Beatles Mania Halloween

This year, we went with iconic Beatles song titles for our Halloween costume theme. It is something I've been asking about for a couple of years and the family finally thought it would be fun this year. So here's what we were -

Dave - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".  Dave's always loved this song (he also really likes "A Day in the Life" but we weren't sure how to do that). and it was pretty easy to come up with a costume for it. He's been growing out his hair all month for the occasion and combed it out. He wore a gray suit with white shirt and black tie, which is what the Beatles favored wearing in their early years. We used Cal's old guitar that broke and covered it with wood looking wall paper. Then Dave used stickers to put the name of the song on it. We cut out and laminated a bunch of tear drops to attach to the guitar. "I look from the wings At the play you are staging While my guitar gently weeps. 'Cause I'm sitting here Doing nothing but aging Still my guitar gently weeps."

Mel - "Yellow Submarine". Arguably one of the Beatles' most famous songs, no one else wanted to be this so I naturally had to do it! We got a large box from the furniture store, I used a picture from the music video/album cover, and cut, spray painted, painted, and used marker to outline 2 of these submarines. I made a quick headband, got my yellow glasses and was ready to dive into my Halloween costume. "As we live a life of ease Every one of us (every one of us) Has all we need (has all we need) Sky of blue (sky of blue) And sea of green (sea of green) In our yellow (in our yellow) Submarine (submarine, aha)."

Emma - "Blackbird". This is such a beautiful Beatles song! Emma really got into the costume making for this one. We made a mask out of a standard white masquerade type, added a beak, painted it black, added lace, sequins and feathers of course. She wore a black dress with black fishnet stockings, some fake black nails, we made some feather cuffs, and she had black feathers of course, too. She also had a cute necklace with some of the lyrics on it. "Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

Cal - "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".  Cal thought their costumes they wore for this album cover and music video was pretty epic and liked the idea of wearing a fake mustache. We made his costume from a red satin-type material, some ornate silver trims, used some sponges and scrap fabric to make his shoulder pads, and used some graduation cords to wrap around his arm. We also printed out the logo and put it on our Playskool drum we have. Although he liked his costume, he said he thought he looked more Hispanic than English, lol. "I don't really want to stop the show But I thought that you might like to know That the singer's gonna sing a song And he wants you all to sing along."  

Lucy - "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". Of course...this was a no brainer! Ok, so I know this is a drug song, like most of their later songs, but we are focusing on Lucy here, not that part of it. Grandma Sue helped print out the logo for her shirt, which I designed. Emma and Lucy made her crown out of a headband we already had, some cardboard, cotton balls, and lots of faux diamonds. We got her a starry, sparkly skirt and she used her blue star pants she already had. She really liked her costume, even though she said none of the kids at school knew who she was, except for one girl. Lots of the teachers did though and apparently, the teachers were all talking about our family's costumes. "Picture yourself in a boat on a river With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly A girl with kaleidoscope eyes."

Covey - "I am the Walrus".  Covey got a kick out of this one and was so excited to wear his costume. I didn't use any patterns this year, just formed them around existing clothes. I used Cov's pajamas to figure out a pattern for these. We used fleece, felt, faux fur, and some iron on eyes and Cov was ready. Again, many thought he was just a walrus, but he responded, I'm not a Walrus, I am the Walrus!" And then he or sometimes Sydnie would say or sing part of the lyrics, and some would get it, others not. That song is just a bunch of nonsense, like many of their later songs, but it's fun. "I am the egg man They are the egg men I am the walrus Koo koo kachoo!"  

Sydnie - "Strawberry Fields Forever".  This costume turend out adorable! Again, Grandma helped make the vinyl for her shirt with a logo on it. We pinned lots of felt strawberries to a green tutu, she wore green and white striped pajamas, and wore a bow embellished with a strawberry and some strawberry slides. Many thought she was Stawberry Shortcake but she'd start singing "Strawberry Fields Forever".  Again, some figured it out and thought she was the cutest, and others were just confused but still thought she was the cutest. "Let me take you down 'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever."

We threw together lots of easy Halloween themed snacks and meals. So many fun ideas out there and lots that I came up with off the cuff. Covey's teacher asked me to make cookies for his class, and he helped a lot and is quite a fine baker. Sydnie helped a lot too and some of the others came up with ideas as well. We also made some fun "ghost poop" cards with white Tic Tacs for our family, and Emma and I made some candy bar mummies for the sisters we minister to. 

We were able to do our pumpkins the week of Halloween. Sydnie painted her mini pumpkin, cut it up, and put toothpicks in it. Coverton carved out a scary face and added lots of stitches. He kept saying how proud he was of it and that it was the best pumpkin he'd ever done. Lucy's sunflower pumpkin took two nights to complete and turned out super cute. Callahan carved a ESB (for Epic Singlet Boi) pumpkin. Emma did a couple. Emma's was a cat silhouette in a heart, and she also carved a fun face into the back of Lucy's the following night. We did a Beatles logo pumpkin, as we've usually done something that goes along with our costumes. We admired each other's pumpkins, then we went and put them outside. In the morning when it was time to leave, we noticed all of our pumpkins had rolled all around and some of them were missing. The deer decided the pumpkins would be their dinner and so we never really got to enjoy seeing them. The kids said their friends at school said you never put pumpkins out until Halloween here because of that reason. Oh well, we had fun carving them anyways and luckily got pictures.

Sydnie got to have a Halloween party at her preschool. They even had a little program for the parents at the end, where they sang some songs and recited a few poems. They were adorable! We also went back the next night to trick-or-treat. They had some fun things they passed out and we had fun visiting with the teachers and some of the other families who go to preschool there.

The Friday before Halloween, Dave got to dress up to go to work, and the youngers did for school. Come to find out, the olders could've too. They let them here!  We went to the parade at the elementary school, which was super fun. It was well organized and each of the kids got a chance in the spotlight where their teacher announced their name and what they were dressed as. They had the gym decorated fun, with Halloween music playing and they even had a fog machine. We loved seeing the adorable kids in costumes! Some of the teacher and staff at the elementary school said things like "You're raising them right!" "Your family is killing it!" "That is Facebook worthy!"  After school, they had the business trick-or-treat here. Some of the businesses went all out, like one of the realty companies who did a full-on Wizard of Oz theme and decorated the place amazingly!  Others had funny things, like one business had a man inside a coffin holding candy and sometimes he'd start talking or jump out after acting dead. We enjoyed going into some stores we'd never been into before and seeing the kids in costume out and about. We got lots of comments about our costumes, like usual. We also took some pictures as a family and individuals. We went for the Abbey Road vibes for our family group shot. Then we just took the others where we felt it would match. At one place, we got to play their arcade games and they were giving out pizza. Some gave out full sized candy bars, so the kids thought that was great.  It was a fun night. We went home and finished eating, then watched Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Saturday, we got to go to Utah! The kids were so excited we live close enough to do this, especially as Halloween was on a weekend. In Utah (and here we hear), they trick-or-treat on Saturday if Halloween is on a Sunday. The kids went down with Grandma Sue while Dave & I finished up on our condo cleaning to get ready for the next rental. Then we went to Grandma Di & Grandpa Scotts where Mark, Mayela, Amber, Amy, Kolby, Boji and Kanon, and also lifelong friend Steven and his kids were there. We had chili with witches broomsticks, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, veggie tray, chips and salsa, apple cider and a pumpkin pie bundt cake and ice cream. So good, we were stuffed! We had fun talking, espcially hearing about Amy & Kolby's Disneyland adventures, as they had just returned. The kids played around and we had a good time. Then we went over to the Bountiful Main Street trick-or-treat. It was super fun but way crowded. The weather was gorgeous! We got quite a few who got what we were dressing up as, and they appreciated our creativity so that was good. Some even gave us extra or larger candy because they loved the creativity of our costumes. We saw some other great costumes including a Jedi family who made a large Death Star costume in what looked like paper mache. Organizers asked us to be entered into the costume contest, so voting started happening online. The kids got quite a bit of candy and they liked getting books. After, we stopped in and visited with Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Carol. We love having them so close now!! They were excited to see us and Chuck joked that Callahan was Hitler. Then we were over to the Ryerses. Grandma was all dressed up in her witch costume, so awesome!  She goes all out. Then we marveled at her decorations. We had pizza for dinner, then went out to trick-or-treat at some of the neighbors. There were some great decoration displays, the kids loved the 2 liters of pop they picked up at one house, Erin & Randy came along with us for a bit, and we passed out candy for a while which was fun!  Emma, Callahan and Lucy went out longer than we did and made out like bandits. They had a good time. We told Emma it was probably her last year (she didn't even go last as she was at a party) but we let her go this year. Dave said he went until he was 16 or so, and Grandma Sue said she and her friends always say they'd rather have the teens out trick-or-treating in the open instead of at a party doing who knows what. So she went but her trick-or-treat days are numbered. 

Sunday, we woke up and made breakfast burritos for Dave's family, then we watched our stake conference broadcast on TV, opened up the candy trading shop, played, colored, watched the Halloween Tree and hung out. When Julie & Todd's family got home from a wedding they attended, we played with the kids outside, did some sidewalk chalk and the youngest ones helped me make a graveyard dessert. They had a blast and it was yummy. We had a pot roast dinner, played Disney Scene-It and said goodbye. It was a "Hello, Goodbye" Halloween. Came and went so quick. Until next year!  Of course, we are already are scheming up next year's costumes.