Halloween 2008

Brandon was invited to an adult Halloween party and decided on a character/costume. He found a picture and Mom exhausted her creativity to produce some resemblance of the original. A few yards of unbleaced muslin, chocolate brown washable felt and two patterns meant it was time to fire up the dust covered sewing machine. The basic robe was easily constructed following a bibilcal character pattern, but the hooded overlay was a bit more complicated. A creative modification of a hooded pancho pattern, and the overlay seemed doable.

But he needed props to make the costume complete. A trip to Wal-Mart netted a few stryofoam balls, craft sticks, gold metallic spray paint, white braid and a wicker basket. Next lesson learned by Mom......does anyone know what happens when you try to spray paint styrofoam? IT MELTS! I should have saved the finished product for a picture, but too late now.

So, second lesson learned in this endeavor after a quick Google search is how to make paper mache paste. A few cups of water and flour along with some salt and it is time to make a mess in the kitchen. The 3 remaining styrofoam balls were covered in layers of messy newspaper and allowed to dry for 24 hours. Then adorned with the craft sticks, painted gold and decorated with braid.

The finished product is Brandon's costume. Ultimately the adult party was cancelled, but he still hit the streets of Keller with his cousins ranging in age from 2 1/2 to 9. Can anyone guess what his character/costume is?Is everyone ready for the answer........? Brother Maynard and his Holy Hand Grenades from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." David was certain everyone would think something different which is probably best left unwritten here!

And for those of you wondering about Zack, he did not dress up for trick or treating with the cousins. Zack is pledging a fraternity at Tarleton. One pledge event required a costume. Of course, he forgot about the need for a costume until the very last minute. When I asked him later if he had found a costume, he replied, "Yes, but I will never be see in it ever again!" When I inquired further, seems his pledge buddies convinced him that they should all go as "Fraternity Nerds". He had black walking shorts (above the knee) and a pink and black checked polo shirt, black cardigan sweater, black dress shoes.....can you imagine how special this was? I begged him for a picture but he says none were taken. The fraternity leadership failed to see the humor. Not that Zack can tell me anything about it, but I suspect that he and his pledge buddies paid for this flash of wisdom!