Samhain 2009: The Fellowship of the Ring!

(Alternate title: Lord of the Rings Geekery, The Next Generation)

Here I sit, in peace and quiet, sipping coffee and goofing off on the computer. Aaah: a vacation!! It's been a whirlwind getting the boys ready for Halloween tonight, but I've finally gotten them all decked out and sent off for a day of fun with Daddy.

Courtesy of Billy's iphone, I have some pictures for you. I present to you. . . the Fellowship of the Ring!

(photo by Billy)

The Halloween costumes this year have been an adventure of sorts. It all started last Spring, when Littleman apparently decided that he was going to be Gandalf for Halloween this year. (Have you EVER known a kid to plan that far ahead, and then stick with it?!?)

I vaguely remember a conversation:
Littleman: Mommy, can you make me a costume?
Me: I probably can, as long as it doesn't need much sewing. I've never learned how to use a sewing machine.
Littleman: Do we know someone who uses a sewing machine?
Me: Oh, sure- several people! [Here I name a few folks, including my Grandmother.] Grandmother's really good at it, in fact. She used to make all sorts of clothes and stuff.
Littleman: Hmm. OK.
And thus, I thought, ended that conversation. However Littleman remembered what I'd said until the next visit with Grandmother. Unbeknownst to me, he asked her to make him a Gandalf costume for Halloween. She said she'd try. The first I heard of all this was a couple months ago, when she called me to schedule a time for Littleman to try his costume on.

Upon seeing Littleman's cool costume, The Pirate promptly decided that he would be Legolas. Then just as promptly he changed his mind, deciding he'd rather be Spiderman again like last year.

(photo by Billy)
Over the last few weeks, I've checked with him several times- letting him know that he could choose either costume, but if he wanted to be Legolas then I needed him to let me know ahead of time so I'd be able to make the costume. Long story short, he changed his mind at the last minute and on Thursday morning he just HAD to be Legolas for Halloween. Luckily I'd already researched some possible ways to pull that off (just in case), and made a quick trip to the craft store. Yesterday after Littleman's birthday lunch, I got started. Just a few finishing touches this morning, and I was done!

(Last night as I was working on this, he told me he'd rather be Spiderman after all. I decided to forge ahead, trusting that the finished costume would be cool enough to entice him. Luckily, he decided it is.)


We have a cute dog costume that we've used for the boys when they were very small. However, we weren't sure if that was going to work for Babyman because he wanted nothing to do with the thing. Yesterday Billy and I were wondering what costume we could get Babyman to wear, when the obvious occurred to us: he could be a hobbit! He was already short and had the curly hair. I felt sure I could find a ring on a chain and some hobbit-like clothes for him. After a little digging about this morning, here's what I came up with:

He wasn't too thrilled with the picture-taking, but he seems to like his "costume"!


Hee hee. I admit I'm a little proud of Grandmother and myself. Too bad it's too cold and wet tonight for Babyman to trick-or-treat barefoot! But he still looks hobbit-like enough that I think anyone who's seen the Lord of the Rings films will recognize this miniature version of the Fellowship of the Ring. And these fans (Mommy included) are more than a little thrilled with the result. :)

(photo by Billy)