Halloween in Pittsburgh

A butterfly at a school Halloween party!

Unlike my sister, I haven’t always loved Halloween. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good party as much as the next person. I just haven’t always gotten into the spirit of it. My sister rocks Halloween and I am a participant.

Still, since becoming a mom I’ve learned to appreciate Halloween in a new way. For me, Halloween

Mickey Mouse showed up!

 is about community. It is the one day when strangers can knock on your door and you answer happily—and you give candy. It has become one day when I know that our family will be together. And that alone makes it special.

Also, this year, we really got into the spirit. Indeed, this year, our daughter was in a Halloween parade with her school and we attended three Halloween parties. The good thing about all of those parties is that is that we were able to get extra wear from the costumes!

Obtaining Halloween Costumes as a Working Mom

I envy the moms who are able to make their kids costumes from scratch. I am not that kind of mom for two reasons. The first, I can't sew and I am not incredibly creative in that way. The second is, I do way too much to be able to plan, shop for and prepare homemade costumes.

I try to be self-aware though. And I understand that I am a working mom on a tight schedule. So, I have bought my daughter's costumes early for the past two years. I have found them at Marshall’s in August. Each time, I have hesitated before buying them. But each time I have given in.

Our daughter at our neighbor's haunted house

I realize that my dream about finding an ideal costume that coordinates with the rest of the family is just that. I know that time will inevitably get away from me and if I fail to buy that costume, I will be at Wal-Mart at midnight on October 30th scraping the bottom of the barrel for a costume. That realization motivates me to buy my costumes early so that I can have the assurance that I rarely get—I know that I will be prepared.

Costumes from Marshall's Can be Super Cute!

Our neighbors may have been being polite, but everywhere we went, people commented about how beautiful our daughter and her costume were. (The pink bag is compliments of the  exclusive CVS bargain basket...)

I hope that you enjoy these photographs from our Halloween night. It was everything I expected it would be, and more. Now that it's over I can start to think about next year. Perhaps, we might have a family coordinated theme??? Who knows...

The baby (AKA Daniel Tiger) and the spoils...