The Cake That NEVER Was, the Ghost That ALMOST Was, and the Pirate that WAS…and Still Is

Oh, the drama that was Halloween. Or at least the choosing of the costume! Weeks ago, I did something on the spur of the moment. I asked Sam what he wanted to be for Halloween. I’m not sure that I was planning on asking him this year. I really didn’t think he’d know what I was talking about or have a preference. I was wrong. The first time I ever asked him the question, he immediately replied “A cake!” I asked the question several times and in different ways and he was very clear that he wanted to be a cake. Well…ok then. He was so sure he wanted to be a cake, that looking through catalogs and finding other costumes he liked didn’t deter him one bit. He still wanted to be a cake. I took about 8 minutes of video, which I’ll spare you from, of us searching costumes. Screenshots from the video:

You’ll have to trust me on this, but I swear Sam actually said during the fun, “Oh, no cake.” So, he was pretty happy when I showed him Pottery Barn Kids cupcake costume.

Anyway, he was holding steadfast to his dream of being a cake. So I found directions for this costume on some Canadian Magazine website. He wanted to be a chocolate cake with sprinkles, so I figured it would be easy to modify the costume.

Honestly, I dreaded the work ahead of me and thankfully, I didn’t get started weeks ago. After a week of wanting to be a cake, he suddenly decided he wanted to be a ghost…”a big scary ghost so I can say WhooooOOOOOOOooooooooOOOO!” (And as he said it, he weaved his head back and forth…so cute!) Sure! A ghost I can handle! Of course, I couldn’t let him be some ordinary, “sheet with holes” ghost. Oh, no. I had to add a little something so it would be just a little more unique. After about 2 weeks of saying he wanted to be a ghost, I was finally convinced enough to buy material. Then on Halloween morning, I started assembling the ensemble. Getting him to stand still was a challenge, so meet Elmo, who was kind enough to model the ghost costume without moving.

It turns out, working with satin has its challenges. The trick was finding a way to keep it on his head and get the tulle attached as well. I had to turn the eye-holes into a face opening because Sam wasn’t diggin’ on the whole covered face thing. I spent a lot of time on Saturday trying to figure out how to make the ghost costume work. Thankfully, Scott was home all morning and was willing to add commentary such as “Holes in a sheet would have been much easier.” (Sometimes I don’t think he gets me at all!)

And here’s where weeks of planning get shot down in one breathe. At 3:41, one hour before we needed to leave for the Harvest Festival at the church, Sam decides that he doesn’t like the ghost costume at all and won’t wear it. He really didn’t like being under the costume. So, I rushed out to the store and bought him the first costume I could find in his size: Captain Jack Sparrow. Then I rushed to another store and bought a bunch of accessories to enhance Captain Jack’s ensemble-in-a-bag. Sam was excited about the pirate costume since his friend Samuel was dressing up as a pirate, too. As you can see, everything worked out and we decided that Sam was MUCH cuter in the pirate costume. Even if, after only about 5 minutes, he had gotten rid of the wig, hat, and earring.

Sam loved being a pirate! In fact, upon waking Sunday morning, he couldn't get back into his costume fast enough! And what did “Captain Sam” think of the ghost costume?

That’s all right. Since this may be the last year that I actually give Sam a choice, I already have his costume picked out for next year and I may just get started now. Jennifer shared this with me and it may be my all-time favorite idea: