Tag Archives: costumes

Real Life :: San Francisco Halloween 2010!

Real Life, Real Life : Alix, , ,

Hey everyone! So was Halloween as spooktacular as you had hoped?? I hope you got a look at Dottie’s super adorable little Peach….she was insanely cute in her little gnome outfit! Our halloween was super fun….we had some last minute costume switcheroos and the threat of a little rain but it was still loads of fun! Even with huge rain clouds looming, the City by the Bay managed to look lovely….in a nice ghoulish way!


We began the day at the Bay Area Discovery Museum where Greg’s band, The Time Outs performed their annual Monster Stomp gig. Despite the rain, the place was packed with lots of little kiddos, all in costume hoppin’ and boppin’. It’s crazy cute. One little dude got so into it, he took his shirt off and was jumping up and down—after madly searching for a stage to dive off of.


Wolfie and one of his best buds Cole totally have the jaded rock star attitude down. “Yeah….I saw the Wiggles back in 06. When they still had the original Yellow Shirt Greg. Wicked.”


After the show, the rain stopped so we let the boys hit the play area. If you are ever in San Francisco, you must head across the Golden Gate bride to the Bay Area Discovery Museum….especially on a pretty day. They have tons of outdoor play spaces (like a full size boat for kids to climb around on) and they always have cool hands-on exhibits.

Here are the boys doing their best “Angry Bird” impersonations in the little nests that are sprinkled throughout the grounds:


Sooooooo we had a bit of a mishap that day. The ride to Marin is twisty and turny and poor Cole got pretty car sick, and well…..he kinda thew up all over the back seat. Argh. He really is the sweetest kid around, but it was a little bit of a mess. We ended up putting him in Wolfie’s Ben 10 halloween costume so he didn’t have to wear his vommy pants. Cole is a lot taller than Wolfie (and let’s face it, the dang costume was SUPER cheaply made) so it started to pull and rip at the seams. It was a blessing in disguise because frankly I wasn’t a big fan of the thing to begin with, but now we needed to come up with a new idea—STAT! Wolfie wanted to be Harry Potter, but that’s kind of a tricky one to pull together in 4 hours. We toyed with an Evel Knievel theme…..but the wobbly helmet was a little heavy and got veto-ed by me.

A quick trip to Target (to scoop up Febreeze for the car, ahem….) yielded this magical goodness. Listen, I’m not a huge fan of those pre-fab, built-in muscles costumes….they kind of creep me out., but I have to say this was kind of cute! More importantly, someone felt MIGHTY proud struttin’ around in it. And thus, Captain America was ready to throw his mighty shield this fine Halloween:

Oddly, we didn’t see any other Captain America’s all night, mostly Iron Man and Spiderman. Wolfie got lots of thumbs up and “Hey! It’s Captain America!” shout outs. And YES! He wore that little hood/mask thing THE ENTIRE NIGHT!

Please pause for a moment and marvel at my PIKACHU pumpkin!!! It ain’t easy people…

I, alas, was a costume fail. I usually love dressing up but I was sort of racing around like a mad woman. I was trying to do some dramatic eye makeup thing, and it ended up smudging all over my cheeks and in a fit of annoyance, I just made myself a lame zombie doll.

Now Greg, on the other hand, he did it up. I’m not sure if you are familiar with the show WIPE OUT (it’s totally ridiculous, but we love it….it’s like Super Mario but with real people, all racing through a crazy obstacle course!), but Greg went as the Big Red Ball from the show. He made this insane huge paper machine ball. He was paranoid that it would collapse when he cut the holes for his head….but he did it successfully. Whoo hoo! It was so great….until we got to our friends house (where we trick-or-treat every year) and realized we forgot to cut ARM HOLES!!!

It still ruled. Although in the dark we got a lot of, “Hey! It’s a meatball! Awesome!!” A few people thought he was a giant tomato too. It’s really the costume that keeps on giving…

Our friend Tom went as the Disco Gorilla. Equally spectacular.

Oh yeah, so every year we go over to our friends Chris and Jim’s house. They live in this super cool area where all the homes are Eichlers….all very mid-century and super groovy. They are a super fun family and we love hanging out with them. You HAVE to see my favorite house. Look closely at the front door….see that happy family standing there?

Only….it’s not a happy family. IT’S A FREAKIN’ PAINTING OF THE FAMILY THAT WAS DONE IN THE 70s OF THE FAMILY STANDING IN FRONT OF THEIR DOOR, WELCOMING YOU TO THEIR HOME!!!!!! AMAZING!

You might need to look twice…this is a painting on their front door, made to look like the door is open. So brilliant. It freaks me out every time.

Their whole neighborhood really gets into the halloween spirit and I love all the decor and cool pumpkins. One of the houses was showing old black and white monster movies (like Frankenstein and Nosferatu) on the side of their wall. Super cool.

PS

Of course Wolfie couldn’t resist trying on the Big Ball at the end of the night…heehee.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a…super kiddo!

Etsy Love, Kiddo Style: Modern, Retro Modern, , ,


What is it about super heroes? Is it the magic powers? The ability to fly? The xray vision? Maybe. My theory, however, is that it allll comes down to the outfits. When I was a little girl I loved Wonder Woman—she was brave, strong, smart and had an invisible plane. But let’s be honest, it was the OUTFIT that was the best. Red go-go boots! A magic tiara! Those cool bullet-deflecting bracelets and golden magic lasso! I loved it all. But I think we all can agree that the quintessential piece of superhero gear is THE CAPE. There are tons of fun capes out there, but here is a selection of some we especially like.

This first lot is from Baby Pop—I really love their masks too! Super charming….


And how about this ROCK-N-ROLL superstar??

Images: Baby Pop

I’m really digging the understated “Clark Kent-ness” of the Superhero monogram shirt:


Images: Charlie and Sarah

Ya know, superheroes don’t have to be all about bad-assery. I found some really fab “indie capes” that have a softer look. Just look at this adorable little birdy cape!

And you can even get a little wee cape for your favorite lil dolly or cuddle bear—kind of awesome, no?

Image: Mousey Me

While we’re looking at unconventional capes, how amazing is this lil mod wonder?? It’s soooo the little sidekick of Orla Kiely (“By the power of the almighty elusive Target Pear Cannister!”). LOVE it!

Image: NikertyNoo

A word of caution, though. You don’t want to veer too far from the classic look or your budding superhero will end up looking like a reject from the David Copperfield Magic Academy! There are some classic visual cues that say “superhero” and sometimes I think it’s totally a-ok to reach for the lightning bolts and stars!


Images: Super Kid Capes

This last set comes to us from Little Hero Capes. The capes are all made of a thick satiny material (lined with a contrast color!) and look tres chic. My favorite thing about them, however, is their incredible Donate a Cape Project. When you purchase a “Courage Cape” they will send it to the Discovery Arts Program which will give it to a child who is undergoing treatment for cancer and other serious blood disorders. Now that’s my idea of a true superhero.



Images: Little Hero Capes

Every little kiddo has a superhero inside them, and they don’t necessarily need a cape to shine…..but you have to admit it’s so much more fun with a cape whippin’ behind you as you race around with your friends!

And don’t forget, when push comes to shove….you can always use a towel. (Hippie Beads and shades not required….)


Image: john.d.mcdonald