Spooky Movie Month Day #31 – It’s Halloween!!

October 31st

After the Zombie Pageant, after the IMC concert, after Five Nights at Freddy’s… it’s finally zero hour and Halloween night!  So how did we do? 

Well, you tell me. 

First, a rundown of the costumes we built: 

Dragon wanted to be a “Clicker Zombie” from Last of Us.

Unfortunately, due to the extensive work and cost that went into our characters for the zombie pageant, I was unable to build his mask by hand. We were, however, able to find a decent looking one online at a price I could afford. 

The clothing was fairly easy, just time consuming to get it right. We took a few trips to the thrift store to find a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt, we already had the mesh camo print shirt. It took about 2 1/2 hours to mangle and zombify the clothing, similarly to what we did for our pageant pieces. This process of “decomposition” included the use of acrylic paint, fake blood, ripping it with child scissors, forks, kitchen knives and literally washboarding it against the dirty rocks outside in the back yard, scraping it against the mud, the wooden fence, a picnic table, then smacking the pieces against random sharp things till the clothes looked sufficiently mangled.

To cut up the back of his pants without exposing his rear end, I cut up the pockets and any extra fabric I could find to make sure it was torn up all the way around without being ‘inappropriate’. Dragon was very concerned about that.

The result was a (mostly) realistic-looking Clicker costume. The mask wasn’t terrible, but definitely showed me I am not the type to settle for less than I’m capable of, so next year – if a build like this is necessary, we will schedule ourselves appropriately to ensure the build can get done properly. 

Bottom line, was he happy? Dragon was thrilled and spent the night walking up behind people making the famous “clicker sound” in their ears and then running away laughing. That kid has a future in scaring people – I can’t wait till I can take him to Haunt!!

Lion’s costume was more of a challenge even though at first, I had thought it would be pretty easy. (Famous last words, right??)  They decided they wanted to be Mettaton from Undertale. 

Now, if you don’t know about Undertale a quick run down; it’s a video game made to look like the old, 8-bit games of the 80’s, but is a completely new story that has captivated fans for the last 7 years. Truly a game for the internet fandom generation, Undertale has a sweet and sad story with nostalgic graphics and moral choices similar to the ones we see in games like Bioshock that leave the heart aching no matter which choice you make. Pretty much anyone into video games, who is also under 25, knows and probably loves this game and I am somehow among them, but that’s a whole other story for another day. 

Lion chose a character who, for the first half of the story, is a computer with a wheel for a foot. At some point, that wheel becomes two legs wearing hot pink boots. Finally, they transform entirely into a humanoid robot who is in love with one of the characters. Lion chose to be Mettaton, the “calculator form with legs”. 

First, we miraculously found the pink shoes on sale at a discount store while we were shopping for Zombie Evening gowns for the pageant. Total score!! 

Then we had to test boxes to find one Lion could put over their heads and wear comfortably. Thankfully, my parents had one just the right size. 

We then headed to Home Depot to collect paint and dryer vent material. 

We had some leftover screen after our dog ran through the screen door a year ago, so I was able to cut out holes for vision and then cover them with screen to be painted over. 

Then, I had to mix the 3 grey paints I found for .50c in the “as is” wrack at Home Depot to get enough to cover the entire box. After waiting for paint to dry then applying 2 more coats and waiting again, it was ready for the silver. A few dustings was all it took and our computer was taking shape! 

I used plant pot water catcher saucers for the large dials and stole all the toothpaste caps I the house to make the smaller knobs. 

Hot glue was my best friend as I attached it all… then came the hard part. 

The grid on the front of the box had to be exact. Five boxes across and four down, all exact and equal rectangles. Not being a math person, my brain struggled with this for far too many hours of division and fractions till finally I realized that wasn’t necessary. I stood back, stopped trying to do it “the right way” and instead, did it MY way. It was perfect. The grid was up and the painting could FINALLY begin.

We went to see FNAF, drove around looking at decorations and holiday displays then came home to get to work while everyone else was sleeping. At around 2:30am, I was finally finished with as much as I could get done that night and packed it all up for bed. 

The next morning, Halloween, I made the final touches, putting the black on the dials and a final coat of red and yellow on the grid. Once it was dry, we packed it all up to head up to my mom’s neighborhood where my sister’s band would be laying in her driveway for Halloween trick-or-treaters. (That neighborhood doesn’t do small)

Before I left, I set out the kid’s jack-o-lanterns. Lion made a house for a tiny pumpkin and Dragon made a two-faced pumpkin wit a happy and mean face.

I also left two bowls at my front door. One was full of candy, the other full of fun sensory toys and allergen-friendly candy, as my house is registered as a “Teal Pumpkin Project” home. I set up signs indicating which one was which and the bowls were directly under my Ring camera. I left a gentle warning about karma and asked people to be kind by not taking all the candy for themselves and I’d say it mostly worked. A few teenagers came just before 9pm and took most of it, but thankfully the families that came after had a few tings left to choose from.

Up at my parent’s house, my job was to decorate, as it was also a celebration for Dragon’s 13th birthday, my mom’s birthday and my bother-in-law’s birthday, too. So, we got up in time to decorate everything, help set up holiday displays, wrap all Dragon’s presents, get everyone dressed and out the door for free candy day! I went as Wendy from Gravity Falls and their dad went as Soos!

So – was it worth it??

Both Lion and Dragon were ecstatic with their costumes and jumping for joy upon their return. You’d think it was the candy they were so happy about, but no – it was because all kinds of people recognized them both while they were out. Truly the reward for me was seeing how happy they were and how excited they were when people recognized them and being excited saying things like “OMG are you Mettaton?! That’s awesome!” and “Oh wow, a Clicker!!”. 

Magic made. 

Now I want to sleep for a week. 

But I won’t…. Because tomorrow and the 2nd is the celebration of Dia de los Muertos, then true Samhain on the 6th-8th, and finally, Dragon’s actual birthday this week.  

We’ll be watching Coco and Book of Life this week, as well as Maya and the Three, diving into the lore of our ancestors as we celebrate them and dearly recent departed loved ones and pets who are already receiving love and gifts on our ofrenda. 

I hope everyone enjoyed this year’s Spooky Movie Month and that it inspired you to bring your kiddos along down the dark and misty paths of Halloween fun. So many families tend to downplay this holiday and forget that it’s truly about family. It’s about love, honoring here we came from, understanding that death is a part of life and not to be feared, but to serve as a reminder that each moment of every single day is an opportunity to live, to love, to share and give of ourselves. We all hope that one day we will make an impact somehow in this world… Halloween reminds us every second is precious, every interaction is sacred. Every moment is an opportunity to create magic and connection with those we love, as well as those we just met. 

My Halloween wish for you is that you are able to share joy, magic and love with all you meet tonight and every night. That the reminder of our mortality does not bring fear or anger, but excitement and amazement at how fleeting this life is. May that reality gift you perspective to see ALL the good we GET to bring to the world for ourselves and others. Goodnight and blessed holidays to all from The Mothership!