Ever-Scary Clown and the Bucket Head Zombie

Unlike the previous years where I did the major work of sewing/making kids' costumes based on their input and request, this year I left it entirely up to the kids. I offered to assist them as needed, of course, but, I made it clear that I won't be deeply involved.

The 10 year old is fully capable of  designing and possibly sewing her costume if needed, but she has her plate full this term with school and extra activities. So she opted for the Ever-Scary Clown.

There is no doubt clowns are scary as this survey shows, and of course we learn a lot more from this article about the History and Psychology behind this fear of clowns. Speaking from personal experience, the clown make-up was what gave me the chills as a little girl, even though their slapstick antics is commendable when I look back as an adult.

Now, we did talk about picking a character from a book, or for that matter, a scary character from a scary book if she wants. But, she said nothing can be scarier than a clown and was firm about it.

With a dedicated "Dress Up" cubby from toddlerhood, to which we have been adding and subtracting items constantly, the ten year old has always loved playing dress up at home, even talking her little brother into some dress-up role-play activities. Assorted wigs, bead necklaces, jewelry, mermaid tails, pirate stuff, cat mask and tail, hats, goofy glasses, home-made fairy skirts, home-made butterfly wings, home-made crowns... just a simple collection of  items, always handy. So, the clown costume was easy to pull together.

The make-up was the fun part: nothing too elaborate, just some basic elements to suggest a hint of the sinister.

The seven year old decided early on that he wants to be a bucket head zombie from PVZ. He had the clothes, and he asked to borrow my brown coat and Papa's tie. The only thing left to do was get the bucket that goes on the head. He was going to use the large yogurt tub at first, but wanted to paint it all gray and wasn't sure if the paint will stick. So, I bought a fabric bucket-style bag from Dollar store -- sold as a Halloween trick-or-treat bag. He painted the green bag gray, with some red paint for blood just like the bucket head zombie is depicted in the game.

Again, make-up was the fun part - just an all-over gray with some dark circles under the eyes and some red around the mouth from eating brains.

As usual, they picked out their pumpkins, scooped out the innards and got them ready for carving. Papa, the official Carver Extraordinaire, let them pick out their designs and carved the pumpkin with effortless ease, especially thanks to these newfangled Pumpkin Carving Kits.

Pouring down rain didn't stop them from going trick-or-treating, although the younger child had his reservations about venturing outside.