Happy Halloween!!

Our Church had an AWESOME Fall Festival that included a pie contest, costume contest, dinner, a children’s parade of costumes, and a trunk-or-treat.

We had a lot to look forward to!

We bought Bridgette’s costume last December on clearance. Little did we know she would actually end up being our little “honey B,” so the costume was a perfect fit. Well, it was a little small by the time Halloween actually came around, but you get the idea!

So, we wanted to do a family themed costume. Originally, we thought we’d be flowers or something.

Then last week, I was browsing the web for ideas for our costumes and came across a bee keeper.  Then Rick said, “you should totally go as a beehive!  We can go as ‘Deseret!'”

I laughed and then I thought, YES!  That’s it!  Boo on the flower idea, we had a new plan.

The following day we went to the Home Depot to get Rick a pair of paint coveralls, a bucket,  and gloves and then to Hobby Lobby for pom-poms and pipe cleaners to make the bees.

How we were going to make the beehive was yet to be determined!  However, we did buy 2 yards of felt at Joanne Fabric that same day, along with some bias tape and tulle.

After talking to my brilliant sister, Megan, she suggested we use foam piping insulation for the hive. So Rick went back to the Home Depot to buy several tubes of piping and some twine to lash it all together. He made 11 separate rings, ranging in circumference, creating the shape of a hive. I cut the yards of felt into 2″ strips for the hive. Rick used watered-down Elmer’s glue to adhere the fabric to the rings by overlapping the fabric. This took hours to do, over the course of a few nights. A very tedious process! Once the felt was glued on the rings, he  started lashing the rings together, starting from the top. The twine was knotted between each ring. He’s a genius. He had to think ahead and make sure his twine was long enough to wrap around each ring. I sewed fabric straps that hung form my shoulders, and held the beehive in place. The hat was made using the same method.

I made about 100 bees by glueing a small black pom-pom to a large yellow pom-pom.  To create the stripe, I wrapped a black pipe cleaner around the yellow pom-pom. I cut the bee’s wings  from folded vellum paper  (a circle just over the fold, so when you open it, you have a v-shaped wing). I glued the wings to the yellow pom-poms. The final touch was a bucket filled with Bit O’ Honey candy, which we passed out all night!  How can you have such a costume without some honey for everyone to taste?

We were in it to win it!  They picked us as “Best Overall Costume!”  Huzzah!

When everyone cheered, Bridgette burst into tears from all the noise.  HA HA HA…what a cute little BEE she was!

(There must have been 5-6 other BEES in the audience! A popular costume indeed!)

It wasn’t hard to make the costumes, just extremely time-consuming.  But when Rick puts his mind to it, he can pull off anything!

My caramel apple pie was a runner-up for first place!  HUZZAH!!

It was such a fun night!!  The turn out was amazing. So many adults showed up in costume and every child looked adorable!

This little beehive was completely crafted by Rick. It was ultra lightweight and easy to get on and off.

The only downside: I couldn’t hold/carry Bridgette or sit down!  And, it was hard to walk around that evening because I was such a “wide load” and the crowd made things a bit tight.  Whatever, it was worth it.

We can’t wait to see what Halloween 2012 brings in the Zinke household!  We’re already brainstorming for costumes.

Our friends Jordan and Amber with their little Ladybug Katalyn. Their idea was like ours.  Amber is a butterfly and Jordan is a bug catcher!

It was a long night for this rascal, but she did great!