This afternoon Demetria and I hopped the bus and headed down to Walmart. She's one of the activities coordinators (or some such thing) for relief society and they asked her to find some decorations for the Halloween party at our church on Wednesday. We scoured Walmart for a long time, but didn't find anything that really called to us.
So we crossed the street (it's a long walk thanks to the position of the store and crosswalks) and checked out one of those seasonal Halloween stores. The quality isn't great, but this is the only picture I took of our entire outing:
Milk Carton Hat
There were lots of costumes, though not so many dinner table decorations. Demetria is planning to dress up as Minnie Mouse for Halloween, so we were also on the lookout for ears for her costume. We saw a few options, but she didn't really like any of them.
I was seriously considering picking up something for myself. I love Halloween- decorations, dressing up, candy, all of it. But the holiday's lost some of its charm in recent years since I could never manage to pull together a costume I really enjoyed. Probably should have been more assertive about it, since my siblings have ended up with some pretty neat costumes. I just don't like to be a bother. I do have a decent black cloak that I made with my dad several years ago, so that's something. But it was more appreciated in successive Halloweens, since it didn't turn out the way I wanted for its first year (being black instead of purple and yellow like the video game character I'd wanted to emulate, for one thing).
So I debated buying a neat looking cape and some really pretty wings, or at the very least a feathered masquerade mask- one of them had a beak and looked very nice. I told myself that I could buy a few things for a neat costume since my last ones have been less than stellar in the dressing-up department. What stopped me was the price. I just couldn't justify the purchase, even if the wings were really pretty, and even if the capes were really cool.
In the end, I decided to forgo it entirely. Demetria had offered to let me wear a sweater she owns that has a pink squirrel on it, with the idea being that I could dress up as Mabel from "Gravity Falls". I enjoyed the show and Mabel is a good character (I'm always here for girly protagonists), but I felt a little weird since I was never super into the show like I am with "Fairly OddParents" and "Star vs. the Forces of Evil", or even "ChalkZone". "ChalkZone" met all my cartoon needs. I don't know what the barrier between me and "Gravity Falls" is. I just never fell in love with it.
After our trip to the Halloween store, we walked over to Hobby Lobby and began our search for decorations with renewed vigor. Demetria couldn't find anything that seemed like it would work, and it didn't help that she didn't know exactly how many tables were going to be used at the party. Plus, she was also on the lookout for a spotted Minnie Mouse bow.
That's why we were exploring the Dolls section of the store. As Demetria hunted for bows and ribbons, I caught sight of a pair of white angel wings meant for dolls, each one a little bigger than my hand. Hmm... The wings at the Halloween store had been neat, coming in some different colors and styles, but the cheapest was around twenty dollars and some were even thirty. These doll wings were small and cost $4.50. Hey, if the magical creatures in "Fairly OddParents" can get by with itty-bitty wings, so can I!
So as we went, I started to piece together a bargain Halloween costume for the party from various items around the store. I think I'm going to be some sort of nature fairy. I found a simple lacy black butterfly masquerade mask for five dollars. In the gardening section, I found a lacy black butterfly on a wiry stick. I think it's supposed to be an accent to a bouquet, but we should be able to stab it through my hair if I wear a braid or bun. In the fake plant area, I bought two rubbery orange flowers for about $1.50 each that I can wear behind my ears. Passing by the gardening aisles on a second loop, I picked up another "bouquet accent" for two dollars- a long stick with three tall brown feathers on it. That will make an excellent wand!
It's something!
Because most everything was on sale, my grand total was about eleven dollars. And, it was just really satisfying to select things from the craft store instead of the Halloween one. Points for creativity!
Upon our return, I made some macaroni and cheese and then Demetria and I watched a Charlie Chaplin movie (I think the first Charlie Chaplin movie) called "The Kid". We enjoyed that quite a bit... mostly we were pseudo-screaming at the characters on-screen every time they tried to kill or otherwise rid themselves of baby John. I do like my black and white silent comedies.
