Last year, Evan really wanted to do Harry Potter costumes for Halloween, but he was outvoted by everyone else who wanted to do The Greatest Showman. I have no regrets about that because those costumes were amazing. I let him do a mini photoshoot in our neighborhood, but didn’t throw myself into it the way I did with our real costumes.

This year, everyone was all in on Harry Potter, although after we made a list of character options, no one actually wanted to be Harry Potter himself. Evan and Caroline wanted to be Weasleys (Ron and Ginny), Lincoln chose Malfoy because he wanted to be mean to his siblings in character, and Finnegan was convinced to be Dobby. I decided I wasn’t dying my hair red again this year, so Mrs. Weasley was off the table, but Professor McGonagall would be perfect. We even convinced E that he should participate in our pictures although he wouldn’t be here for trick or treating. He refused the following costumes: Snape, Prof Quirrell, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley and anything that required makeup. He settled on being a Death Eater, although now I might be questioning whether or not he’s a good person. Just a little bit.

Because I am nothing if not extra, I decided that not only would we each be an HP character, we were also going to make as many props as possible so we could turn our minivan into Hogwarts for the town Trunk or Treat.

I’ll have details on Hogwarts later, but the rundown on our costumes is at the bottom of the page. I won’t make you read all that before you get to the pictures.

Finnegan (Dobby) – I made the ears and tea towel outfit from fabric store supplies. It took two tries to get the hat right, but it wasn’t that bad.

Lincoln (Draco Malfoy) – Robe is this year’s Target robe, white shirt is H&M, sweater was already in his closet, black dress pants are Walmart, shoes are from last year’s costume.

Caroline (Ginny Weasley) – robe is borrowed from a friend but the label says it’s Rubies Costumes *I don’t think it’s the same as the one currently on Amazon, based on the reviews*, shirt was from Goodwill, sweater from Old Navy, skirt is French Toast from Amazon, socks are from Amazon, shoes were already in her closet.

Evan (Ron Weasley) – Robe is last year’s from Target, white shirt is from last year’s costume, sweater was already in his closet, black pants are from Walmart, shoes were already in his closet.

All the ties came from Amazon, but they were adult-sized so I shortened and hemmed them.

E (Death Eater) – Robe is from Amazon, plain white mask was purchased on Amazon but I decorated it with hot glue and paint, everything else he already owned. Tattoo is fake and also from Amazon.

Suzanne (Prof McGonagall) – I made the robe with cheap fabric from the fabric store and lined the sleeves with Deathly Hallows fabric. Hat is from Amazon, decorated with fabric store feathers and a button I had in my button box. The brooch, shirt, skirt, and boots are all from Goodwill.

I made all the wands with chopsticks from Amazon, hot glue, and paint. I got the idea from this tutorial and it was VERY fun to make them.

Props: Scabbers the rat is from Amazon, the spider is part of our Halloween decorations, and we made baby madrakes out of tin foil, homemade clay and craft store supplies. Tom Riddle’s diary is from Amazon and the cauldron is from CVS.

We took the pics at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Notable alumni include a bunch of governors, CEO of the Boston Red Sock, and the founders of Tom’s of Maine, Momofuku and Shake Shack. Non-notable alumni include lacross stick in a bowtie Tucker Carlson. It’s about 40 minutes from our house, but it was totally worth the drive because it was gorgeous and a pretty good stand-in for Hogwarts.

(exact links coming soon)

There you go, our family Harry Potter Halloween Costumes for 2019! Three years in a row makes this a pretty definitive tradition now, so if anyone has suggestions for next year I’m open to them. I don’t think I have very many years left where Evan will agree to be anything besides a Fortnite character or a scary mask, so I’m going to keep being as extra as possible while I can.

Evan told me he wanted to be a Harry Potter character for Halloween months ago. I tried to talk the whole family into Harry Potter, but Linc and Caroline INSISTED on going with The Greatest Showman. So I promised Evan his own photoshoot and that he could be Harry Potter for trick-or-treating if he humored me for the family costume pictures.

Evan has gone back and forth on whether he is Harry Potter or Ron Weasley. He wants to be Harry because Harry is the main character and gets to do the most magic and save the day. But he has red hair and freckles, so he LOOKS more like Ron. I also struggled with this as a child – I thought I could *only* be blonde princesses or movie characters. It’s why I am the only person in the world who likes Amy March the best.

In the end, Evan decided he’s Ron Weasley, so here is his official Halloween 2018 Ron Weasley photo shoot. The setting is the high school down the street from us (Norwich Free Academy), which really does look pretty magical. I added a few special effects to make it extra wizard-like.

Every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take
A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make

Last year, the kids got really into Halloween. They agreed on a family costume and were super (pun intended) into dressing up as many times as possible for photos.

This year, Lincoln decided he HAD to be P.T. Barnum from The Greatest Showman. He is beyond obsessed with that movie, we’ve watched it multiple times a week ever since it came out. Caroline was fully on board with that as a family costume, since she wants nothing more in life than to join a circus as an aerialist. The rest of us agreed we could live with being assigned other characters, which Lincoln was happy to choose for us.

None of these costumes are available straight from the store yet. I had hoped that Chasing Fireflies might have them when this year’s catalog came out, but I think most kids still want to be superheroes or unicorns instead of characters from a musical with a pretty flimsy plot line. But I am not afraid of hot glue and sequins, and once I realized that wasn’t quite enough I learned to use my sewing machine. None of it would pass a close inspection, but for trick-or-treating (or photos!) they worked great.

So for Halloween 2018, I officially present:

Lincoln…as P. T. Barnum

Caroline…as Anne Wheeler

Evan…as Phillip Carlyle

Finnegan…as The Tattooed Man

And me…as Jenny Lind

These photos aren’t going to win any awards for technical perfection – taking pictures inside dark spaces is NOT my specialty, four kids is a lot of kids to pose, and toddlers are not the best listeners. But that doesn’t make them any less fun. None of the kids care if the pictures are a little grainy, all they care about is seeing their dreams come true.

Sources (all Amazon affiliate links):

Tiny tuxedo
Red vest
Pink wig
Purple leotard
Sparkle tank top
Cream bolero
Hoop skirt
Black hat (this is the only one of several I ordered that actually fit Linc!)
Red Hat
Temporary tattoos
More tattoos
Girl’s dance tights

All the trim and fabric is from Joann’s. One stick is a dowel I painted, the other is from Party City. Evan and Finnegan owned most of their costumes, I got the vest at Goodwill and Finn’s undershirt at Walmart. All the sparkly jewelry is also from Walmart. Also a huge shout out to my amazing hairdresser Jackie at Wild Love Hair Studio for making me a redhead.

And the biggest thank you goes to The Garde Arts Center in New London. I sent an email asking about maybe possibly using just their lobby for some photos and within 24 hours they had found me a time to come in and use the whole theater. Carolyn was beyond generous with her time and resources (I think Finnegan wanted to go home with her) and I could not have made this magic without them. They are a non-profit organization that has worked to painstakingly restore this old movie house to its original glory. I made a donation to thank them for their time and we’ll be attending as many events there as possible, both because it’s an amazing building and because they’re a wonderful organization. (They’re having an awesome Halloween Movie event! You can take the kids to see Hotel Transylvania on Saturday the 27th!)

Happy Halloween!

Where it’s covered in all the colored lights
Where the runaways are runnin’ the night
Impossible comes true, it’s takin’ over you
Oh, this is the greatest show
We light it up, we won’t come down
And the sun can’t stop us now
Watchin’ it come true, it’s takin’ over you
Oh, this is the greatest show

I don’t usually dress up for Halloween. Grown-up costumes are either too cheap or too expensive and never fit right, if they fit at all. I don’t want to be a Sexy Crayon or a Sexy Elmo or a Sexy Fire Hydrant. I just want to be a regular mom in yoga pants who steals all the peanut butter candy after the kids go to bed.

But this year, we needed some extra Halloween magic, so we did a family Halloween costume.

Putting on a Supergirl costume – and wearing it in public – is terrifying. I am not Supergirl. I am a 35-year-old mother of 4. But during this deployment, I don’t get a choice. I HAVE to be super, all the time. With the kids, the house, the dog, the finances, my work, the holidays, all of it. It feels like I am lifting heavy objects, dodging bullets and leaping over obstacles on a daily basis. So if the cape fits, I’m going to wear it. And the boots. And some bright red lipstick.

And if I’m going to put that much effort into our family of superheroes Halloween costumes, you can bet I’m going to turn it into a photo shoot. We headed down the street and borrowed an abandoned mill (possibly the old Hopkins & Allen firearms factory? I’m not good at telling the many abandoned brick buildings downtown apart) for a cityscape. The kids had a GREAT time playing superhero and even if I still don’t love looking at myself in photos, I know I won’t be sorry to have these. I can’t wait for E to get a chance to see that I’m using my super strength to hold everything together well enough to still have fun.

Any of these that I am in were taken by Evan and/or Caroline. I taught them how back button focus, framing, and shooting works (with the camera safely on a tripod) and they did an awesome job.

In case you were wondering, Evan and Caroline’s costumes came from Chasing Fireflies (Caroline this year, Evan last year), Finnegan’s Robin and Supergirl are from Zulily, and Linc’s was bought on a local resale page. I’m pretty sure it’s pajamas, but it’s comfortable and he loves it.

Late again. Honestly, for most of the week it was a miracle I kept my family alive, there was no chance of me blogging. I don’t talk about politics much here, partly because it doesn’t come up when I’m mostly sharing photos of my family, partly out of a desire to avoid conflict and partly so my parents don’t have to constantly pray for my soul (we have…very different opinions on many things). But in this case I feel like I need to be clear: I am devastated and shocked, to a degree that has surprised me. I wasn’t at all prepared for these feelings and I’m struggling. I don’t expect my blogging schedule will get any better in the next few weeks.

Sunday:

Caroline’s favorite hobby

Still gotta catch ’em all

The location of one of my best photoshoots to date

Monday:

Couch naps are happening here more and more

Sure, why WOULDN’T you hit me with a stick?

Trick or treating

Tuesday:

This bear was such an excellent purchase

Bus stop hand holding

Edit all day, edit all night

Wednesday:

We really like fall

One of the last days where the sun doesn’t set before 5 pm

Rolls on rolls

Thursday:

Snuggle all day

These pants tho

Evan’s face when Linc meets him at the bus

Friday:

His head is SO ROUND

Someone found the donut holes

Card night

Saturday:

Every kid at mini sessions asked if this was a haunted cabin

I love working

I do not love this new hairstylist

I’ve spent the last two morning in Mystic, enjoying the fall weather and sunshine and refusing to let myself wallow. They also sell fudge. That might be the real reason I’ve managed to drag myself out of bed.