Archive for the ‘kids do’ Category

I love Halloween books to read aloud.  OK… so my favorites aren’t a bit scary… just funny and even inspirational.

Take the poetry book Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex for instance.  Turns out, Frankenstein is a “Make it Do” kind of guy.  When he goes to his cupboard to make lunch he discovers he’s all out of food.  So he heads on down the street to borrow a little something from the neighbors.  When they see him coming… well let’s just say they aren’t feeling too friendly.  They grab their torches and start throwing rotten food at him.  At first he thinks his neighbors are so rude.  But then he saw that at his feet they’d made a mound of food.  So Frankenstein heads home happy with his loot… and sits down to a big, disgusting lunch.

This book makes me laugh as much as the kids… and sometimes more.  I love the poem about the Phantom of the Opera who can’t get “It’s a Small World” out of his head.  Or the one about Dracula, who has spinach in his teeth… and everyone’s afraid to tell him.  This book is a quirky, delightful read aloud… and the illustrations are almost better than the poems.

Another Halloween favorite is Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson.  “The witch had a cat and a hat that was black, and long ginger hair in a braid down her back.”  I didn’t even have to open the book to quote that, I’ve read it so many times I’ve almost got it memorized.

This is one of those books I can read over and over and never get tired of reading it… and that is saying something. It is about a witch who generously lets other animals join her for a ride on her broom, until there is one too many…

The rhyming text is so delightful and clever that has been a family favorite for 5 years.  And the illustrations are bright and wonderful.

And last but not least, is the sweet book, The Hallo-wiener by Dav Pilkey. The main character, Oscar is so endearing,  I just love this book.  It’s a about a poor dachshund who gets teased constantly of by all the other dogs… they love to call him “Weiner Dog” and other names.

When Halloween rolls around, Oscar can’t wait to don a scary costume and escape his troubles for while.  But his mother surprises him with a hot dog costume, and Oscar is crestfallen. Oscar is such a sweet little dog, however, he doesn’t let his mom know how disappointed he is, and he wears the costume without complaint.  When the other dogs from school see him, they all get a big laugh at poor Oscar’s expense.

But they aren’t laughing when Oscar becomes the unlikely hero of the story and saves them and the day.

Those are just a few of our favorites for Halloween.  I look forward to reading them every year.  What are your favorite Halloween books?

I am writing about costume ideas for boys with the hope that it may spark some wonderful idea for a costume for my son.  At age 9, he is so worried about having an older kids costume.  The other day he said he wanted to be a Vampire Bat… but when we went to Simplicity to look at bat patterns, he said they all looked like “Little Kid” costumes.

Since I usually sew costumes, I need to get this figured out!  I do not want to be up sewing at 2:00 AM on the night before Halloween.  Believe me, I’ve done that before.

Here are a few costume ideas for you then…

The picture above is last year when Ben was the The Ranger’s Apprentice (from one of his favorite series of books)  This costume was quite simple.  The most important element was the cloak.  I made two cloaks from the same Simplicity pattern last year.  One for Ben and the other for Lily who was Arwen from the Lord of the Rings.  For the rest of his costume I made a shirt from pirate costume.  I also made a quiver sewn with faux leather.  We found a wooden button in the shape of an oak leaf from JoAnn’s for his necklace (shown in his hand.)  Ben also carried his long bow that he inherited from his Great Grandfather.  We passed on the knives the Ranger’s Apprentice carries… much to Ben’s dismay.

That same cloak pattern will come in handy this year as Emma is going to be Hermione and Lily is going to be Ginny Weasley.  I am going to make their school cloaks out of black fleece.

You don’t always have to go to a lot of work to come up with a great costume.  We just scrounged around the house to come up with this Indiana Jones costume.  I even found a wonderful tutorial on how to make a whip (that won’t put an eye out.)

How about a Cowboy….

or an Indian?

I remember the days when Halloween Costumes were more about imagination, than spending a lot of money on a costume.  One of my favorite costumes at the Halloween Parade at school last year was a Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz.  He costume was made from silver vent pipe (like for a dryer) on his arms, and lots of disposable silver baking pans, and a silver funnel on top his head.   It was so clever.

Here’s just a few tips for those of you who want to tackle sewing a costume.  Watch for sales on the patterns from Hancock or JoAnn’s… they go as cheap as .99.  But you do need to start watching now.

I also love to buy my fabric at JoAnn’s with a 40% coupon.  Or I watch the fabric stores for sales.  Walmart has some very cheap fabrics, some as low as .99 a yard.  When you are making a costume you can use cheap fabric and it doesn’t matter that much.

Halloween costumes are such a cause for excitement at our house… and after Halloween, the costumes get worn out being used as dress ups.  I love when I can get creative and come up with something really nice, without spending a lot of money.