Halloween 2013: Mary Poppins "Jolly Holiday"

If you've been around here for more than a year, you know that we love dressing up for Halloween!  It seems like ever since we found out Caleb was a boy, I have been dreaming of doing a Mary Poppins theme for Halloween.  We finally did it this year!

 Jane and Michael Banks (yes, they can sing the song)

 Josh was the cutest little penguin.  The costume even made him waddle.  I attached the eyes and beak to a black hoodie he already had and made the rest from fabric I already had, so his costume cost me nothing!  

 Several people (including Caleb) were disappointed that Mike couldn't pull down his pants and penguin dance like Dick Van Dyke.  We might have to make him some special pants in the future.  I keep telling Mike that I'm totally signing us up for a Jolly Holiday or Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious song and dance number for the next talent show.  Stay tuned!

 We've made it a tradition to visit Mike's grandpa at the old folks' home on Halloween.  All the residents love seeing our costumes.

Here are a few of our work in progress:

Painting the stripes on Bert's suit coat took the longest.  Mike analyzed Bert's coat in the movie so he could get the stripes the right width.  He then used masking tape to tape off the white areas.  Just like painting your house, the prep work takes way longer than the actual painting.  I had purchased a pattern on etsy and was planning to make Mike's suit coat, but I was so relieved to have found this white jacket for $5 at a thrift store.  me.

It did make it more difficult to paint since it had to be done in stages, but in the long run saved a lot of time.  I sewed Caleb's jacket and was able to paint the pieces before sewing them together.

One of my late night messes.  I think we stayed up until at least 1 AM every night the week before Halloween.  I love that Mike and I do this together.  It wouldn't be nearly as fun if I was staying up in the wee hours by myself.

A friend who works at the library asked if I would twist balloons at their fundraising carnival.  I was kind of anxious about it, but it turned out to be really fun.  Josh is trying to steal my tips :)