costumes...or DO i???

if you had asked me yesterday if i was into costumes and dressing up silly, i would have immediately responded, "NOPE!"  sure, i may play along if an invitation requires it or if we have a good DIY idea for a group costume. but its not like i go around looking for reasons to dress up like a mighty freak.

but then jesse and i were brainstorming our halloween (or "falloween" if you think jesus hates halloween) costume for this year. we have set the bar pretty high in the 3 years we have been parents so far, and i was at a loss for what to do this year to live up to our streak.

my requirements: 1) i will NOT buy a costume. never ever. zero points for store bought. 2) we like to go for a family-wide theme (the kids will overrule this soon so we're making the most of it while it lasts).

usually we think them up on our own, but shamefully last night i did a pinterest search for DIY family costumes.

i was bummed when most of them were ones i had seen before or were too easy or expected. eventually jesse and i actually did think up an idea on our own (and it rocks), but i figured i would offer up our past ideas to pinterest and the world at large in case there are other adults who like to forgo their dignity and join the kids in dressing up creatively and with easy DIY construction.

this is also something of a "watch me grow" collage for our family.

 here are closeups of each and the links on how the DIYs came together with household items.

sushi family 

volleyball family

 curious george family 

so the part where i surprised myself was when i was going back and trying to find these pictures. i had to go on facebook for a few since my computer was out of commission, and in the process, i found that maybe we actually DO enjoy dressing up. (aka, here are 4 more ideas for DIY costumes).

halloween 2005 while we were dating: britney spears (inspiration here) and kevin federline in happier days (it was topical at the time)

that was a deflated kickball in my shirt standing in as sean preston federline-spears. fun fact: we went to a bar later that night and i got some MEAN looks as i inhaled second hand smoke and drank my beer. i'm betting that was actually pretty true to character.

halloween 2006 (we were 3 week newlyweds!): we teamed up with 2 of our BFF couple friends and all DIY'd ourselves into the characters of "clue." also known as the best effing group costume in HISTORY. jesse is ROCKING it as colonel mustard.

2008 (pregnant with judah) niece's birthday party (costumes required, but no overall theme): we went south of the border as a latino couple (sweet baby bella is our adorable bee friend)

2009 for my niece's "wizard of oz" birthday party. we kind of copped out here and just dressed judah as a lollipop guild member and we phoned it in and called ourselves the ruby slipper and yellow brick road.

there you go, feel free to pin, recreate or just laugh. the costumes for 2k12 will be coming atcha soon enough!