Monster Mash

I started casually searching for a Halloween costume for Caleb about two months ago. He's pretty into bugs right now so I thought maybe I would find some type of bug costume he'd like for a decent price somewhere. As I began looking online though, I found several other costumes that related to things he's interested in right now too: cows, Mr. Potato Head, and Yogi Bear. I didn't see any bug costumes that really jumped out at me and his cousin Daniel was a cow last year so I narrowed the choices to the other two options. While I loved the Potato Head idea, the price tag was outrageous for such a simple costume, and I thought maybe I could attempt to make it myself another year if he's still into that. (This is probably wishful thinking based on my current sewing skills but $40 for a lumpy brown suit with some eyes, a nose, a mouth, and some ears just seems too steep.) The Yogi suit was much more in our price range, plus Dave has mentioned in the past that he's thought at times that it would be interesting to becoming a park ranger so I thought maybe he could live out this dream on Halloween by dressing up as the Jellystone Ranger to compliment Caleb's attire. I considered going myself as one of the picnickers Yogi is always stealing food from in the park. With all those reasons to go with Yogi, I ordered the costume.

Dave leads a discipleship bible study group on Monday evenings and won't be able to go trick-or-treating with us this Halloween. For this reason, we've been looking for something we could do beforehand so he could see Caleb all dressed up and we could all have some trick-or-treat fun together. My friend Shannon mentioned on Facebook that she was taking her baby to the Apple Blossom Mall tonight in Winchester for their annual "Monster Mash." We thought this would be the perfect opportunity for our pre-Halloween family fun activity.

While Dave and I didn't get our costumes together as I planned, Caleb's had been waiting in his closet for some time. We'd tried on the head piece a few times to practice wearing it to see how he would do because I heard other parents say their kids wouldn't even wear the costumes they'd purchased. Today was the first time, however, that we tried on the entire outfit. Almost as soon as Dave finished dressing him up, Caleb went over to his toy refrigerator and raided the ice box. Next, he headed straight for a picnic basket I had sitting in the dining room.

Does this boy know how to get into character?

"Hey, Boo Boo. I found a pic-i-nic basket."

While Caleb is smarter than the average bear, he didn't have
the claws or sharp teeth needed to break in the basket on his
own so Daddy had to help.

Mmmm...Victory!

After playing at the house a for a bit and searching for Caleb's trick-or-treat pumpkin to carry his candy in that had been displaced, we finally were on our way to Winchester. The mall parking lot looked a lot like Black Friday to my surprise. I hadn't realized what a big event the Monster Mash really was. After a little searching though, we found a spot not too far away. We'd taken the suit off for the car ride so Dave quickly redressed Caleb in the back of the vehicle and then we headed inside. Once in the doors, we saw a huge line of people looping around the entire mall going from store to store filling their loot bags. We decided to walk a ways and take it all in a bit before jumping in line ourselves.

Out of all the crazy costumes and the ton of parents and kids in
the mall, Caleb seemed oblivious that anything was different
from an ordinary trip to shop. Here you might guess he is pointing
at a unique outfit or maybe someone giving out candy. No, no.
His little finger and his attention are focused on a stand selling cell phones.

Right after the cell phone stand though was another table
with a lady handing out candy. This was our first real trick-or-
treating of the evening.

Most of the kids had similar costumes: princesses, superheroes,
ladybugs or bumblebees, witches, etc.There were two really
awesome ideas I saw though. The first was the kid in this picture who
dressed as a fisherman and donned a fishing boat full of gear. The other
was a Hershey kiss costume that looked like the kid had made at home
out of aluminum foil.

Here we're trying to decide where to jump in this giant line. What a crowd!

I have no idea what he's excited about here but am glad he was having fun.

This guy had stickers instead of candy. This is probably the only
toddler appropriate treat Caleb received all night. Don't worry
though; his parents will do what any good parents would do with
all that sugary loot - eat it themselves to protect their sweet baby.

Several of the adults thought Caleb had a unique costume and were excited to see a miniature Yogi running around. I didn't think it was that uncommon of an idea since it was a cartoon character, but I guess because it's an older one it was nostalgic for many. I doubt many kids knew who Yogi even was. One little girl asked me if Caleb was supposed to be a monkey. I told her no he was a bear, and she kind of looked at me strange so I didn't even bothering to try to explain who Yogi was.

I told Caleb to only take one piece of candy from this gentlemen. He
tried to grab an entire handful instead. As I tried to stop him and
make him get just one, the man said "It's okay; he's Yogi." This was pretty
funny since as this point he didn't even have his Yogi face on anymore.

Aside from being interested in Yogi, Caleb's other favorite character lately is from a book - Clifford! When he saw this large Clifford ride in front of Sears, he was immediately sucked in and ran for it.

He tried his best to tell us this was Clifford. His toddler babbling
may not have been decipherable by those passing by, but after
reading a fair amount of Clifford books lately, we knew exactly
what he was trying to say.

With everything else going on around him, this was the highlight of
his night. This excited face was just because we let him sit on Clifford.
He didn't even need us to plop in any quarters to start the ride; he
was more than thrilled just to be this close to his big red friend.

"Let's go, Mommy."

This "lifeguard" told Caleb he could have one piece of candy from
the pool. Much to my surprise, this time Yogi only grabbed one piece
and went on his way.

We waited in line for a few more stores and then ended our trick-or-treating.

Yogi got to stay up a little past his bed time; Daddy (aka the undercover Park Ranger) got to experience some trick-or-treating with us; and Mommy got to gather some good pictures for her blog and scrapbook. Despite the huge crowd, crazy parking, and long lines, I think it was a success and a trip we may have to make again - next time with another little one in tote.