Is it lame to take a baby who is too young for solid foods trick-or-treating? I fear the answer is yes, but GAH, it's his first Halloween! In an attempt to balance my need for pictures of every one of my infant's "firsts" with my shame at knowing the neighbors are going to know his 30-something parents are going to literally be stealing candy from a baby, I think I've struck a Halloween compromise. I'm calling it "Reverse Trick or Treating".
My plan is that we'll go to one or two of the houses on our street (minimizing the shame) for the trick-or-treating photo op and the authentic Halloween experience, but we'll spend most of the evening going door-to-door in our apartment building passing out mini loaves of pumpkin bread. Apartments never get trick-or-treaters (which is so sad because no one should be denied the cuteness which is small children in costume) so I don't think my neighbors will be prepared with candy, but if we do the treat-giving I think it will eliminate some of that awkwardness of an unexpected knock at the door and give us a chance to meet more of our neighbors. It's a
win-win-win*: baby gets to trick-or-treat/I get more pictures, we get to meet more of our neighbors, and the neighbors get pumpkin bread and to see a baby otter.
Speaking of the baby otter, I bought this clearance costume online while I was still pregnant because it was brand new and less than $5. It's a size 6-12 months so I thought surely my very tall sixth month old (he'll be six months and one day old on Halloween) will fit into it. But no, it's about five sizes too big on him (except for the hat, which fits perfectly on his big noggin.) I was debating getting/making him another costume, but Chuk put the kibosh on that and suggested we stuff the costume with newspaper. I'm not going to stuff it, but he's probably going to be an otter next year too.
What are you doing (if anything) for Halloween? Do you know your neighbors?
*Win, win,win is from
The Office. You can watch a clip from episode I'm referencing
here.
We just walked around the neighborhood with friends with older kids for my oldest's first trip, but when she was 20 months, she actually visited a few houses and when we got home I swapped her candy for stuff she could eat.
ReplyDeleteFor my 2nd, she was 12 days old for her first Halloween, so she and I sat on the porch and gave out candy to the million kids that come thru. Still plenty of photo ops and cooing over the new baby.
When I lived in an apartment, we didn't answer the door on Halloween - the risk of eggs or silly string or shaving cream or insane drunk people barging in was too great. :(
AH! Such a cute idea. My daughter's first Halloween (she was 2 months old) we just handed out candy. She was asleep in a pumpkin outfit for most of it. I love the idea of sharing the fun with bread :)
ReplyDeleteMy son's first Halloween was the last year his grandparents did an elaborate Halloween show--basically a 10-minute play, with sets and special effects, in their dining room!--they wanted to retire from it before they worked themselves into a stroke or something, because it was fun but a LOT of work. So we spent that Halloween on their porch socializing with the crowds waiting to see the show. He was 10 months old and dressed as a vampire, since he was often sucking on me and his hair at that time formed a natural widow's peak. :-)
ReplyDeleteThrough his preschool years, we continued the tradition of going to his grandparents' for Halloween, but since he's been in "real" school we've been unable to make the trip. Turns out that our neighborhood has quite a happening Halloween scene in the business district, with businesses giving out treats (not just candy but free mini Italian ice, fortune cookie, whatever is related to their business) and everybody checking out each other's costumes.
Happy Halloween!
I realize that this is an old article, but I NEED this costume and can't find it available anywhere. Where did you get it???
ReplyDeleteI realize that this is an old article, but I NEED this costume and can't find it available anywhere. Where did you get it???
ReplyDeleteI got it from Animal Planet, I think, but it looks like it's available on eBay
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Animal-Planet-Collectors-Edition-Sea-Otter-Infant-Halloween-Costume-6-12-months/222248504654?_trksid=p2045573.c100034.m2102&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38530%26meid%3Df9b74d5a9d9f45f0a94288f7993e980f%26pid%3D100034%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D222248504654
and that Disney has an otter sweatshirt that you could make into a cute costume.
https://www.disneystore.com/fleece-outerwear-clothes-otter-costume-hoodie-for-girls-finding-dory/mp/1406931/1000219/