It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

I'm just winding down after a fun-filled Halloween evening. Since trick-or-treaters rarely brave our 800 foot driveway, we usually take the boys out as a family. It's actually a great way to catch up on some visiting with neighbours. It's always a fun event in our little community.

What I love most about Halloween is the dressing up, of course! It's a great excuse to make some fun costumes that the boys can enjoy all year long in their imaginative play. Not surprisingly, my bug lover wanted to be a spider this year, and his brother enthusiastically joined in. This was a super fun costume to put together and was also quite easy and inexpensive. The sewing was pretty rough and basic and I didn't even bother hemming the fleece head piece.

I used glow in the dark paint left over from last year's skeleton costume to add some fun to the outfit. The spider legs are made from men's dress socks, stuffed with batting. The little "hood" was made using a Spiderman PJ hood as a template. I think I've used this template for just about everything as it is so versatile and easy (space helmet, knight helmet, skeleton head, Ironman hood, Buzz Lightyear helmet.....etc). I love the googly eyes! Most spiders have eight eyes, dear Muffy tells me. We have to be scientifically accurate around here!

It is always shocking to me how much candy two small boys can collect from visiting less than a dozen homes! As soon as Chi-Chi and Muffy walked in the door, the loot bags were emptied and the tally was taken. As a bit of a last minute decision, I actually decided to try out the "Green Pumpkin" on my boys. They were instructed to leave any unwanted treats on their bedroom doors for the Great Green Pumpkin who would be visiting tonight. The Green Pumpkin exchanges the candy for little surprises. Somewhere in there I mumbled the words, "The more you give, the more you get". Well, I regret that statement just a little! Before I knew it, both boys had decided to give every single piece of remaining candy to the Great Green Pumpkin. I didn't really expect them to give it ALL away. I was really hoping they would give up about two thirds while the remainder would be handed out as dessert treats this week. Now I'm feeling a bit pressured to come up with something slightly impressive from my "stash" of trinkets and goodies. I'm not sure what I will pull together...but I better figure out something very soon as the clock reads 11pm (: As Chi-Chi was falling asleep, he told me he really didn't want all that much candy anyway. I'm sure this might have something to do with the belly ache he most certainly went to bed with!

Have you ever had a visit from the Green Pumpkin or the Candy Fairy? How well did this go over in your house?