what are you gonna be on Halloween night?

A ghost or a goblin or a ghoul?

{mom, we so need to find these songs for Carly and Shay}

~

When I was a kid, we were all about the "homemade" Halloween costume.

I remember one year my oldest brother going as a "tourist".

Put sunscreen on his nose, Hawaiian shirt, camera around his neck.

Classic.

I also remember an old Giants baseball jersey that we all seemed to wear multiple times.

And I remember a Power Rangers costume my little brother refused to take off until it was nothing but rags.

But my most vivid costume memory was when I went as a witch.

Wore a black dress and a witch hat.

Then my mom painted my face green.

That was the itchiest face paint ever.

I just remember my face itching so bad all night all I wanted to do was go home and wash it off.

Good times.

~

On Monday I decided I should probably figure out what Carly was going to be.

We headed to babiesRus to see if there was anything on sale.

No luck.

So I talked to a friend in our ward and she said she had one that would probably fit.

A candy corn.

Ok, Carly looked seriously adorable.

The problem?

Carly doesn't like things on her head.

And apparently she also does not like bulky things on her body.

The costume was held on by Velcro, and in no time she was ripping it off every time I put it on.

I mourned, as she was a seriously cute candy corn.

~

Friday night I pondered long and hard what she could wear.

It had to be a costume without feeling like a costume.

It couldn't cost anything.

It had to be quick, as the trunk-or-treat was the following night.

~

Oh, the light bulb went on.

When Carly was a wee baby, Chris's dad went to China and brought her back a pair of Chinese pajamas.

They were huge at the time, but now she is huge, so they fit.

I wanted to put chopsticks in her hair, but the only ones I could find were full-sized, and looked more like spears on her little head then chopsticks, so I googled "oriental princess costume" (weird, I know) and saw lots had flowers in their hair. No doubt, this was inspired by the Japanese geisha, and I wasn't exactly wanting to model my one-year-old's costume after a geisha, but we did have matching flower clips, so I went with it.

And voila, our China Doll:

How many kids can say their grandpa bought their Halloween costume in China?

~

It did not take our doll long to figure out how much fun candy was.

Little things that make crackling noises that you can spread all over and put in your pumpkin purse? Is this heaven?

She loved the candy before she found out how yummy it was to eat.

You can imagine her affection for it upon first taste.

{caught in the act, little chocolate-chin}

Our Ward's Trunk-or-Treat/Chili Cook-Off was a success.

Chris got back from a conference about half-way through.

We were very excited to see our man.

{reminding Daddy where her nose is after a long absence}

We didn't have Carly go collecting candy.

No one in this house needs that candy.

So instead she wandered around saying "Hi!" to monsters and princesses and superheros.

And I gave out all our candy except the Almond Joys.

I may have saved a few for personal enjoyment.

~

And today for Church Carly looked a bit festive:

Wearing her purple tutu-esqe skirt (yay, Target clearance!)

and a Halloween bow from my aunt, Dore.

~

We closed off the night without a single Trick-or-Treater.

That's ok, though.

That means I didn't have to give up my few remaining Almond Joys.

~

Hope your Halloween was a spooky one.

xoxo.