flour paste!

The boys decided a while ago they wanted to dress as astronauts for halloween. (I dismissed later submissions as after the deadline - in addition to some of them impossible to make.) I believe the key to the homemade costume is pick out a couple key things that will identify the character. We decided with the help of a neighbor that astronauts need globe-like hemets, lots of silver-metallic, and an oxygen tank. A base of clothing that is gray or white and easy to layer depending on weather completes it. For detail we added flags to their arms and duct tape name tags.

The styrofoam tube that connects their helmet to their packs was 1.29 and the can of silver spray paint was 3.69. Thats it! Love it! (Plus we have wicked metallic spray paint leftover for some other creative endeavor.)

It recently dawned on me that Elijah is 5 years old and we've never done paper mache here! Oh, that was fun. A little elementary school art class flame was rekindled within me. Mrs. Crandell, I believe. We first tried a chicken wire frame for the helmet, but it was too sharp to leave in, to hard to take out w/o ruining the shape, and it didn't produce a nice smooth sphere. A big balloon of course! In addition to the fun of flour paste and newspaper, there is the thrill of popping the balloon! I had forgotten how really awesome paper mache is! Maybe I could make something really practical with it, like a bowl or a bicycle.

Visibility is poor with this costume, but its not like they are actually flying a space rocket. A funny image of Margaret in space w/o the restrictions of gravity just passed through my mind. Would she still have a double chin?

They had a great time at the school trunk or treat and collected way too much candy. Tobias spent an hour looking at his the next day. He grouped them, shook them, counted them, ranked them, predicted their contents - all w/o opening a single package.