Ghostbusters, Patsy, and Ghouls...oh MY!!

Okay, I admit it, I LOVE Halloween. Maybe it's the fond memories I have of scoring several pounds of candy in an old pillowcase while wandering all over Canoga Park with my chums as a child, or maybe it's the even fonder memories I have of Halloweens spent with my own children, but I just love Halloween! And now it's even BETTER, cause I get to watch my completely adorable grandchildren dress up and extort their share of candy from the extraordinarily kind people who live in their neighborhood. That's Hailey and Nathan in the picture above, by the way, since I know you couldn't guess just by looking at them. Where's Connor? Well, he had a costume malfunction and decided he'd rather be Spiderman than a medieval knight, so his picture will come later in this post.

SO, it was quite a shock when I called to check on my other completely adorable grandbaby, Hannah, only to find that her FATHER had decided to blow Halloween off this year. OH. MY. GOSH. This is mutiny. This is violating the prime directive. This is just plain un-VerHoef. While Jacey and I attempted to guilt him into purchasing a last minute costume (hell, a $1.00 set of fairy wings at the dollar store is better than nothing), I started thinking about some of the costumes I made for my children when they were little and we were broke. This one is one of my favorites:
This is Annike in 1980--is she just the cutest thing you have EVER seen, or what? Randy and I were starving students and, as you can see, baby number two (Bryan) was on the way so this costume consisted of her pink footed sleeper, two pink construction paper ears attached with pink yarn, and a wad of cotton balls glued to her bum. Perfect! She cleaned up on candy that night (most of which her father ate "just to be sure it wasn't poisoned.")

Later on, after Bryan and BJ's arrival, we had more disposable income, but we lived in Spain where Halloween was only celebrated in our little American enclave and not only was it tough to find costumes, by that time I sort of enjoyed the challenge of pulling together a costume from whatever we had lying around the house at the time. If the kids objected, I don't remember them verbalizing it. Anyway, this is Halloween 1987:

Aren't they too cute?!!! "Superman" ended up wearing his sister's red tights, his own underpants, shirt, and rain boots. A piece of red fabric pinned to his shirt served as an excellent cape. The "Ghostbuster" was every bit as easy--black rain boots, gray pants and shirt, hand-drawn logo stuck to his shirt with fusible webbing, and a "trap" fashioned from a Velveeta cheese box. It just doesn't get any better than this! They scored SIGNIFICANT candy that year. (and yes, Dad ate the requisite "just to be sure it isn't poisoned" amount, but by this time, the kids were wiser. They hid most of it.)

Now, lest you think that Halloween's just for little kids, here's a few more pictures to prove you wrong. The first is of darling Megan, somewhere around 2001, with her BFF Stephanie Snell, dressed in matching fairy costumes handcrafted by my mother (who, incidentally, sewed some of the most beautiful costumes you've ever seen).

And that was he-who-must-not-be-named, who actually let MY youngest grandbaby go costume-less this Halloween. I don't have a date for this picture, but it's a classic. He was in high school at the time (or maybe just after) and if you're a Monty Python fan, you should have recognized Patsy instantly....

Oh, and since this is an equal opportunity embarassment blog for ALL my children, I should let you know that I have an EXCELLENT picture of Bryan and Jacey on their way to a Halloween party somewhere around 2003, in their best "Spy Who Shagged Me" costumes. Let's take a vote, shall we, in your comments, as to whether or not I should add it to this collection.....hehehe...

Ain't Halloween grand??!!!!