after the event. The life of a working mom...

Come weekend, we celebrated Halloween in our subdivision and you know what that means... more candies! Waah! I ended up secretly giving away some of their candies. There are just too much to make a parent panic!
It was fun and tiring Halloween celebration, good thing it was a long weekend for us working moms so I had time to rest (somehow).

Halloween Costumes: Plan B

Okay, we are having a slight change of plans with the little tots’ Halloween costume. We have a strong feeling that maybe, no, probably the little boy will not wear the Spiderman costume after all. Hmmp! After all the hassle of meeting up with the seller! Buti na lang mura lang.

So the project manager mom thought of plan B as soon as I realized that he will never put even his finger into the spidey costume. Plan B is the Thomas costume he’s been googling over in the Toy Kingdom magazine.

I knew it will require more work than just meeting the seller ang paying for it. It will have to be done from scratch since 1) it’s too expensive to buy one or 2) the one that’s available doesn’t even look like Thomas. The little boy, at 2 yrs old, knows the Thomas and Friends trains by heart (well, those who are famous) down to their coaches. Yeah, he’s that addicted. Most days, he's a train. Pretending that his index finger is an engine wiper and  always making the choo!choo! sound while running around his pretend train tracks :)

Back to the costume, so here’s our Thomas costume done over the weekend. And yeah, Sam already wants to put it on even halfway through the production.

Two empty boxes taped together to form the frame. The box with the bottom intact is where all the treats will go :)

the little boy mixing his acrylic paint

Buti na lang praktisado si Ate Sophie sa painting

my handy helpers, more than willing to assist

After doing all the detailed work on the face and body (like half the day!), I now present our Thomas  train costume. Thank you to all the Thomas trains in the house, I have so many pegs on what it should look like. All it needs are the wheels, whistle and straps and it's ready to go!

Halloween Costumes

Halloween is just around the corner and kids (and adults) will be partying left and right. For this year, I convinced Sophie to be go as a flapper girl. She originally wanted to be Belle but that would mean buying her the gown which is kinda pricey for the frugal mom. I showed her a photo of a flapper girl with the net stockings and red lipstick and she immediately bought the idea. She forgot all about the princess costume :)

Did a little canvass of what I need to buy for her costume and it will be silver or beige tassle/fringe (P29 per yard, i'll need around 21/2 yrds.), feather (P49 per piece) and stockings. I could add elbow gloves for more drama. I'll just sew the fringe on her old sequined dress and bring out her heirloom pearl necklace from her great grandma. Voila, a costume fit for a kikay :)

http://halloween.become.com/kids-halloween-costumes/Kids-Flapper-Costume.html

My little boy Sam is going out as Spiderman. Found a cute Spidey costume in Sulit.com for a really cool price and it will be delivered tomorrow.

http://www.halloweencostume.com/boy-spiderman-comic-costume.html

I'm so excited for Halloween! We're already starting out on the house decor since Sophie's classmates will be visiting for the trick or treat. Meanwhile, I'm also thinking of a cool costume for mwah. What do you think of Lichtenstein Lady? Cool right? Just requires a lot of make up :)

http://www.laurenconrad.com/

See last year's Halloween experience here :)

Hallooween Tricks and Treats

This year was our very first Halloween party and we're excited!
October 29, Friday, as soon as I got home from work I prepared the desserts which were my share for the potluck Hallooween Party at our clubhouse. I made the mini muffins using Maya Brownie Mix. I always love Maya products because it tastes so good and not too complicated to make. Plus, we don't have an oven (yet) and our good old oven toaster can only make simple desserts. Even Sophie can bake a cake with a Maya mix :)

our brownie mix on muffin cups waiting for their turn to the oven
Because these are mini muffins, it's quite difficult to scoop the mix into the muffin cups so I made a pastry bag out of a sandwhich bag, cut the tip and swirled brownie mix into the muffin cup. It's easier that way plus less mess :)

Fresh out off the oven

That's one downside of toaster baking, they can get overly done so I have to scrape off or slice off the top. Good thing, I have to do that anyway to level the muffin top for the decor. 

I decorated half the batch of muffins with Goya melted baking chocolates and marshmallows. The eyes and mouth of the monster mallows are strawberry jam from Baguio. The other batch I covered with boiled icing and orange sugar. 

 Finished products ready for shipment to the clubhouse. They were an instant hit at the party!

Come Saturday, Sophie and Sam got prepped for the party. Sophie came as an ice princess. I wanted her to wear the cheong sam dress so Sam and her can go as a pair but she preferred her white little bride dress. I added the pink and silver belt from another gown and the wings which I bought for P50 at Toy Kingdom sale. 

Sophie's make up was a combination of silver and turquoise eyeshadow and frosted pink lipstick. I used my never been used Lancome makeup duo on her eyes and, guess what, she would never let go of it. As early as now she's my kaagaw with my kikay kit.

I painted her arm with this flower design I conceptualized on the fly 

Sam came as a chinese guy (which confused people because they also call him Korean boy). While Sophie loved being made up, I had a hard time putting even black lines on Sam's eyelids. 

Overall cost of these costumes: P50.00 (for the wings which was bought several months ago). Sophie's gown and belt was made by my mom for last year's wedding of a cousin. Sam's outfit was a pasalubong from China by my brother :0 

The day went well for us especially for Sophie and Sam who got so many goodies from trick or treating in the neighborhood. I was somehow worried with so much sweets but then again, I thought, this is a once-a-year thing :) 

Lastly, sharing our simple hallooween outdooor decor made out of scrap materials and candles. These did not ward of trick or treaters, however, because our grocery bag full of candies went almost empty! lol!