Another Halloween is in the books! This year, Zachary went as Sponge Bob, Alex went as Buzz Lightyear, and Jay and I went as Ken and Barbie (from Toy Story 3). I miss doing a family-themed costume, but this year, 3/4 of us ended up dressing as characters from the same franchise anyway. I thought Alex was going to wear the spider costume that he wore for his school’s costume parade but he was insistent on going as Buzz. We bought the Buzz and Sponge Bob costumes back on Oct. 1 (during our trip to Spirit Halloween that was preceded by Taylor Rudy’s discovery) but the week of the costume parade, Alex decided he wanted to be something “scary” so we found the spider legs on Amazon (here’s the link but I got it during those random Prime Days in mid-Oct. and it was 50% off; it’s cute but it is not $28 cute lol) and the black sweats/hat at Target. I wanted to return the Buzz costume but he was adamant that school was for scary and trick-or-treating was for Buzz Lightyear. 4-year-olds, #amirite?
Anyways, there was bit of (self-inflicted) drama around Jay’s shirt and I thought that we would have to postpone our Barbie and Ken costumes until 2023. I ordered it two weeks out from a company that advertised as being from Washington (state) and said their delivery was within 10 business days. It was an extra $30 for the rush shipping within seven business days, but I figured since I was two weeks out, it’d be fine. Turns out the company is American but everything they ship comes from China (OF COURSE). The shirt shipped the day after I ordered it but said it was stuck in Jamaica, Queens almost immediately. There were no further updates until the day before Halloween, when tracking said it had gone to Newark, NJ. I panicked, thinking, “There’s no way this Ken shirt is going to make it from NJ to Raleigh in time.”
Thankfully, it did. And it did literally JUST in time. Jay checked the mailbox for the package around 3:30 p.m. and it wasn’t there yet so I made emergency visits to three different Spirit Halloweens in the area for our backup costume idea but had zero luck. I was prepared to just go as Barbie and Beetlejuice (and was seriously a bit bummed that Ken wasn’t working out). However, when Zach, Alex, and I got home at 4:40 p.m., the shirt had been delivered!!! I was so excited. So. Excited…and So. Relieved. The shirt fit Jay perfectly. I was so relieved but also embarrassed/annoyed at my panic earlier that caused me to waste time finding the backup costume idea. Uncontrolled anxiety flare-ups are difficult for everyone involved. :/
But it all worked out! I recycled my Bo Peep wig from when we did our first Toy Story theme back in 2019. It was so humid out while we were trick-or-treating that poor Zach regretted his blow-up Sponge Bob costume almost immediately. He was dripping in sweat midway through and ended up changing into last year’s Minecraft costume when he met up with some neighborhood friends after dark. “Never again am I doing something like that costume!” He decisively proclaimed. We will see how long it lasts. Trick-or-treating with his friends didn’t last very long; there was a lot of lightning in the distance that seemed to be getting closer, so we cut it short. Within 5 minutes of he and I making it back home, it started pouring rain. We made it juuuust in time.
All in all, it was another successful Halloween. The kids know I love Tootsie Rolls so they made sure to get a whole bunch for me, which was very sweet. It was also smart on their part because a week later, I’ve taken zero pieces of their chocolate and like 75% of their Tootsie Rolls, lol.
Oh! Jay dressed up as Beetlejuice for his Geek. Dad. Life. Halloween show. Our backup costume idea involved his Beetlejuice costume but I’m not going to say what it is just in case we need to do it in the future lol. Here’s a video:
Aaaannnyyyways, here are some more pictures of Halloween 2022. I love the one of Zach wearing my Barbie/Bo Peep wig, haha. It really was a fun night. P.S. Mad props to our neighbor who decorated the drain outside of their house with this amazing Pennywise setup:
How was your Halloween?! What did you dress up as? Let me know! 🙂
