Happy Halloween!

Wombat:

The blonde one is Steve Irwin,
Crocodile Hunter.

Vampire wombat:

Vampire wombat with friends Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Battlestar Galactica) and Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender):

Athena Cat photo-bombed our portrait.

Did you have a good Halloween? On Thursday I helped some friends with a toddler and a pre-schooler go trick-or-treating and hand out candy, and over the weekend I went to a party with grad school friends. They threw a sexy-themed party (it's  ironic, don't you get it? they're so meta!), but I went as a vampire wombat. Those don't really exist, but I discovered these big furry marsupials earlier this year and for some now-forgotten reason decided that "vampire wombat" sounded like a great Halloween costume. Mine consisted of a brown turtleneck, brown long-johns, brown socks, and black gloves (all borrowed from Dear Husband), plus a mask I made from a template I found on the internet. Apparently Australian children can learn about these animals and "play wombat," complete with burrows made out of chairs and blankets, the saw way we did with prairie dogs or badgers. I also purchased a pair of fake plastic vampire fangs and some vials of fake blood to complete the look.

My favorite part of Halloween this year was when Aang asked me to put in my fangs, and then shrieked in terror. My second favorite part was when she held my hand while trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, the fangs kind of hurt, and I couldn't talk in them. And the vial of blood I brought to the grown-up party started leaking in the plastic bag I kept the fangs in when I wasn't wearing them. When I put the vial in my mouth to try to produce the effect for a photo, the blood just filled up the fangs: I could taste it, but nobody could see it. Blech. Maybe better used alone than together.

DH even came to the party. He had a big concert weekend and so hadn't thought of a costume. Since he was still dressed from the wedding he had played, I told him he should tell folks he was an undertaker--and would be happy to take care of any bodies that might be left over after the party. He was also offering "free trial embalming." Funnily enough, no one took him up on the offer.

Total haul this Halloween: 3 Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (for DH), 3 Three Muskateers, 1 York Peppermint Patty, 1 box purple Nerds, 1 Bubble Pop, 1 Tootsie-Roll Pop, 1 roll Smarties, 1 cup "punch," 1 M&M cookie, and 1 piece of pound cake. Yep, that's pretty good. I'm thinking of repurposing the wombat mask as a werewolf for next year. Until then, happy scaring!