Halfassed Halloween Part II

Scavenging our dress up bin for costumes and more

We missed our big Halloween party weekend because one of my kids decided to have a one-day fever on the very same day of all our plans. We had just raided the closet to create our costumes because the half-assed Halloween theme continues, when my oldest started staring into space. Twenty minutes later he was shivering uncontrollably tucked under his favorite blanket for “just a little rest.” So, instead of two neighborhood block parties, we stayed home, ordered some soup, and watched Jurassic Park.

At least we stuck to the Jurassic Park theme

In other news, my kids requested that we renew Are You Scared, Darth Vader? during our trip to the library, so, if last week’s newsletter didn’t convince you to check it out, perhaps their double endorsement will.

We are heading to a pumpkin carving party tonight, and can only hope that the pumpkins we carve will last until Halloween, which yes, is only 3 days away but in our humid weather, our biggest jack-o-lantern destroyer isn’t teenagers pranking us, but mother nature herself making mushy rotted pumpkin soup out of even the best of our jack-o-lanterns. Trying to avoid the great melting of the gourds, but probably won’t resort to buying hairspray.

For those of you keeping score, so far my littlest who insists she is going to be Elsa for all the Halloween events has dressed as a “winged dragon” and as a “ballerina” but still maintained she was planning on being Elsa for Halloween proper. The suspense. The oldest is committed to his Mandalorian.

Hard posing at the school’s Trunk or Treat

Another strange byproduct of Halloween is what kind of fears it unleashes in my children. The decorations don’t seem to disturb them, they love to walk or bike around the neighborhood looking for the creepiest yards, but then when it is bedtime (of course) my oldest starts to spiral about his mortality. He doesn’t “ever want to die.” Sort of a BIG topic for 9PM, kid. Would love to discuss this with you, and be forewarned my answer will be a guaranteed disappointment (we all die someday), but let’s talk about it tomorrow, now go to sleep.

I guess there are too many skeletons and gravestones in the yards to NOT be thinking about how we will all die one day.

Last week I told you I had lots more spooky books to share! Usually, I post books we pick up from the library, and TBH I could do another Halloween theme post or two with just library titles. Instead, I’m going to show y’all which Halloween-themed books have a permanent spot on our shelves.

---

FROM THE (HOME)STAX

ROOM ON THE BROOM by Julia Donaldson Illustrated by Axel Scheffler

I recommended the movie last week and some of you chimed in that you also love it, and good news y’all, the book is just as sweet. With classic Donaldson sing-song rhyme and perhaps the sweetest of all witches, this book is going to delight both the young and old with its heartwarming story of inclusion and banding together to save a friend in need.

SPOOKY POOKIE by Sandra Boynton

A board book that may stay in our collection until the kids are in college, we love Pookie and his classic costume indecision — a feeling we know all too well. (Tonight my youngest said she wants to be a Christmas Tree for Halloween which might be her best idea yet). We also love how he raids the dress-up bin, just like us, to find the perfect DIY costume. Boynton is a bit of a baby cult-classic - and I have found that people either lean in or say no thanks, but this one is a favorite I dare you to try no matter where you land on the Boynton spectrum.

BONE SOUP by Cambria Evans

A spooky skeletal retelling of the classic Stone Soup where a friendly but feared skeleton travels the land with his cauldron on his back. The townsfolk are all monsters and the ingredients are eyeballs, bat wings, and frog legs instead of potatoes and carrots. Delightful and ghoulish while retaining the message that with a little bit of magic and a lot of sharing you can create community.

IT’S PUMPKIN DAY MOUSE! by Laura Numeroff Illustrated by Felicia Bond

If you know a little cookie-loving mouse (and even if you don’t) this is a very cute and very tame Halloween book that we have loved from our very first Halloween. Mouse is decorating when one pumpkin goes missing, and ends up being a bit of a spook! Enjoy this book for a perfect introduction to Halloween and pumpkin painting, as well as a primer on emotions as each pumpkin is decorated with an expression.

THE HALLOWEEN COSTUME PARTY by Ron Wegen

Do I love this one? Do I hate it? We found it in a little free library and I keep thinking I’ll get rid of it…and yet. And yet. Colorful and eerily odd illustrations feel very circa 1980’s in that just a titch inappropriate for the kids if you really look kind way (like most of my childhood). I mean, is that mummy on the cover strangling that witch? Is that the Donnie Darko bunny tickling the foot of Satan? This one haunts our shelves every year and just won’t quite disappear, but I like the creative reveal at the end and my kids get a kick out of it too.

---

Speaking of things that haunt and just won’t go away do y’all remember that cartoon about the cat that wouldn’t stay away? I was, admittedly, scared of most everything when I was a kid. The Muppets? Forget it, terrifying. Our founding fathers in those white wigs with their wooden teeth? Visions from nightmares. My brother could set me screaming just by whispering “The Ape, the ape, it’s behind you!” a line that I think came from a particularly terrifying (to me) Donald Duck Short. Don’t even get me started on the Muppet Musicians from Breman. I don’t care how beloved the Muppets may be, the are downright terrifying at times.

Case. In. Point.

When I revisited the Cat Came Back cartoon today, I can definitively say that sh*t is terrifying. Just. No. It is a perfect example of that inappropriate 1980’s vibe.

What irrational things sent you spinning as a kid?

As an adult, I fear that I am sometimes too glib when my child needs me to be more expansive, and sometimes too expansive when my child is looking for a simple answer. When they ask about whether boys can have long hair and I go on a diatribe about historical fashion trends, consider googling rock legend icons, and start pointing out every person’s hair length for the next three weeks while explaining cultural expectations, maybe I need to pump the breaks and just say “yes, you can have whatever hair length you want.” When they start to spiral existentially on their own mortality, maybe I should do more than suggest they “won’t die tonight so let’s carry on.” I fear the imbalanced tilt-a-whirl of parenting! What decisions did I make today that will have them questioning themselves headed to therapy tomorrow?!

Also, I still fear the Muppets.

Thanks for being here! Hope y’all get hopped up on candy and read lots of spooky books and that your hairsprayed pumpkins stay perfectly poised. See y’all soon!