of random halloweens past

My daughter as H2O. This was completely conceived and executed by her. Um, yes, we homeschool. My son has wanted to be both a lantern fish and the nervous system in the last few years.

This cross stitched pumpkin was really fun to make. Poke the holes first, and then use a blunt end yarn needle to stitch. I got the idea here - but did mine on a real pumpkin instead of a fake one. The mold and decay on the cross stitch was pretty great.

Last year, my kids were a mad scientist, lego brick and belly baring bat. The Lego brick was the hit. It was simply a box with Chobani yogurt containers glued on and then the whole thing spray painted.

Who knows what they will be this year. Much like my philosophy on design your own birthday, we design our own costumes too. The majority of it needs to be made from stuff we already have (costumes, old clothes, paint - we have a lot of stuff) and I will help as much as possible within reason. (The above mentioned lantern fish idea had me pushing around a kid suspended from his waist on a garment rack...)

When do you start planning your costumes?