Halloween is pretty much the be all and end of all of kid holidays. Mazzy and Harlow have been talking about their costumes since the summer. Granted, they’ve changed their minds ten times so I am very happy I didn’t listen to them when they told me to purchase an Equestria Girl costume (Mazzy) and a Zootopia costume (Harlow) on Amazon back in August. Although a bunny cop is an excellent costume so I was a bit miffed when Harlow changed her mind. I also tried to convince Harlow to be Hillary Clinton (how adorable would she look in a pants suit?) but unfortunately, she rejected my plan. My favorite line from Halloween 2016 so far is:

“I DON’T WANT TO BE HILLARY CLINTON! I WANT TO BE TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!!”

Hillary might beat Donald Trump, but she clearly comes in second to My Little Pony.

Mazzy opted to go as Mal from the Descendants (even though she’d never seen the movie) so together they will be very very purple. Maybe I should go as Rapunzel and make Mike wear a Barney or a Grimace costume and then we would all be color-coordinated.

Every year, I like to take a look back at Halloweens Past so I can see the full evolution of Mazzy and Harlow’s costumes. You’ll see that I began my mom career with a desire to do something homemade and creative but I’m now totally content with two store bought costumes. I blame the book tour.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

When Mazzy was one, I made her a very simple sushi costume. Tuna on rice with a wasabi cap to be exact.

I used a plain white onesie and white tights already found in her drawer. Then I made a red pillow out of felt, stuffed it with cotton balls and fastened it to her waist with a piece of black felt as a belt. I gave her a chartreuse hat to stand in for a glob of wasabi. It seemed super clever at the time but this was way before parents started competing for repins on Pinterest. Now I know Mazzy’s sushi costume was scraping the bottom of the barrel. I mean it’s not like she was a massive robot with actual mechanics or anything.

A lot of people do the sushi on the front of the costume but my way suited Mazzy better because she was a professional crawler at the time.

Look at my Tuna sushi go!

When Mazzy was two, I made her a Corduroy costume. And by “made,” I mean I found a woman who sews corduroy overalls on Etsy and asked her to make mine in green with a purple pocket. “Can you leave off the top button please?”

Once she realized what I was doing, she offered to throw in overalls for Mazzy’s bear. That bear has dressed as Corduroy ever since.

When Mazzy was three, I continued with the storybook theme and made her an Olivia costume. As I mentioned, I can’t really sew so I bought a red dress at Old Navy and then made the collar with the stars on it, using glue instead of sewing needles. That’s how I roll.

I purchased handmade Olivia ears on Etsy which she wore for the length of time it took to take these photos and then never again. I don’t blame her. They were really hard to wear without the whole thing toppling over.

Unfortunately, that outfit never really got used because Halloween was canceled that year due to Hurricane Sandy.

I should mention that Hurricane Sandy also left us without any heat, so Mazzy put a pink pig costume to good use and wore it to bed that year.

This is the forgotten Halloween. I’m not sure what was going on in my life that year (maybe that I now had two kids?) but I totally blew it off. I can’t even find a post about it but Instagram tells me that Harlow was Superbaby and Mazzy was Tinkerbell.

Not only was Mazzy’s costume store bought, I believe Harlow’s costume was found in her closet, given as a gift from my sister. Her son had matching pajamas which made our superchildren look way more intentional than they were.

In addition to what the kids actually wore on Halloween, a shop called The Wishing Elephant sent us a bunch of Halloween onesies (including this R2D2 and chef costume) but although these costumes looked super cute in our apartment, they weren’t really practical when we ventured outdoors. Also, as a sidenote, when Harlow saw this picture recently she called it: Har2D2. OH MY GOD, my child is seriously a genius.

This was the year I got creative again. Mazzy went as Flower Girl (her made-up superhero that sprays water out of her hands to grow flowers) and Harlow went as Audrey Hepburn from her favorite movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” I mean, not really, but let’s just pretend.

For Mazzy’s outfit, I bought a pink satin cape and superglued hand-cut felt flowers, ruining our dining room table in the process. I made a headband with felt and elastic. And lastly, I found shiny pink pants at American Apparel which completed the look nicely.

Harlow wore a dress we already owned (she wore it to a wedding) and I found a shop on Etsy that sold the sunglasses, the pearls and the tiara headband as a set.

But really, Harlow’s serious expression is what sold the outfit. It even earned her a feature on Humans of New York.

With the coat, she looked less like Audrey Hepburn and more like a wealthy lady from the Upper East Side, which still totally worked.

Of course, Mazzy ended up abandoning her costume and going as Anna from Frozen on the actual day. Glad I ruined my dining room table for a store bought princess costume.

2014 was also the year I discovered trick or treating in Manhattan is pretty great.

Last year, Mazzy and Harlow were both obsessed with Inside Out and picked their Disgust and Joy costumes way early in the year. Unfortunately, those costumes were both very hot tickets and I waited too late to buy them. Mazzy’s Disgust costume came at a premium from an Amazon seller that knows how to take advantage of desperate parents on Halloween. The Joy costume did not come in Harlow’s size so Itried to convince her to go as Anna Wintour instead, which had been suggested by tons of people on Instagram.

Harlow could care less about Anna Wintour and insisted on going as Joy, so instead of the official costume, I just bought a blue wig and paired it with a yellow dress she already owned. I made the flowers on it with puffy paint.

Mazzy was thrilled with her outfit but Harlow HATED wearing the wig, so she did not make a very convincing Joy.

She was so miserable, we ended up going home after the Halloween parade and changing for trick or treating. Good thing, because I had her Anna Wintour costume all lined up!

Turns out, Harlow’s meltdown was not so much about the wig and more about her missing her nap. She napped almost straight through trick or treating.

When she finally woke up, Harlow refused to get out of her stroller and made us deliver the candy straight to her.

Very Anna Wintour.

Stay tuned for this year’s costumes! I hope Harlow has it in her to wear a wig because if so, Rainbow Sparkle is going to be beyond adorable. I also let Mazzy watch the Descendants this past weekend so she knows a little bit more about her character other than— I think her outfit is cool. Both 100% store bought and I’m okay with that.

———————————-

This post was sponsored by the Amex EveryDay Credit Card which rewards multi-tasking parents so we can take a step back and appreciate the #EveryDayMoments that make the holidays so special.