As a child, I loved Halloween. Times were different then. It was safe for children to go Trick-or-Treating door-to-door.  Dressed in costume, carrying a bag we hoped was filled with candy by the end of the night, my friends and I couldn’t wait until dark, when we could leave our houses and start our adventure!

But the days before Halloween were almost as much fun as Halloween night itself.  I would agonize over how I wanted to dress.  When my choice was finally made, we would scour the house looking for items that would meet my needs. When I wanted to be a “hobo,” (probably pretty  unpolitically correct in today’s world), we found some ragged clothes, some dark make-up for smudges on my face, and a long stick, to which we tied a bundle of rags.  When I wanted to be a princess, I wore one of my sister’s old Prom dresses, with a tiara we bought at a thrift store. It was just F.U.N.  As a faith-based family, we weren’t honoring the origins of Halloween, but just enjoying the fun of dressing in costume, and for a while, pretending we were something we were not.

When our children were young, I truly loved making elaborate costumes for them.  One year they were Bert and Ernie, from Sesame Street.  Another year, Funshine Bear and Cheer Bear from the Care Bears cartoons.  One year a clown and a princess.  I spent hours sewing these costumes because I loved doing it.

I tried to find some photos to share with you, and only found a few. I admit, after our move of 2 years ago, my photo albums are not organized. (To-do-List).

Here is a super-grainy photo of Jennifer, our daughter, as a clown in 1977.

Brian in 1982 wearing the same clown costume:  (Yes, this is a scrapbook page I created at that time.  “Scrapbooking” was new! I had to go to a paper company to get colored archival paper; when stickers started coming on the market, I thought I was in heaven!!)

Jennifer as Wonder Woman in 1978:

Jennifer as a princess, 1982:

Jennifer and Brian as Bert and Ernie:

But my all time favorite costumes were the Care Bear costumes.  I could only find one of these pictures this morning… Jennifer as Sunshine Bear.

So when Melissa, our daughter-in-law, asked me to make a costume for Ella, our 1 year old granddaughter, I was thrilled.  Their family had a theme, with each person playing their part.  Ella was to be a traffic cone.  It was a simple costume, but one that would work for a 1 year old!  Melissa knew how she wanted the costume to look, so I only had to execute her idea.  I’m looking forward to seeing her, and the rest of the family, in costume.  I’ll share when I have pictures.

If you enjoy the tradition of dressing up for Halloween, I wish you lots of fun next week!

My husband and I as Tigger and Pooh, 2004.