The Bub in the Belly: halloween

Showing posts with label halloween. Show all posts

Monday, November 3, 2014

Halloween 2014

Posted by Pinkie Pirate at 11:59 PM

For Halloween this year, we went trick-or-treating, followed by a potluck neighbourhood street party! It was fantastic! The neighbourhood really came together and made it such a great night. Have a look!

Ryan went as Peter Pan, which was his costume from two years ago. As you can see, it still fits him perfectly. Babydoll went as a Bollywood star, of course. Heh heh. Completely un-Halloweeny. I've got to get them good and proper scary and spooky costumes next year.

We were in the first group of trick-or-treaters. There were many more groups after us, even after the sun went down and the potluck dinner began. The adults got into the act as well, with many of them dressing to fit the occasion. Some even dressed their dogs up! Some who lived a little further away, drove their fully-spooked up cars to the party. It was absolutely fabulous.

Babydoll was a little scared at first, when she saw all the monsters, zombies, and other bloody creatures. I had to carry her into the first few houses - she was brave enough then to go up to the scary host to take (just one piece of) candy, haha. She was all right after a while, after seeing how much fun everyone was having and how harmless all the scary people were. Ryan had the time of his life, following the crowd and collecting as much candy as he liked. He wasn't scared at all, even as he noted which houses were spookier than the rest.

It was a fantastic evening!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Halloween party at Art Bug

Posted by Pinkie Pirate at 11:59 PM

The Halloween party at Art Bug last Thursday was a load of fun and we had a blast!

I took leave from the office because it was a very busy day. Ryan had an audition earlier in the day and had to be chauffeured to and from his nanny's. I had to make a stop at the Law Society to get something done and then decided I might as well make a stop in the office to pump (my breast pump was in the office and the office is pretty near the Law Society). In between all this shuttling about, I was sewing, sewing, sewing. All's well that end's well and we got to Art Bug in full costume, a little late, but all set to party! Rou Ern was ready and waiting for Ryan to arrive and when he did, the two of them were so pleased to see each other and started showing off their costumes!

Rou Ern was a lovely butterfly princess! She wore a beautiful tulle tutu made by Shann. Shann also painted a butterfly on her face. Magical! Hop over to Shann's blog to see more photos!

As promised, here are more photos of Rachel in her Princess Leia costume!

I pinched this photo from Shann!

Rachel's hair-stocking was comfortable enough to sleep in!

Another photo that I pinched from Shann!

Ryan enjoyed himself thoroughly. There was English speech-and-drama and there was Mandarin story-telling - he listened very carefully and participated eagerly in the action, especially the dancing parts!

Peter Pan and his pal, the butterfly princess!

There were also some art-and-craft stations. Ryan managed to have a go at two of them. This one was the "magic potion" station - draw some images on clear plastic, cut them out and hang them inside a clear container, fill it with coloured water and design a cover for your magic brew!

This "magic potion" activity was a little tough for Ryan because he had to stick little pieces of fishing wire onto the images but the fishing wire was quite hard to see. I had to help him out quite a lot with that. I also helped him to draw some of the images that he wanted - we ended up with a turtle, a spider, a finger, an umbrella and a rabbit. He wrote his name on the cover and chose the colour orange for the potion.

The next station Ryan tried was making a "Trick or Treat Basket". Actually, it was more like a bag. Ryan was pretty independent with this activity which involved colouring the paper bag and pasting felt shapes onto the bag. He liked this a lot and afterwards kept telling Rou Ern, "I have a bag!"

The event was very well attended and almost all the children came in costume. All the Art Bug teachers and staff were also in costume and the studio was decked out in Halloween decor. Fun, fun, fun! The party ended about 9 pm, after which we walked out in search of food. The two little ones drew a fair amount of admiring looks and amused chuckles as they paraded down the street hand-in-hand.

We ate nearby and by the end of the night, Ryan was deliriously tired (he skipped his nap that day). Still, it was obvious that he had a wonderful time, as did all of us. Thanks for inviting us, Shann!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Halloween 2012 - Princess Leia

Posted by Pinkie Pirate at 10:33 PM

Yes, Princess Leia! What do you think? I think it's pretty adorable!

I sewed the white tunic and made the hair piece. I referenced internet images of the ceremonial gown which Princess Leia wore in the very first Star Wars movie that was released in 1977. Here's what I'm talking about.

I did make some changes to accommodate a baby's figure. The collar is much wider on my version, although there is still a keyhole at the back like the movie-version. Also, my version is tunic-length instead of floor-length to accommodate those bendy baby legs.

The belt is sewn onto the front of the tunic but the two ends are left dangling free at the back so that the tunic can be cinched in slightly at the waist if necessary by "velcro-ing" or tying the ends together. The medallions on the belt are made from felt. The shapes of the medallions are true to the movie-version.

The sleeves are folded in the photo above - they're actually much fuller, like trumpet sleeves. You can see them in later photos in this post.

The hair - the signature element of the costume - is a lady's pantyhose/stocking. I stuffed the stocking legs with batting, wound them up and sewed each one to the side. Although the hair is the most important element of the costume, I think I only spent about 15 minutes on it!

The white leggings are Rachel's pajamas (sshhh!!).

The tunic has an attached hood as well, just like the movie-version. In fact, it is constructed exactly like the movie-version, as in, it's not a conventional hood. Rather, it is a (somewhat) rectangular piece of cloth with the short ends sewn onto the tunic so there is an opening at the back.

I am quite pleased with the tunic because I made it a point to make a proper garment and not just cobble something together. It reminded me of why I enjoy making costumes so much - I really enjoy figuring out the construction and design, modifying it according to my vision and testing my skills in the execution. There is just one thing I would change if I were to make this all over again - I would make a hood that snaps on and off and in a lighter material.

I realised, however, that there aren't that many people who are familiar with Princess Leia. More often, they know Queen Amidala from the second Star Wars trilogy. There's a real generation gap here and I'm showing my age with this choice - I'm truly a child of the 80s! Someone also said that she looks a bit like a Chinese princess from the time of the Chinese dynasties! Oh well, I'm not discouraged - in fact, I'm even more motivated to preserve the icons of my generation in future costumes - how about some Elvis Presley or some Beatles? Or even some Michael Jackson?

I don't have as many photos of Rachel here compared to photos of Ryan in yesterday's post - it's not easy to pose a wriggly 4-month old baby, hahaha! Having said that, I have a lot more photos of Rachel at the Halloween than I have of Ryan! That's for tomorrow's post but here's an advance peek!