Arrgghh!!!

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

5 pm Chase and I get home from daycare and take a shower.
5:30 pm Chris gets home from work and feeds Chase while I get ready
6:15 pm We head to Kahala Mall with pirate costumes
6:20 pm I think I should head to school to get paper to make pirate ship. Chris doesn't think I have time. I go anyway.
6:40 pm Back at the mall with construction paper, scissors, glue, and tape (So glad my school is across the street from the mall!) and we sit on the floor and start constructing while Chase is entertained by the Halsalls
7:00 pm Get takeout from Panda's and eat on the floor of the mall amongst the hundreds of dressed up kiddies
7:45 pm After the "Under 1", "1-2", "2-3", "3-4", "Kindergarten-Gr.1", we're finally up: "Family/Group"

Running around in the afternoon for last minute outfits, and rushing to school in the complete darkness to grab construction paper to fashion a boat around the stroller, worked out well since we won 3rd place at Kahala Mall's annual Halloween costume contest tonight. We figured Chase didn't have a fancy enough costume (You can't just put the kid in a simple store bought costume) to enter him as an individual for his own age category.

So we decided to enter the "Family/Group" category. That worked better for us since there were only about 10 other competitors compared to about 50 in his age category. Though there was another set of pirates, I think we won because we had a lot of pirate paraphernalia (It WAS probably the gigantic skull-n-crossbones flag and red skull adorning the stroller that clinched it. Though the last minute life preserver and anchor were nice touches as well.).

And when the emcee asked me for a comment, all I could say was, "This kid's ready to jump ship." And he sure was. It was way past his bedtime (8:30 pm) and he was about ready to lose it by the time we got off the stage. Some of my parents and students and the Halsalls were there taking pictures. Guess we'll have to save our Popeye-Olive Oyl-Sweet Pea idea for next year. It's worth putting in a little effort for the $65 worth of gift cards we got as our prize. Plus, just seeing all the creative costumes out there was hilarious.

My faves (though I have to admit we were so busy entertaining the kid, eating, and getting the stroller boat ready that I hardly took any photos): The hot air balloon kid, the clown standing on his hands, the kid in a porta-potty, the box of crayons, the King Kamehameha baby in a boat (wagon)- which was so awesome I wanted to borrow it for our costume, the colorful peacock, the Coppertone baby.

Parents go all-out for this competition. It's like they've been sewing and constructing these costumes for a year! So, I was surprised our last-minute put together costume won a prize (We actually spent more money on our costumes than on Chase's since his were pajamas). Thanks to a husband that loves skulls and anything pirate related! Go figure. Arrggghh!!!