My husband teaches at a middle school, so his Halloween costume is kind of a big deal.  He wants something new and different every year. I do my best…

This year he was a piñata. I bought a few rolls of crepe paper streamers from the party supply section, then used packing tape to attach them to sweat pants and an old long-sleeved shirt. I fringed the ends of the streamers with scissors.

I cut a hole in the center of the shirt and taped a plastic bag and scraps of cardboard around the opening. He filled it with hard candy (not chocolate! it would melt!) and handed it to kids. He also had a pool noodle as the “stick” but as you can imagine, that got a little wild and was put away when the bell rang :)

I topped it off with a  straw hat (also found in the party section) and a couple of party hats that I added streamers to. I thought he looked great… he made my “bag of jelly beans” costume look pretty lame by comparison.

This year, he found out that his partnering teacher was going as a toilet plunger. So of course he had to be the toilet. I bought a new toilet seat and handle, figuring that we could probably use a new one anyhow and would replace our actual seat after Halloween. We looped the seat through his belt to hang it around his waist, and taped the lid to a box around his shoulders.

We covered the box with white butcher paper and added the handle. He had a little digital recorder button (they carry them at my local scrapbook store) that had the audio of a toilet flushing on it. So whenever somebody pushed the handle, it would make a flushing sound. We tied a roll of toilet paper to the side with twine, and added an “out of order” sign to the back. He gave out Tootsie Rolls from the “toilet bowl.” I know– ew. But his students loved it!

I wish I’d taken better pictures of my toddler’s hot air balloon costume! For this one, I cut out the bottom of a square basket and made criss-crossed straps from ribbon to hold it up. I cut a strip of red fleece, fringed the ends, and tied it around his neck as a scarf. I bought the felt aviator hat online for $5.  The giant 3-foot balloon was purchased and filled at a party supply store (Zurcher’s), and they also sold the balloon netting there. Then I just tied it to the basket. It was a big hit!

My daughter, who loves puppies, wanted to be a dog. So I bought this dog costume, but had to jazz it up a little.

I found this little dog bed at the $1 store, so I didn’t feel bad about cutting the bottom out of it. I sewed on ribbon straps, then basted some of her stuffed puppies to the inside.

I hand sewed them in place with big stitches, so they would be easy to remove after Halloween, but wouldn’t fall out and get lost while trick-or-treating.

Remember this scene from “A Christmas Story?”

Who could forget it? Well, you know what’s coming…

My poor husband. But c’mon, he knew what he was getting into when he married me!