Halloween 2014 - Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans characters

You can't buy Clash of Clans costumes anywhere. We tried. The only way to get one is to make one.

I broke the sewing needle twice making these outfits, but they still turned out pretty good. I was working very quickly, so I found I sewed myself into a corner a few times, but mostly I was able to create each item as I had envisioned. We got most of the clothing items at Value Village. The wizard robe is a hoodie from the women's section, trimmed with strips of an old pillow case. We found the perfect little green outfit there that worked for the archer, and then I found a green women's camisole that I could cut into a cape, keeping one of the straps to hold it around Katie's neck. The belts, the quiver and the satchel are all made from a single brown table-runner I got at the dollar store. Scott's wizard buckle is made from wood dowel and screws. Katie's buckle is made from heavy-gauge baling wire. The ball of flame is actually the crazy hair from some scary looking rubber mask that R found and then crumpled up so you could only see the top.



Wizard




Archer




I only broke the needle on the sewing machine twice while making these accessories. I bought a brown table runner from Dollarama and used every scrap of it to make these items.


At Great Grandma & Grandpa's






Sorting the Candy

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween Performance

Alli, Hayden & Scott disappeared into the basement for a long time. Eventually, they came upstairs to perform their original compositions on the subject of Halloween. One-part poetry, one-party chanting, this was performance art in its most pure form.



Afterwards, Scott spent several minutes copying out everyone's pages so that he could go home with a complete set.

Halloween

Carving Pumpkins

Magic Carpet Costume Day

Katie is not in a daily preschool program, but she does attend a weekly preschool-type program put on in the community, called "Magic Carpet." Several of the people that attend happen to be her cousins or our friends from church, so she feels really comfortable there and enjoys all the songs and activities. When we went to the dance at Scott's school, she probably thought we were going to her Magic Carpet class, so she was a bit disappointed that none of her friends were there. Well, finally the big day arrived and she was able to put on her costume and go see her friends.



She really loves to wear her princess costume. We ordered it online back in September and we showed her the picture to see if she liked it. She really liked it, so we said that we would buy it for her. For the next 2 weeks she asked every day about "my pink dress". She had a hard time understanding the mechanics of online commerce.

Candy!

Trick or Treat!

Sometimes it is hard to make a costume work for trick or treating, since you have to incorporate a whole snowsuit into the ensemble. It worked out pretty well with our kids, since Scott was able to pull his costume over his snowsuit, and it just made the fake muscles look that much bigger.



Katie's princess outfit was a bit more challenging. It was pretty easy to hide her purple snowpants under her skirt, but there was no way to squeeze her coat under the top part of the dress.



Instead, we had her wear the pink faux-leather-and-fur coat that she inherited from her cousin Lacey and that helped create a really nice "snow princess" look. We added a white headband over her ears and some big purple mittens and she was ready to tour the neighbourhood.



Our first stop was the retirement home where Great Grandma and Grandpa M live. It was obvious that they were very pleased to have so many family members coming to see them. The kids were popular with the rest of the residents as well. One lady gave us two whole boxes of girl guide cookies, which seemed to be all that she had up in her room. I felt bad taking all her cookies, but they were then kind I really like, so it was a catch-22.



I love getting pictures of the kids with their great grandparents.




Once the cousins had all had a chance to show off their costumes, we piled into the cars again and headed over to R's parents' house to walk their street. We quickly split into groups based on age, and Katie and Adalia stayed together, waddling along from house to house. They would scream out "Trick or Treat" at each house and most of the ladies answering the door would shriek in delight at how tiny Adalia was. Then Adalia would say something like "Trick or Treat" or "Thank you" and they would just melt. Those little girls were so cute.

Halloween Dance

Scott's elementary school held a Halloween dance one evening the week before Halloween and we decided to attend -- it added another exciting opportunity for the kids to get decked out in their new costumes.



While Scott was in class, R styled Katie's hair and even painted her nails. Katie was very cooperative, because she loves things to be pretty, especially when she is the thing that is pretty.



Once Scott came home, it was his turn in the chair. Since no masks are permitted at the dance, R recreated his Power Rangers Samurai mask with make-up. I think she did a fantastic job. Scott was thrilled.



We snapped a few pictures before heading off to the school, and you could tell that both kids felt transformed by their costumes. Scott threw around some pretty aggressive poses with his sword, and Katie kept her movements delicate, often spinning to twirl her skirts around. She had misunderstood the plans, thinking that she was going to HER school to dance with HER friends, so she was a bit thrown by the noisy reality of the event, but it was great all the same.