Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma and the Woodsman

Sorry for the long absence from blogging.  My computer was in the shop. It was a bad electronics week for me. I killed my phone and my GPS by spilling water in my purse and on top of that our laptop cracked open.  So for a week and a half I was disconnected from the world with only a little I-touch that I could check my email on.

I did get my computer back right before Thanksgiving, but I've been caught up in a few good books that I couldn't put down, so I decided to relax over the holiday and finish them before returning to the blogging world.

I know it's almost the end of November which is a little late for a Halloween post, but I still wanted to share the costume that I made for my little girl.  I had so much fun making it and it was fun dressing up as a family.

It rained and poured on Halloween  so we went trick or treating at a couple different churches that had set up inside.   Our church had a carnival with games and food while my in-laws church did an inside trunk or treat....or more like table or treat.  It was nice that we got to enjoy the evening even with it raining down buckets.

I spent most of my energy making the Little Red Riding Hood costume.  My favorite part was making the cape.  I especially loved seeing my little girl in it, maybe I'm just biased, but I thought she looked pretty darn cute.  I also made her a little skirt to match.  I looked everywhere for just a plain white shirt to go with it, but all I found was a boys shirt, so I made do and sewed some lace around the collar to make it look a little more girly.

As for my husbands and my costumes, I tried to use what I had around the house. I wanted to spend as little effort as possible on our costumes partly because I was running out of time, and partly because I didn't want to waste a lot of time making something that we'd never wear again.

 I did sew my nightcap though.   I searched around looking for the easiest way to go about it using what I had and ended up making it from a tutorial on making a picnic bowl cover.  A little weird I know, but it it worked well, and it ended up looking just as I had imagined.  Here's the tutorial: Salad Bowl Cover by Make it Do.  I made the ruffle longer and gathered it before attaching it so that it would be more ruffly then the tutorial but otherwise I did everything else the same.

So for my grandma costume I wore the nightcap I sewed, used a white baby blanket as a shawl and actually used a dress that my mother had sewed for herself when I was a child.  Somehow the flower print felt a little grandmotherly to me.  I  also bought a white long sleeved shirt which I wore under the dress.

My husband used a hat that he got in New Zealand, it's a little more farmerish then woodsman but it worked well enough.  He wore a flannel shirt with some work pants and actually carried a knife strapped to his belt.  I think the woodsman actually carries an ax but the knife has a cool wolf on the handle which fit in with the theme.  I thought that it might be a little weird that he was carrying a real weapon around little kids, but no one seemed to care.

At first my little girl didn't quite understand what we were doing, but once she ate a piece or two of candy she realized what was going on, and really got into going to each table collecting candy in her little basket.  Overall, it was quite a fun evening.

A few days later I took her outside for a little photo shoot since I didn't get very many good pictures on the actual night.  I tried to take a bunch of pictures in our back patio, but that didn't go very well.  She had just gotten up from a nap and usually she's pretty happy but not this day.  You can't tell but just minutes before these pictures she had been crying.

I was able to get a few okay shots without tears when I started bribing her with chocolate. But it wasn't until we left the backyard to wander the complex did she start to smile.  She loves to walk and be outside.

I think my little girl's favorite part about the costume was the fact that she got to carry a basket.

She had fun carrying it around and putting things in it.

I think she made the cutest Little Red Riding Hood.  It turned out just as I pictured.

My husband thought the skirt would be cute with straps to make it look like more of a real dress.  I didn't know if I was going to have time so I did them at the last minute.  They do look cute, but if you look up close you can tell that I didn't do a very good job.  I either will have to redo them, or I may just take them off so that it can be just a skirt.

As we were walking around the complex we ran into some of the kids that live in the neighborhood.  Two of the girls decided that it was their job to look after my girl.  They had fun walking hand in hand and helping her out even though they are only 5 and 6.   My little girl loves hanging out with older kids so she was more then happy go along with it.

I'm not big into Halloween but it was still a lot of fun making the costume and seeing how cute my little girl was.  It was also nice to do something as a family... and collecting a little chocolate was an added bonus.  :)

In the next week I hope to get up posts on the cape and the skirt, so look out for those!