Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Costume Parade

Today's Wonder of the World is...the Halloween Costume! And Giveaway Results!

Flickr photo by pyramidhead84
I so enjoyed all of you party goers ringing my bloggy doorbell throughout the weekend! It was such fun to have you visit--even mummified! And I must say you look even nicer all unwrapped.

Speaking of Halloween wrappings, who doesn't go gaga over a homemade Halloween costume?
Well, my youngest, for one.
Sammy likes his costumes fresh from Party City, smelling of plastic, made of cheap polyester, and accompanied by a rubber mask that makes his mama shiver with fright. He says that bought costumes are fun because when you wear them, it's always clear what you are supposed to be. I think he's still wounded over one of his last Carnivals in France, when I let him design his outfit himself. Try explaining in French to the teacher your three year old is a Power Ranger-Firefighter-Dog. Even I was confused over that one!

But I still remember the days when the Dress Up Queen used to live with me.
No, she's not wearing a Halloween costume there. It's just the bridal veil and pink boa she always wore while mowing the living room carpet.

I started thinking about my Sarah's love of dress up after seeing the latest post of one of my all time favorite blogs--Kathleen Dougherty's Grosgrain.
Actually, when I saw the post, the first thing I thought of wasn't my Sarah.
It was, OH MY LORD, WHERE ARE MY SMELLING SALTS?
I was sure I would faint from JOY!

Do you know of Kathleen's blog? You MUST see it for yourself. Kathleen is a creative genius and designs all sorts of fabulous outfits for her two beautiful daughters. She doesn't use patterns--the girl just thinks them up in her incredible brain and then starts cutting and sewing! She takes amazing pictures of her girls in her creations--she's a photographer too--and then she does something UNBELIEVABLE:
She GIVES THEM AWAY!
To people who comment and link back to her!
(I have no baby girls, sob sob, so I'm not trying to butter her up. I just adore her work!)

Anyway, back to the point of this post.
I thought I was not a terribly bad sewer of Halloween costumes.
But then I saw Kathleen's latest masterpiece.
Are you ready?
Are you positively sure?
Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you when you fall flat on the floor of ASTONISHMENT!
Here you go...


Voila!
It's Marie Thérèse, Marie Antoinette's daughter. Would you like a closer look? See her blog for more pics.
And just look at her sweet baby bee!

No, I'm not even in the same sewing universe as Kathleen, but her blog did bring back lots of fun dress up memories. All of those princess clothes...

There was the mermaid princess when she was two.

(She's the one with the wig.)
The princess in blue when she was four.

And no, I wasn't snacking on Ben's cuff, although he was sweet enough to eat. (Sometimes.)

And Princess Leia a couple years later.


But we had no hang-ups about buying costumes either. Sprinkled amongst the homemade ones were plenty of bought costumes too. Like those on this doggy and X-man, having fun with friends.


The dress up box was full of choices once Sam came along!

Shiver me timbers, Halloween makes me happy!

So tell me, what were your favorite costumes as a child? Your children's favorites?
Are there any you'll never forget? Any that you wish you could?

Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone!

And oh! I almost forgot! The Giveaway!
I used the trusty random.org, and my winners were numbers 17 and 33! (I would show you but I don't know how to copy that page as a picture, and my computer guru just left for work.) Let's see, that would be Felicity and Alberta and Ava! Yey! A old friend of the blog and new friends too!
Please email me with your addresses, and I'll get the prizes in the mail!
Thanks for playing y'all. I had a lovely time!

Love, Becky

PS. All this costume talk has me thinking of Let's Make a Deal! Are you having trouble deciding what to be for Halloween? Maybe a minute or two of this might help!

21 comments:

Unknown said...

I love those dogs with their punkins already for trick or treating. They are adorable. I'd just seen them somewhere too. The "Grosgrain" costumes are to die for. I have a bloggy friend who is always linking back to her (she does have a little girl) so that is how I first saw her. She is amazing! I'm amazed that she gives them away! Where does she find the time?
The pics of your kids in their costumes over the years are adorable.
I think my favorite costume was dressing up as a gypsy. Either that, or it's just the only costume I can remember.

DMG said...

Wonderful post!!!!!These lovely photos brought back so many happy memories of my children's Halloween costumes and all the fun we had. Thank you for sharing them. I am so excited about the give away! Thank you (address to follow).

Love,
Alberta

LW said...

I love all the wonderful pictures of your past costumes…
This was a sweet and fun post…

And thank you for the link to the wonderful give away…
That dress is amazing..
I have a 4-year-old granddaughter that would love that.

Louise

Suzie said...

I love Holloween too. Its one of my favorate holidays. I love the little pirate.

Dont worry Im not going anywhere. Work has been taking over my life...sigh :(

Loving Her Beautiful said...

Hi, Becky,
Thank you so much for visiting me, and for your wonderful comment -- from the author of one of mine and my wife's favorite books! (We still talk about your infamous "Let's take the family to the bookstore" vignette!).
I love the photos in your post. What happy memories of my own childhood Halloweens they bring up!
Blessings,
BILL

lotusgirl said...

When the kids were really little I loved making their costumes. As they got older they wanted the store bought ones instead. Ugh! So for quite a few years we've been doing that, but this year my oldest has decided that she wants homemade. Who knows? Maybe the store bought is just a phase.

Those Grosgrain costumes are A.maz.ing! Wow! What talent! Mine were not like that, although the bears I did one year were pretty good. They had claws and everything.

Adrienne said...

What cute pictures!
We've gotten a lot of mileage out of our dress-up box...Halloween, school plays, dress-up days...I will check out Kathleen's blog - that dress is amazing!

Felicity said...

I'm a WINNER! Thanks, Becky!

Rosemary said...

So cute Rebecca!!
Love that Marie! How sweet is that?
What an amazing talent!
Thanks for sharing.
Your children look adorable, the same kinds of costumes I use to make. I am not a sewing person. We have many other talents.
Thanks,
Rosemary

CC said...

Darn it, I love babies in costumes!!!

David Ebright said...

I guess enough time has passed for me to say this without my mom having to go to the slammer.

When I was 9 or 10 I was a round faced little chubbo. My 'costume' was a black & red checked hunting outfit & I wore the big hat with ear flaps turned up. I also carried a shot gun....unloaded of course, but real, so I looked amazingly Elmer Fudd-like. The scars we 'cawwy' into adulthood that lead us all to 'thewapy'.

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Hey folks! How I enjoy your comments!
Jaxpop, did you say, "be vewy vewy quiet...I'm hunting wabbits.."?
That just kills me!

David Ebright said...

I never actually said much on Halloween night - I was 'vewy' busy chewin'. First out & last home. I knew the candy would be confiscated & tucked away by my 'vewy vewy wascally' mom so it could be doled out for several torturous weeks. My goal was to always eat as much as I could before gettin' my chubby butt home. Fun Post as usual.

Kat said...

Oh my word! Those costumes are amazing! I feel so inadequate now. ;)

I love the dogs in the top pic too. So cute!

For approximately 5 years in a row when I was growing up I was a clown. It was a hand-me-down costume of my brothers. Ya wanna know the kicker? I'm scared to death of clowns. Go figure! ;)

a Tonggu Momma said...

Your babies look so adorable in their costumes, but I now feel like a Halloween sewing failure. ;)

Alexandra MacVean said...

Good evening, Becky. I'm sorry it has been a few days since I've been here. I pray all is well for you. I enjoyed your blog today. I love children and it was so much fun to see the different cute outsfits. I really liked the little girl on the steps. Beautiful! :)

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

What? Doesn't everyone wear a pink feather boa when they mow the carpet?

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

What fun! You brought back memories of making costumes for my 4 boys. Just a hint to future costume makes. Toilet paper wrapped around a 10 year olds body to make him look like a mummy only stays on for about 5 minutes and when it rains....not a pretty picture :-)

Anonymous said...

BOY I WANTED THAT BOOK,SIGNED, RIGHT AFTER THE HOT DOGS AND BEFORE ONE CUPCAKE---THE POSTCARD IS JUST DESSERTS---HAPPY HALLOWEEN--TAKE CARE JANET

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Janet, I'd be happy to sign a free bookplate for you!
Just email me for my address and send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I'll stick it in the mail!

Anonymous said...

Nice photos..! Halloween has gone far beyond the traditions. People have become very creative making it one of the most exciting celebration of the year specially the kids.