'Round here, Halloween is no Joke!

A post from Indiana . . . 

For a few months now, ever since a Joker Happy Meal toy came into Caroline's possession, she has been dead set on being the 1966 tv Joker for Halloween this year. We, of course, obliged. 

CAROLINE: My favorite part is the purple suit and the green hair!

Jude was happy to be an Adam West inspired Batman, and Lucy was an adorable little Robin:

Initially, Chris and I were going to be the Riddler and Catwoman, but I ran out of time, so we were simply "POW!" and "BAM!" as we accompanied them trick-or-treating around our neighborhood:

I don't know if this is better than our KFC costumes from last year, but I was happy to reuse the Colonel Sanders suit (dyed with iDye Poly) for Caroline's Joker costume:

I spent way too much time obsessing about all the little details in this year's costumes. I even stumbled upon this forum. And more than once I found myself wishing I would have just purchased their costumes instead. 

CHRIS: Halloween costumes today are no where near as good as they used to be.
INDIANA: That is completely not true! When I was a kid, costumes were just printed on cheap vinyl and there was a plastic face mask with a tiny slit for the mouth that you'd always stick your tongue in and your tongue would get cut. 
CHRIS: Those were so much better!
INDIANA: No! Not at all. At least now, store-bought costumes are made of fabric!
CHRIS: But they're so cheap. They just fall apart. And they're all so exaggerated. The boy costume all have muscles and the little girl costumes are all way too sexy.
INDIANA: Right! Like the little boy police officer costume is a muscley police man and the little girl super hero has a tutu.
CHRIS: Which is why I appreciate that you make Halloween costumes. 
INDIANA: But my DIY costumes often fall apart, too! And I swear I spent more constructing this year's costumes than I would have had I simply purchased them.
CHRIS: But at least they're faithful to the actual characters. And one day our kids will appreciate that you made their costumes. 
INDIANA: And no one got their tongue cut on little slits in plastic masks, so there's that. Does anyone even know what I'm talking about?

For prosterity's sake: 

Jude as an astronaut on Halloween, 2013. He still wears this costume!

Caroline as a Cabbage Patch Kid on Halloween, 2013. She still wears this hat! 

I've always been way into making costumes! 

TOP L: As Melanie Daniels from The Birds (my friend is Risky Business) | TOP R: As Wednesday Adaams (my friend is a scarecrow). BOTTOM L: As Bjork (Chris is Duct Tape Where's Waldo). BOTTOM R (not Halloween... but STILL): On 80's night, me as Claudia Kishi from The Babysitters' Club (Chris is Elliot from ET). 

I'm already scheming what we can all be next year. Tonight at dinner, the kids asked if they could be ghosts next year. I'm all for that as long as Chris and I can be PacMan and Ms. PacMan and Lucy can be a pretzel.