As a kid, my family didn’t make a big deal out of Halloween in my house. Halloween is my dad’s birthday and we lived in the country from age 8 on, so trick or treating wasn’t something we really did. But, as a mom- I LIVE for this stuff.
I am truly meant to be a girl mom. I LOVE to dress up the girls and they always let me! Their closets are IMPRESSIVE. I am slightly embarrassed that they have 15+ pairs of shoes. And approximately 30000 dresses when I have approximately nothing newer than 2018.
Well, that is not completely true, but I am sure all moms can relate to the “my kids’ wardrobe is shopped for seasonally while mine is every once in awhile when something is on sale or REALLY cute.”
Last year we were full on Frozen vibe for Halloween. Since we were stateside late September, we shopped at Target for our costumes before we left! Allie wanted to be Anna and Rae, of course wanted to be Elsa.
We bought glittery eyeshadow and I watched hair tutorials. The girls were ready to go! 2021 was our first foray into trick or treating and it went surprisingly well! The girls made out like bandits with the candy and we had excellent weather.
The USO had food stands along the way and we had hot dogs and hot cocoa. Not a combination I would repeat! Glow sticks were the hit of the night and the girls were devastated when they ran out of “juice.”
This year we were a ballerina and a butterfly! I had to ship their costumes from the States as Halloween isn’t something they celebrate here in Germany. Costumes are hard to get, the choices are limited to the PX- which are never all that great. So, you have online as options.
My oldest sister, Bridgette was essential in the costume arrivals. I chose to do a Target drive up, and she graciously picked everything up and mailed it! I had to do a bit of amazon ordering for supplementing their costumes, but most of it was from Target. Even though Germany isn’t known for their Halloween activities, on post we are able to participate in several different Halloween activities here and the girls don’t have to miss out on anything!
This year Allie wanted makeup but Rae did not. We practiced the day before and I was NOT a successful face painter. However, on Halloween I had a brilliant idea to go find eyeshadow sticks to draw on them versus trying to freehand with a brush! So, if you’re like me and not paintbrush inclined, get the eyeshadow sticks, lip liner, lipsticks- whatever is more crayon like! Allie was so happy with her “swirly whirls”! I also bought purple sticks and nail polish and whatnot for Rae, and then she decided “I don’t want any mommy.” OKAY, fineeeee. I will survive not playing dress up.
They had trunk or treat, and then we had hot dogs again (and found glow sticks). We got to visit SO MANY HOUSES for Halloween. It was a lot of fun. The weather cooperated, it was a tiny bit chilly, but overall not bad at all! Rae decided she was done walking about 30 minutes before it ended. But Allie finished with daddy while Rae and I went home.
They have enjoyed eating some of their candy, but are not the candy hounds I expected.
Now that Halloween is over, I am READY for the Christmas season. My birthday is in TWO days and I will start with getting decorations out this week. I LOVE Christmas season, I fall into the “thanksgiving is one day in November, everything else is Christmas” camp!
We are going on a mini vacation right before Thanksgiving and then we will be home again. We are HOPING to get to visit a lot of Christmas Markets this year. We have a few scheduled on the books.
xoxoxoxoxox- Brenda
