Harry Potter Halloween Costumes + Giveaway

Hi! It's Jilly. I am a bad blogger and never posted about my kids' HALLOWEEN costumes! I even did their little photo shoot several days before Halloween so I could post it "on time". But, I'm lame and I didn't. Life is just so busy sometimes! But, their costumes were so awesome that I can't go without showing them to you!

Halloween Home Decor

Hi! It's Jilly. For over a week my daughter Katelynn was begging and begging me to get our Halloween decorations up. She was afraid we would be the last ones with our decorations up. Ha ha! #bloggerkidproblems

So, I got out our box of "Fall" decor and let her have at it. She did a great job. I only helped a little bit! Not too shabby for a nine-year old!

She added our DIY Sorting Hat from the kids' Harry Potter birthday party to the display.

The kids had fun drawing silly stuff on our family picture with dry erase markers.

She put one of the magic wands from the party in the skeleton's hand. I thought that was hilarious!

It's helpful being married to a podiatrist when decorating for Halloween. Lots of bone models to be had. Ha ha!

The framed burlap pumpkin we made last year ended up on top of the piano.


I'm glad Katelynn pushed me to get the Halloween decorations out. The house looks so much more festive now!

Click below to check out how we switched last year from Halloween to Thanksgiving decorations, including a free Thanksgiving printable!


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Halloween to Thanksgiving Decor Switch-A-Roo and FREE Thanksgiving Printable

Hi! It's Jilly. Thanksgiving is sneaking up on us fast. It will be here before we know it! I love decorating for Halloween, but I also like decorating for Thanksgiving. So, what I do when I decorate for Halloween is use a lot of "fall" looking things, like pumpkins and fall leaves, then sprinkle in a few spooky things, like black cats and skeletons. Thanks for the foot bone models, podiatrist hubby!



After Halloween I take down the spooky stuff and add in a few "Thanksgiving"ish things.

Halloween Candy Buy Back

Hi! It's Jilly. Are you tired of the kids, and yourself, grazing on Halloween candy and are ready to get that candy out of the house?! Well, one option is to donate it to the troops serving in the Middle East. It's called Halloween Candy Buyback.

Every year dentists all over the country collect candy and send it overseas. In exchange for your donation they give you a reward, like prizes, restaurant gift certificates, or even cash! We've done this a couple of times. One year we got little prizes and another year we got certificates for a free kid's meal at Red Robin!

DIY Princess Buttercup Costume from The Princess Bride

Hi! It's Jilly. This year my kids decided to be characters from The Princess Bride for Halloween. I already shared with you Michael's Dread Pirate Roberts costume and Katelynn's Inigo Montoya costume. I know Halloween is technically over, but I couldn't pass up showing you Emma's Princess Buttercup costume! Just "pin" it for next year. ;)

To make her costume I looked though the women's nightgowns, housecoats, and robes at the Salvation Army to find the perfect thing to craft into her Buttercup dress. Because Buttercup's dress has really flowy, droopy sleeves, I knew that a women's size dress would work.

DIY Inigo Montoya Costume from The Princess Bride

Hi! It's Inigo Montoya Jilly. Last week I showed you Michael's Dread Pirate Roberts costume, which I am in love with. Now you get to see Katelynn's Inigo Montoya costume!

This costume was super easy, too. What you need:

Chocolate Drizzled Halloween Oreo Popcorn

Hi! It's Jilly. I LOVE Oreos. And, I LOVE popcorn. What could be better than combining the two?! This Chocolate Drizzled Halloween Oreo Popcorn is so easy to put together, and so yummy!

Ingredients:
1/4 C popcorn kernels
3 TB oil - I prefer coconut, but you can use vegetable or canola
OR 1 bag of microwave popcorn
8-10 Halloween Oreos, crushed
1 C dark chocolate melting wafers
Halloween sprinkles
Salt to taste

DIY Costume: The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride

Hi! It's Jilly. Lately my kids have been OBSESSED with The Princess Bride. Like, crazy obsessed. So, they decided to all be characters from the movie for Halloween.

Michael is going to be Westley, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts. He's been pestering me for at least two weeks about putting together his costume. As you wish. ;)

His costume was SO stinkin' easy to put together! Definitely a great costume choice!

What You Need:
A black dress shirt. Any long sleeved, collared shirt will do.
Black pants or leggings. Michael is wearing a pair of the girls' black leggings. (Shh...don't tell.)
Black boots. Are you sensing a theme here?
A black bandana, or a piece of black fabric. A "doo-rag" would work, too.
A black eye mask. I got mine from Joann's for, like, one or two dollars.
A black belt. (Not the karate kind, silly) Michael is wearing one of my skinny belts. Ha!
A sword. One with a sheath/scabbard is preferrable.
A fake mustache, or some brown or black eyeliner to draw one on.

I'm not going to do a "tutorial", 'cause it's pretty self-explanatory. All these things can be found either in your closet, at the thrift shop, at a craft store, the dollar store, or can be borrowed from a friend. I love swapping accessories with friends at Halloween!

There you have it, folks. One Dread Pirate Roberts, ready to sail the high seas, fight off ROUS's in the Fire Swamp, and save Princess Buttercup!

And now...more pictures! Aah! I love 'em!

"Mom, remember that time when his sword got stuck in the ground and he picked it up like this?"

Seriously the cutest Dread Pirate Roberts ever! Sorry, Cary Elwes.

What are YOU going to be for Halloween? 

Are you following me on Facebook or Twitter yet? Well, you should. It'll be awesome!

Love these parties!

It's Weekend Blog Walk Time!

Hi! It's Jilly. Is it seriously Friday?! When holidays are in the middle of the week it always throws me off! Did you go trick-or-treating? It was raining here, so we went trick-or-treating at the mall. You walk from store to store and get candy. NOT as profitable, my friends! It seemed like half the stores ran out of candy early, and you only get one piece of candy per store. 

Oh, well. That's less candy hanging around the house, which is probably a good thing for me! Although, I was planning on having the kids do the Halloween Candy Buyback and donate a bunch of their candy to the troops serving in the Middle East. But, since the kids only got a few pieces that doesn't really work. Perhaps next year.

Now, it's time for the Weekend Blog Walk! Thank you for linking up every week. It's fun to see the growth of the Walk, and the interaction between the participants! If it's your first time on the Walk, Welcome! 

Leave me a comment saying you're a first-timer so I can check out your blog! Of course, you can leave a comment just to say, "Hi!", too. I love me some comments! Without further adieu...Let's get this Blog Walk rollin'!

P.S. -- Today is Jenna from Call Her Happy's birthday! She is one of our lovely co-hosts. So, be sure to visit her and leave her some bloggy love! :D

Weekend Blog Walk

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Halloween Costume Flash Back!

Hi! It’s Jilly. Thank you for all your concerns! The storm seems to have passed by us! We are dry and have power! But, we are still praying for those in areas affected more than we were!

I thought it would be fun to look at all the costumes the kids have had since they were babies for (almost) Wordless Wednesday. I showed you some of their past costumes in this post, but it’s fun to see all the costumes from Halloweens past!

* 2005 *

Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Woody. All costumes are from Build-A-Bear Workshop, including Snow White’s wig! (Yes, they were small enough to fit into bear costumes when they were babies!)

* 2006 *

All three were spiders, with black knee-highs stuffed with cotton pinned to black onesies. Yeah, I was super tired that year! This is the only picture I got.

* 2007 *

A Zebra, a Kangaroo (with a Joey in the pouch!), and a Pink Poodle! My sister-in-law got these cute costumes for them from Old Navy. They were nice and warm for trick-or-treating in Utah!

* 2008 *

Princesses and a Dinosaur. Boy really wanted to be a giraffe, but I couldn’t find yellow or brown sweats to make his costume anywhere! Luckily we were cruising the aisles at Joann’s a couple days before Halloween and he fell in love with this dinosaur costume. The kids still wear it around the house!!

* 2009 *

This year we had princess fairies and a pirate. This picture of M cracks me up! “Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me…”

* 2010 *

A Ladybug Princess, Snow White, and “The radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker and made him become Spiderman”. Ha ha!

* 2011 *

 

A Watermelon Fairy, a Clown, and a Pirate. I love how E’s watermelon leaf headband turned out!

* 2012 *

 

A Ladybug Ballerina, a Doctor, and a Werewolf. K originally wanted to be Ariel, but changed her mind at the last minute, thank goodness! She loves wearing Daddy’s old white coat and ID badge!

Oh, and I dressed up as Effie Trinket, or just a general Capitol resident. You like?

What are you guys doing for Halloween?

 

Wordless Wednesday Linky Parties:

Homegrown Families, My Organized Chaos, Fresh Mommy Blog, In Him We Live and Move and Have Our Being, YesVideo, Erika Price Designs, MamaDweeb, Mom Caboodle, Not Just Another Mom of Twins, Sincerely, Paula, Amanda’s Books and More, Crafty Spices, Nanny to Mommy

Decorating for Fall

Hi! It’s Jilly. Sometimes I feel like I’m always 2 or 3 steps behind. I got some fall decorations up a week or two ago, but I’m just now blogging about it!



Why yes, I DO still have a wedding picture in that picture frame. Hey, I’m lucky to have Halloween decorations up at all, okay?!



One of my favorite parts is the “Boo!” pennant banner. A few years ago a few friends and I got together once a month to do a seasonal craft. We each brought all the supplies to do a simple, inexpensive craft. This banner was my contribution. Amazingly it has lasted all these years!



I’m afraid you can’t see it very well, but the font I used was “Circus”. It adds a whimsical quality, but is still a little spooky! It’s pretty easy to figure out by looking at it, but if you’d like instructions to make the banner, just shoot me an email at hiitsjilly@gmail.com.


I got that”R” pumpkin on clearance after Thanksgiving at Hobby Lobby for 90% off!! And, the vases were on clearance in the garden dept at Home Depot at the end of summer a couple years ago. You never know where you’re going to find great stuff!



I love the little black cat. You can put a tealight candle in it and the eyes glow! I love the pumpkin, too. Awesome clearance find at Joann’s one year.



Yes, I went through and picked out all the red, yellow, brown, and orange Pretzel M&Ms. Ridiculous, I know. Hey! Looks like someone’s been eating those! It wasn’t me (this time).

Like the bone? I used some of Hubby’s old foot and leg models from school. Being married to a podiatrist isn’t all bad. ;)



I got the cauldron from Target last year. It came with some nasty, super sweet drink mix. But, because it had drink mix in it I was able to buy it with food stamps. Sweet!

Over the years while we were in med school I came up with some pretty  creative things to buy that were covered by food stamps because they had food attached. A salad dressing bottle, toys, movie tickets…Maybe I should tell you guys all about it sometime.

The creepy stuff coming out of the cauldron is…CORN SILK! K arranged it herself! Maybe I have a future decorator on my hands. Or, some other profession that involves draping corn silk on caldrons. Hmmm…

I hope you guys enjoyed a little slice of Fall at my house! Follow along on Facebook or Twitter to see more goodies from me!

Halloween Costume Planning- It’s About Time!

Hi! It’s Jilly. Yesterday I looked at the calendar and said, “Yikes!! It’s almost Halloween!! I have NO idea what the kids want to dress up as this year!”

So, I asked the kids. E said right away, “I want to be a ladybug ballerina!” Uhm…what?!?! That kid comes up with something crazy every year. Last year she was a watermelon fairy.

Yeah, I didn't know what that was, either.  I had to wing it. (Wing it?! Ha ha ha…) But, every year a tutu of some sort seems to be involved.

Amazingly enough, a ladybug ballerina is ACTUALLY a THING! You learn something new everyday, I guess. I like to make the kids’ costumes every year, so I will be using this costume as my inspiration.

This little tutu is way cute, too.

K always surprises me with her costume choices. Some years she wants to be the same as E, like a couple years ago when they were princess fairies. (I’m seeing a ‘fairy’ trend here…)

This year she decided she wants to be Ariel. That should be easy enough to put together. I’ll fashion some seashells out of felt, and I haven’t decided about the “fins” yet. 

I LOVE this tutorial from Living the Creative Life. It is SO darling, and I think I could actually do it!

image from Living the Creative Life

M has been a pirate a couple of times. He actually used the same vest and bandanna both years. Ha ha!

 One year he was “The radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker and made him become Spiderman". Where do kids come up with this stuff?! This year he wants to be a  werewolf. And no, I’m not a huge Twilight fan, so that’s not where he got it!

I thought this costume was pretty cool, but I don’t want to buy a costume. Like I said, I like to make them myself.

I love this little homemade werewolf costume. Thrifty and cute. My favorite kind of costume!

As I make each costume I will let you in on what I do, so you can have your own ladybug ballerina, Ariel, and werewolf running around your house!

What are YOU and YOUR kids going to be for Halloween?! Spill it in the comments! :)

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I might be linking up with these parties, if I have my act together. Ha ha!