Post- Post-Halloween Wrap-up

For most of the world, Halloween was celebrated 1 week ago on October 31st. However, those of us who were effected by superstorm Hurricane Sandy didn't get to "officially" celebrate until November 5th, this past Monday. It was cold, and the trick-or-treaters were scarce due to most people still more focused on recovering from Sandy's devestation than on collecting free candy and dressing up, but I was pleased to get rid of at least 2 of the 4 bags of candy I'd bought! 

Best of all, this was Lily's first time trick-or-treating, so it was fun to take her around for the first time. I had debated over the possible ramifications of celebrating this holiday with her- i.e. receiving free candy from strangers, having more than enough candy than she would ever need, me debating whether or not I should even allow her to eat any of the candy...In the end, I decided to focus on the positive parts of the holiday that was a favorite of mine as a kid- and still is! I love spooky stuff and dressing up and all the fall fun that goes along with the month of October. I felt it wouldn't be right to not allow Lily to participate with the other kids, even though she is still a bit young to even really know what Halloween is. Our night went something like this:

"I can has Halloween?"

The trick-or-treaters started arriving around 5ish, and at first Lily was confused, and then a little frightened by some of the costumes. But, after a while, and after I explained it to her a few times, she became curious, and said to me: "Mommy, I want to do Halloween". So, after dinner I dressed her up in her super cute Alice in Wonderland costume my dear friend Kristen had given her, and I bundled her up in a warm coat and sweat pants over her white stockings. Armed with her jack-o-lantern bucket, we set out and went to our neighbors homes who we already knew (so she wouldn't get too nervous), and after just 3 houses she told me she was ready to go home. Her bucket was already bursting as you can see from the picture below! She was so cute, she got extra goodies at each house we visited!

Happy with all her goodies

Inspecting her loot

I haven't let her eat any of the actual candy and don't intend to, although she "allegedly" opened a Tootsie Roll on her own and ate a small bite of it (I say allegedly because Paul was present when this happened, so I suspect he may have assisted). She still doesn't really know what candy is and is happy just to play with it by dumping it out of her bucket, looking at it all, and then putting it back in. Our neighbors were thoughtful enough to give her some treats that were less sugary, such as potato chips, oatmeal cookies, and a juice box, so we're letting her have those. They are working well as rewards for her good behavior :)

Happy Halloween!

Before the big day, we decorated some pumpkins in various ways. Holli from Full Hands, Full Heart shared this very clever way to allow toddlers to easily paint pumpkins with minimal mess and including a cute jack-o-lantern face! 

First, cut out shapes for the desired face, then pin directly onto pumpkin with sewing or safety pins.

Then let them paint away! The tacked-on face blocks the paint, and once the decorated pumpkin is all dry, you can remove the pins and paper and voilà! Here are our finished pumpkins:

I really gotta stop giving her black paint..

We added some glittery pom-poms, and I made a Mardi-Gras-themed pumpkin myself. The little green one is the one Lily picked from the patch at the farm we visited, and I painted the face on it. The pumpkin on the far left is Lily's first decorated pumpkin, which you can see more of here. 

All-in-all, it was a pretty fun Halloween, despite not being what I'd hoped it was going to be. You can't predict what Mother Nature will do sometimes, but that's okay. We are alive and well and our home is still standing. That's all I needed to make this Halloween a success. Keep others less fortunate in your thoughts and prayers.