Sunday, October 25, 2009

Unity Halloween Party 2009

One of our favorite events at our church- Unity Church of Crystal Lake is the annual Halloween bash. It came early this year, since Halloween falls on a Saturday.

In years past, my kids have had any number of store bought costumes to choose from. I think they were addicted. At one point I called a costume moratorium because they each had about 5 and their not the kind of kids to wear them year round either.

So, it's been a few years since we bought costumes and I was sure I'd get the constant pestering, nagging and harassing when the catalogs started coming in the mail. I figured I might need to give in because directing to costumes that were too small wasn't going to work.

M of course talked about being various Star Wars characters and asked for a snazzy costume from the magazine. When I pointed out it was $60, he thought long and hard and said ... "nah... I can do something else." I fully intended to go to Joann's and get some brown felt and make a Jedi costume for him... but it never happened.

For a couple of weeks, E was talking about being a cat. But somewhere along the line, she and her friend Katie cooked up a plan to go as pioneer sisters. E asked for a black turtle neck and some black boots and I just stalled around and ... well... like the Jedi costume... they never materialized.

On Friday, we were invited to a party at the fabulous Nolans I hadn't been feeling my best on Thursday, so I didn't really tell them we were going until Friday morning. They bounced around and were costumed up in a flash!

Pioneer girl and "a stranger" from Star Wars. Oh yes, I'd been planning a Marilyn Monroe costume for R, but... guess what... I DID buy some big sunglasses, but as for the rest of it... it never happened. Luckily she had a hand-me-down Tinkerbell costume with the matching shoes in the closet. She loved it. She wore it all day.

We had a blast on Friday. They were so excited going to bed on Saturday night in anticipation of the big day at church on Sunday. Ok... well, maybe I'm just a mean, self-centered mom. I ran around on Saturday and managed to purchase a few items for my own costume. John had stopped into the costume shop during the week and picked up his one necessary prop. Well, we never got any guff. I think they were really happy to be putting together costumes from what they had around the house.
The kids go to "youth ed" at church and today they had Mad Science presenting on dry ice, the kids made puking pumpkins and slime. Luckily, I don't believe any slime made it home.
Afterward, there is a big potluck. And then the games begin.

Here is M, doing the infamous... Eat the Donut Off The String Game. It took him like, 30 minutes because he has no front teeth!

R figured out the trick right away... just go take a prize from the black prize buckets near each game. Though, she had been "taking" things all day... she helped herself to three juice boxes from the snack cart in the big kid's classroom.











Then came the voting for costumes.
The Gibson-Wetterholts cleaned up!
E won for best kid costume. Her friend V won for most original. I think the coolest thing about E's victory is that she put that entire costume together from things she had at home, ALL BY HERSELF!

As you can see from the pictures from the two different days, it took her a try or two to find just the right shirt to go under her dress. And yes, the hat is small. We got it 3 years ago at the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL. I'm so proud of her for sticking with her vision. She's been reading Little House on the Prairie every night before bed and is really enjoying the story.


Then... the big surprise of the day... John and I won for best couples costume!

John is the Swine Flu and I am the remedy. I have syringes of LOVE and REST and medicine spoons of FORGIVENESS AND GRATITUDE and Vitamin D and Trace Minerals on a lanyard. And I have soap and chicken soup in my pocket.

It was a very exciting morning. Thanks Rev Tom and Ms. Marie and Ms. Maria for all the hard work that goes into this event. We really appreciate it!

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