Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

To liberally quote Maurice Sendak, the wild rumpus that is Halloween week has begun!

Last night we went trick-or-treating at the university. The college students do a great job of putting on a Halloween party for the local kids. Before I get into the details of that, I must post pics of the Where the Wild Things Are costume that I made--specifically, Max's wolf suit.

This was the labor of love from this past week. I love how it turned out, and it was a big hit with the public, both kids and adults. And especially the college students, who like to reminisce about their youth.

For the convenience of diaper changes, I used velcro around the inside of the legs, rather than a zipper or buttons up the front of back. It worked out really well.
I took one of S's fleece sleepers and made a pattern from it, which I worked from.The white fleece I used worked well, both for sewing (not having to hem it) and for keeping him warm over some light clothes.

I was going to sew some claws on the cuffs of the arms and pants, but figured he'd either trip over them or just be fussing with them. Same goes for the whiskers on the hood. I did make a crown out of mat board and tooling foil, but he didn't want to keep it on. It's a keeper though for when he gets a little older (all kids need a crown, right?).

My favorite part of the costume is the trick-or-treat bag, with Moishe's head on it.
I made it from wool felt and fake fur (which was THE worst part of this project. Let me just say there are no hand-sewn gorilla suits in my future, ever!). The face is embroidered but the bag itself is machine-sewn.

I can see using the bag for storage in his bedroom once Halloween is over. I wondered if S would like it or be afraid of it, but he loves it. He likes to laugh at it and hug it.

I would like to have made a hood like this for the costume

but came across it too late (it's from Glitz Concepts on Etsy) and ended up tracing the hood of one of his jackets. Next time...
The students put on a fun party for the kids, including games (all of which ended in a candy prize), like toss the ball through the candy corn

and a cookie decorating stationand a pick-a-duck-for-a-prize game, which was my son's favorite because of the water feature.

He also liked the pumpkin bowling, but I think it was because of the college girls he was flirting with. He's still chewing on the cookie below.

Plinko was fun too.We stayed away from the pumpkin painting area, since white costume+tempera paint=disaster.

Each floor of the dorm was decorated in a non-scary theme, like Willy Wonka land

to Candyland

to 1950s sock hop. Another dorm was decorated with an underwater theme, complete with black lights and glow sticks. We didn't make it through all 5 floors of trick-or-treating, since it was getting close to SoJo's bedtime, but we did spend some time playing in the leaves.
He loves when I throw leaves on his head in the park. Sigh. I wish we had a tree in our yard, other than the overgrown holly bush.
A pleasant time was guaranteed for all, and thus starts the first day of Halloween week.

Stay tuned!