I'm just sitting here on the evening before Halloween, thinking about all the Happy Halloweens past, and decided to wax nostalgic blog about some of them. It has everything to do with all the great memories I have of my daughter, Jennifer dressing up at Halloween and taking her Trick-or-Treating. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that writing this post gets me an entry into a contest to win a fantabulous Canon Rebel T2i camera via the SITS Halloween Party Giveway. OK, well, maybe it has a little something to do with the camera giveaway. But as I do enjoy thinking about happy memories of my daughter's childhood, I may as well blog about it. And if it also gives me the chance to win a camera, is there really anything wrong with that? I think not.
One of Jennifer's first Halloweens that she dressed up for was when she was 2. Money was really tight, so even buying a costume was asking a lot of us that year. So I improvised a bit. She already had a new pink footy-sleeper, so I just bought some bunny ears and a tail, and sewed the tail onto the sleeper. And voila: instant bunny. She was darn cute too, if I do say so myself.
Sorry for the less than quality photos here...these were taken back in the day. You know, PD (Pre-Digital). So these are scan and post pics that were originally taken with whatever sort of crappy camera I could afford at the time. If nothing else, at least they present a snapshot of my costume-clad daughter through the years, grainy as they might be, along with the state of photographic technology during her childhood.
Another Happy Halloween memory was the year that Jennifer wanted to be Cat Woman. This was the same year the Batman movie came out that featured Michelle Pfeiffer as the sex kitten feline villain who was hot and bothered for the caped crusader. And Holy Bimbos, Batman! She was hot, even to me (but lets just keep that between us, shall we?) Cat Woman costumes were not cheap, but since I was (and still am), I figured I'd just buy the Cat Woman mask and make the rest of the costume for Jennifer myself. I think it turned out pretty good. With some black clothes and some mock-leather fabric and a little white dimensional fabric paint, Jennifer was the spitting image of Cat Woman, yeah, even if I do say so myself.
Please be sure to note the loud carpet in the above photo. The house we lived in at the time was our first home, and I believe that carpet was original to the house. I like roses as much as the next gal, but I'm sorry, they do not belong on living room carpet. You might also spy the VCR behind Jennifer on the entertainment center. And on the left, what do we have? Oh yes, it's a stereo...with cassette players. Show that pic to anyone under 10 who lives in your house and you can have some fun while they try to figure out exactly what they're seeing. ;)
And finally, there was the year that Jennifer wanted to be transported to the 50's and wear a poodle skirt. And yes, being the cheap crafty gal that I am, I once again made her costume. Well, I made the skirt anyway. And even though the 50's was actually before my time, I think Jennifer made the picture-perfect-poodle-skirted girl of the 50's. Yes, if I do say so myself.
I'll also point out that in this photo, Jennifer is standing in the same living room as the Cat Woman photo. We managed to jump in to the then-20th Century and get new carpet by that time. We even put wainscoting and wallpaper on the walls by then. And yet we still managed to keep the tired entertainment center, the VCR, and even the stereo with cassette players.
But hey, I just want everyone to know that I had one of the first DVD players on my block...one that holds 3 DVD's at one time instead of just one. And, um, yeah, I still have it too. It's gotta be over 10 years old by now, but it's still kicking! Blu Ray, you say? Ha! Who needs it?! I couldn't care less about Blu Ray. OK, well, maybe I would like a Blu Ray player, almost as much as I'd like the new refrigerator I keep lobbying the Hubs for. But it can wait. I've got time, and I'm not running low on my finely-tuned nagging abilities either.
So anyhoots, these are my memories of some of my favorite Halloweens with my favorite daughter, Jennifer. [Relax, I'm not really playing favorites. She's an only child.] Hope you enjoyed my waltz down Trick-or-Treat Memory Lane. It was definitely a fun waltz...even if I do say so myself.
Happy Halloween!