We took Phoebe out trick-or-treating for the first time tonight. Phoebe was dressed as a squirrel, and I was dressed as a tree.¹
I love getting dressed up, and devising costumes.
My tree costume (which you can see a bit of over at John’s) was an old standby of mine, a creation I’m quite proud of. I wear all brown, wear a twig wreath on my head with a few leaves, and drape some fall leaf garlands around my shoulders. The costume was not only easy to put together, but since I happen to have various plain dark brown clothing items to disguise my body as the tree trunk, it was cheap. It only cost me about $10.00 to buy the leaves and wreath at a craft store.
I was quite happy with how Phoebe’s costume turned out, too. The squirrel to climb on my tree. It was another assembled piece of work. (I don’t really sew.) I found a grey onesie, on sale for about $3.00, and stitched a white oval on the tummy from a robe that had long since been retired to the rag pile. The tail was put together from an old fuzzy snake dog toy, and I used a Toober toy to give it shape. The ears/hat I made from an old too-small pair of Phoebe’s tights. The biggest expense was to buy a new pair of gray tights, which cost about $7.00. What’s more, the way I put it together, it can all be salvaged again, and the clothes worn as normal clothes.
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¹ John was not in costume. Or perhaps he was just a big nut.
collecting tokens 
beautimous!
we were halloween grinches last night. and despite having the gate at the sidewalk shut, the lights at the gate and down the 50′ path to the front door off, the front door (and security door) closed, and the light under the front portico dark (as well as all the first floor lights at the front of the house), we still got trick-or-treaters at our front door.
aargh.
but back to you & phoebe: beautimous, i say!
Precious!! I love the fluffy tail. :)
Wonderful! And clever.
I wore a witch’s hat and carried a glass of wine.
Oh my goodness…. she is too cute!
And I love the husband’s costume footnote. That made me choke on my kid’s candy just now ;o)
so cute! i love family theme costumes.
one of my favorite costumes ever was a Christmas tree. I wore a green skirt and top, and pinned real ornaments to it. All I had to make was a cone hat and star out of paper.
what an adorable costume! that tail is quite impressive!
I’m not quite sure how to bracket “old fuzzy snake dog toy”?
Oh that is fabulous. And finally a cute squirrel. The squirrels in our yard took the lid off one of our jack-o-lanterns and disappeared up a tree with it.
jenny-
Have you considered a moat for deterring trick-or-treaters?
dragonfly-
Thanks! I was quite pleased with how the tail turned out.
magpie-
Witch’s hat and wine works for me.
Mme M-
Hee, hee. Sorry for the choking.
painted-
The Christmas tree costume sounds great. Maybe one of these days, I’ll steal the idea.
caset-
Thanks! Yay, tail!
bs-
Best not to try, at least without a glass of wine.
mad-
Does this mean you’ll have a pumpkin part dropping out of the tree at some point?
how creative! what great costumes. :)
That photo goes way off the top of the cute-o-meter! Seriously too cute for words.
Would love to see more of the tree costume too.
a moat. i love that. i’ll talk to gary about putting one in, post haste. military guys have experience digging trenches, right?
but what to fill it with? i don’t think crocs or alligators like the winters here, and goldfish – no matter how voracious – aren’t likely to strike fear into small children.
river selkie-
Thanks! Getting the squirrel together was almost as much luck as creativity, though.
azahar-
You have a cute-o-meter? I should get me one of those. (Which reminds me, you’re familiar with cute overload, right?) (Oh, and we didn’t get many good tree photos. Maybe one will surface, though.)
jenny-
It is a tricky question, what to fill your moat with. I have known goldfish to kill other goldfish, but haven’t heard of them attacking a larger critter. Snapping turtles would sound cool, though perhaps they don’t snap as much as the name suggests.
How cute!! It’s so hard to find unique costumes these days; some people (with creativity and a bit of nuttiness) make their own. Your daughter looks absolutely adorable; love the tail! I wonder what my man and I can devise up, lol. Thanks for the post!
~Gina.