Bowdenisms: costumes

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Haunted House of Bowden

I said to a friend recently, "If Christmas wasn't already my Christmas, Halloween would be my Christmas!" Costumes, candy, crafts, decorations, treats, books, movies, songs...and the PUMPKIN THINGS!!! There's just so much to love about this season! (and yes- Halloween is a season, not just a day!) I mean sure, there are parts of Halloween I don't like (scary or gory stuff) but for the most part...it's all fun!

We of course did the big stuff big...like hitting up as many fall festivals as we could, and dressing up no less than three times (unless you count spooky jammies or jack-o-lantern tee's as dressing up...because in that case some of us dressed up just about every day in October) and doing a few trick or treat outings. (That stuff could be several blog posts all on their own...but my blog backlog is deeeeeeeep...maybe someday...)

But this time around we did the little stuff up big too, trying to pack in as much festive fun as we could in one month. The kids were marvelously into it all, excited for all things spooky (just not too spooky) which made it pretty much irresistible for me (as if I wasn't all in already). They're in such a fun stage where they're young enough to still find magic in the simplest things (a family walk around the neighborhood where we counted all the pumpkins we saw was a big hit...and don't get them started on the joy of lawn inflatables!) but also old enough to be able to actually participate in things (I lost track of the festive treats we baked, and crafts we made...they couldn't get enough!)

With such an enthusiastic group of enablers, I felt the freedom to get a bit more into decorating for the season than I have in the past. I don't go crazy with the themed decor (honestly I think I deserve some sort of medal based on the number of adorable pumpkin tchotchkes I didn't buy on my most recent trip to Homegoods) but I pulled out some things we've had for parties in previous years, and added a few pieces to our collection (including: some colored lights, a DIY mouse-filled pumpkin, a "Mumkin" I managed to kill almost immediately, and a Frankenstein pillowcase Miller was too scared to sleep with).

I'll admit it maybe got a little out of hand once the "Spooky Tree" came out of storage...but I won't say I regret it. I'm a loyalist to the Kon Mari school of holiday celebrations: Does it spark joy? Then do it. (I may be taking some liberties with the way her principles are intended to be applied...but this tree sure does make me happy!)

I can sometimes be guilty of trying to pack our lives full of too many good things, so I have to be careful not to tip the balance from festive fun to frantic mess (it's a fine line...) But other than maaaaaaaybe buying about 7 too many Halloween books (to go with the probably 17 too many we already owned) I'd say I landed on the right side of the scales. No one suffered an acute sugar-overdose, and we got all the pumpkins out of the house before they rotted. WIN.

It was a month full of silly, spooky, over-the-top, cluttered-up, pumpkin-scented fun...and while it may not be my Christmas, Halloween did bring me a spirit of Thanksgiving. It's a wonderful(ly weird) life.

p.s. more decor peeks (#houseofbowden), and Halloween haunts (#costumeweekspooktacular) on the 'gram. (aka: where I do 98% of my "blogging" these days).

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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Piper's Party Animals

We just celebrated Piper's fourth birthday last weekend (and it was a blast!) but as I went through my pics to share them here, I realized (again...) that I still haven't posted Piper's second birthday party! So before we catch up to real time...let's hop in the way-back machine to celebrate: #pipstaturnstwo.

After going all out for Piper's first birthday, the bar was set kinda high for her second round (in my mind anyway...I'm pretty sure she was oblivious). She probably would have been happy with a cupcake and some balloons, but I love throwing a party, so I was pretty set on making a big deal of our big girl. I did want to temper some of the madness though...(we were still adjusting to life with two kids, after all) so we decided to do a party for just family, hosted at my mom's house. But lucky for me, even our immediate family is pretty big, so it turned into quite the bash.

For the theme- because you know I gotta have a theme!- I went with one of Piper's favorite things at the time: animals! (or "animoes" as she referred to them). It was a mish-mash of circus and safari, with a dash of Halloween, and it turned out perfectly wild.

I managed to keep things pretty simple...we pretty much invited people to hang out, eat some food, and have some low-key fun. Oh...but costumes were pretty much mandatory. (We provided ears/hats/antennae/tails for everyone to get in on the animal accessory fun). A two year old's attention span is about two minutes long, so I didn't bother planning out activities or games. I figured as long as she got some cake and some presents, she'd consider it a win.

The main star of the party (besides the guest of honor of course) was the coloring wall. I found a zoo themed coloring page online, and had it printed out HUGE on our fancy printer at work. It served as the decor, the activity, and a photobooth backdrop. We hung it up, set out some crayons, and let the kids (and adults) go to town.

It was a big hit...everyone seemed to get in on the action, and it kept all the kids entertained while the rest of us got to hang out a bit.

(My family is full of some really good sports...)

The other star of the party...the homemade cake:

Oh. Ha.

yeahhhhhhhh....

I had a vision. And a plan. But then......

nooooooooo....

It clearly wasn't going well, but I was pretty sure I could fix it with some sprinkles.

I was....wrong.
To say it was an epic fail would be an understatement.

I can't even explain how horribly wrong it went (I mean, you can see it). It's almost an accomplishment to do something so spectacularly bad. I tried to laugh it off, because in the end, it's just a cake, and it was for a two year old, but I still felt bad to have the centerpiece of her party be such a wreck. So my mom and I spackled it together with an extra couple cans of frosting, doused it in sprinkles, hid the sides with a tiny animal parade, found a semi-photogenic angle and prayed it wouldn't slide off the plate before the candle was blown out.

Not bad, right?
Considering where it started...and the terrible turn it took...I was happy it was even slightly presentable!

And predictably, Piper didn't care one bit. She actually was pretty thrown off by the whole birthday song portion of the evening. I think it was overwhelming for her to have that many people all looking at her, and taking pictures. We helped her blow out the candle, and she eventually warmed up to it all.

All in all, it was an awesome day. Just enough festive touches to make me happy, with a laid back vibe to make me really happy. We all just hung out, chatted, ate, laughed, took pictures, and held babies...Not a bad way to spend a day.