Halloween 2011

Halloween is one of the most important holidays in our household, because the combination of dress up + candies is way too enticing for Bridgette. We start preparing for Halloween at the end of September, from our many craft projects to the much anticipated pumpkin patch visit…to the grand finale on Halloween night with trick or treating.

This year, Bridgette (with some nudging from mommy) decided to be Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. The cute plaid dress that caught my eye at Target sold me, but it was really the sparkly ruby shoes that sold Bridgette.

Bridgette took the rein as Creative Director for our Halloween decorations this year. She finally completed all of her craft projects last week, and finished decorating our front porch with a handmade (goofy) pumpkin garland, spider webs, and glittery bats. Throughout the extensive crafting sessions, I was merely her assistant in handling the glitter. Oh, and I do take credit for spending 2 hours in painting the skeleton that Alan spent another 2 hours assembling.

On Saturday, Bridgette and I spent a fun hour helping her to get into her costume. I braided her hair like Dorothy, and even applied a bit of blush on her cheeks, which she was thrilled about! Her favorite part? Putting on those pretty ruby shoes! She kept trying to click the heels with her eyes close, chanting “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home….” It was hilarious to watch her.

We had a Halloween Party to attend that evening, but before that, her 2 month old cousin Ivan stopped by to visit! Hello Ivan!

The Halloween party that we attended in the evening was held at our friends Olivia and Steven’s home in San Jose. They had a full house that night, with nearly 30 kids between the ages of 5 months to 6 years old. It took quite some effort, but miraculously, we were able to get a couple group shots of the kids together!!! Notice that the little ones were not so happy to be “stuck” in the midst of the chaos 🙂

On Halloween day, we started the morning off with a Halloween parade at Bridgette’s school. It was really cute to watch them parade around with their costumes, followed by a trick or treating session at some of the offices nearby. Parents brought different food items for the Halloween lunch, and the kids finished off with a little too much sweets ofcourse.

halloween10 — Bridgette trying to read to her classmates, and showing off her twirly dress

halloween11 — Bridgette showing her pretty pink nails to her BFF at school

That evening, we met up with several of our friends and their kids in Foster City, where we trick or treated together in a popular neighborhood that had houses all decked out with horrific props. It was a bit congested, so we had to keep a very close eye on the kids, but they had an absolute blast. Bridgette and her friend Mina held hands and went from house to house together to collect their candies. Super cute!

halloween12 — Before we left our house, we put out our bowl of candies for trick or treaters, with our hand-painted "Beware" sign 🙂

One thing we noticed– Bridgette loves costume-watching. She was more intrigued by what everyone’s costumes were than the actual trick or treating. She would run up to people and ask what they are suppose to be, and followed up with a compliment or two before twirling her own dress to let people know she is Dorothy. When people ask her where Toto is, she would open up her basket (a Hello Kitty hand-me-down basket from mommy!) and take out her small stuff animal doggy.