Trick Or Treat - 2008

Halloween mood has been prevalent in Cantaloupe household from the beginning of October. Now that Cantaloupe is older and can read the Calendar, she understood that month of October meant Halloween. Of course, the school teachers told them stories, sang songs ("Spooky Songs" in her words), taught them crafts... in Halloween theme. So everyday her bag check revealed pumpkins, witches, ghosts art works. So to keep up with her spirits, we promised her a "Pumpkin Patch picnic" if she behaved for one entire week without throwing any major fuss over anything. And she did ... so we went to the pumpkin patch and bought couple of pumpkins. The rides there seem to scare her (for no reason, if you ask me) ... so we wasted some money in buying coupons for the ride only to be let down by her.
Anyways, my mom and I patiently carved the pumpkins and I must say the Jack-o-Lanterns turned out quite well. (the neighbors complimented our art work ... thank you, thank you) One of them was a simple triangular eyed Jack and the other was a little more skillful "Skull". We lit and placed the Jack-O-Lanterns along with our Diwali candles in our patio. Some of Cantaloupes' art work from school was also used to decorate the door bell, door knob and the like for some "Halloween" feel.

And since I believe in "Do it Yourself" concept, I decided to make the Halloween costume for Cantaloupe as well. Carved out the wings, attached lace and elastic to form wings. Bought feathers from the local crafts store and stitched it on the wings. Also stitched the feathers on one of Cantaloupe's cap ... made a beak and stuck it on the cap. Cut out two black circles and glued it on the cap for eyes. With all this and some feather to go on the body, Cantaloupe was all set to be transformed into a bird for Halloween. She was super excited from the time everything came together. Atleast once a day she put on her costume just to feel good about it.
So the day of Halloween arrived. Her class parade was to start at 10:45am .... BP and I both wanted to go and cheer her. BP has been busy at work for almost 2 weeks now ... but for him to take time off and come for the Parade was a very sweet gesture !!! Anyways we got to the school around 10:40am .. Cantaloupe put the costume in a jiffy (all her practice had made her a pro now :) and rushed to her class. All her other classmates were ready for the parade. She was on time for the parade. The class merrily walked around the school campus before they arrived at the auditorium. 3 other classes gathered there as well. The kids put on a musical program. It was a cute program :) Cantaloupe sang all the songs and kept looking at me and BP every now and then just to be cheered by me :)

It was very cold in the evening and Junior had to be taken care (bad cold) and BP was busy with some office work ... so we decided not to go out for trick or treating. But she had fun interacting with other kids who came home.
Cantaloupe loved her costume so much she declared she'd wear the same next year as well ... that will save me some effort ... but we'll see how that goes.