Well, Halloween has come and gone – and like always, I’m late with my post!! Although, considering that it has been longer than forever since my last post – I think a week late is not so bad after all!!

I’ve always had mixed feelings about Halloween. First of, it’s that time of year – leaves turning, temperatures dropping, the feeling that winter is just around the corner – certain to bring on the blues!! And the decorations and the costumes – it’s nice to see the lights up and all the kids stopping by, but I have never understood the cobwebs, the tombstones, the creepy crawlies – not to mention the steady stream of vampires and witches!! Besides, Diwali usually falls around the same time – and Diwali is all about scrubbing the house from top to bottom, and celebrating the defeat of evil – definitely no cobwebs, and definitely no monsters!!

I loved when Manasi was little – all she wanted to be was princesses and fairies – and not only were those easy to get, how adorable was she in a crown, waving her wand!! That all changed a few years ago – and the costumes were all about scary!! We did manage Hermione Granger once, but for the most part it has been witches and vampires!! For the record, I absolutely do not like my little daughter dressed as a blood-thirsty vampire, even for a couple of hours!!

So it was a pleasant surprise this year when Manasi started planning her costume with a group of friends – they were trying to find a theme, rather than the generic scary costumes – and I’m so on board with that. When I hear they were looking for a theme, I tried to convince them to go with Scooby-Doo and gang – no, I am not a secret fan of Scooby-Doo, but I did have an ulterior motive (of course!!). It just so happens that I am in possession of a Scooby-Doo costume – that definitely is a story for another time!! So Scooby-Doo – costume is ready, so I’m not driving to 10 stores looking for the perfect one, plus it’s warm – what more can you ask for?!! All Manasi had to do was convince her friends to become the ‘gang’.

Alas, all my machinations were for nought – all these little girlies turned up their dainty little noses at my idea!! They were leaning towards being the Ghostbusters – but somehow or the other, the idea of doing a group thing started dissolving – until finally there were just 2 left – Manasi & M – hey, M&M, that would have been a great costume idea!! We were down to the last weekend before Halloween, and Manasi still hadn’t decided, and I was getting anxious. And then it was Google to the rescue – M found a photo with an awesome costume idea….

…Monsters, Inc – more specifically, Sully and Mike, with a delightfully girlish twist to the costumes!! Best part of this idea?? The girls would make the costumes at home – T-shirts, tutus, kneesocks – voila!! Monsters, Inc comes to life in Peoria!! So we were off to Michaels to buy supplies – Manasi’s friend was going to make her green Mike tutu. I was all for heading to Party City to buy Manasi’s Sully tutu – remember the orange tutu?? Well, for whatever reason, the prices in Party City had jumped – $35 for a tutu!! Outrageous!! So we decided to make the tutu ourselves – and it was the best afternoon ever!! Now Manasi has never been in ballet, so we don’t really have much experience with tutus – and it was really cute to see Ajey even pitch in!!

So there we were – with 3 different types of tulle. I was in charge of cutting the right lengths, Ajey was matching up different colors, and Manasi was tying on the knots!! As you can see in the pictures, Sunny was part of the design process!! The t-shirt was simple – plain blue, with purple felt dots stuck on – easy peasy. Making the tutu was way more fun!! We even ended up modifying a devils-horn headband for Sully’s horns!! Meanwhile, another friend had joined the group – and now we had a Boo as well!!

The final product was better than what I was expecting – and I’m so glad that we made tutu – all the shades and the glitter!! The girls all arrived, all giggly and excited – I hope they always stay this bubbly!! Quite the group it was – Mike-Sully-Boo, a scary Red Riding Hood, a scary Mom and a pink bunny!! Trick-or-treating was followed by an impromptu pizza dinner – it was a happy and exhausted Manasi at bedtime!!

Not to be outdone, Ajey and I dressed up as well – and we tried sitting on the porch to hand out candy, but gave up pretty quickly!! It was freezing, even with a space heater!! As usual, ended up with tons of candy!! I’m still sweeping up the glitter from the tutu – but it was unanimous – making your own costume is the way to go!! Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!! And watch out for some make-up summer posts coming your way – a little bit of sunshine on these dreary days!!