Being a stay-at-home mom for the majority of my kid's childhood years meant lots of excitement around Halloween time (both from them and myself!)

I have always loved being crafty, which meant my kids had some really creative costumes. When my daughter was just 3 years old I made a big heart out of cardboard, about 2 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet tall! I added an arrow (fake of course!) and my sweetheart literally became my sweetheart!

Family Fun

A couple years later she was put into a clown costume. And not any normal clown costume, she was decked out! If I wasn't with her, I guarantee that nobody would have recognized her. It reminds me of that America's Funniest Home Video's clip where the little girl is dressed up as a witch and when she finally goes over to the mirror to look at herself she gets scared and starts crying. Thankfully my daughter didn't have the same reaction, maybe because she was so colorful!
Clown Costume
My son was everything from Batman (of course) to a dinosaur, leprechaun, and a skeleton. The skeleton costume was simply made from black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt, which I then painted with white glow in the dark paint.
Halloween Costumes
Even my husband and I would dress up! What fun is trick or treating with the kids when you are in your work clothes?! My husband has been Yogi Bear, complete with a nice "pick-i-nick" basket! I have done the average witch costume a few times, but one of my favorite times was going to a costume party with another couple as both the Flintstones and Rubbles, myself being Wilma Flintstone. The guys even made us a Flintstone car, just like the one in the show.
Flintstone's Costumes

Memories

Now that my children are in their 20's, it's fun to look back and see just how amazingly cute they were.
And what better way to preserve the memory of my family's costumes than to create a custom reel and viewer? I put them in ascending order, from back when my husband and I were dating to a family Halloween in 2004. It turned out great!