Sunday, October 30, 2011

Meet Smaug the Dragon...and Bob the Builder

If you're a fan of The Hobbit, you know that Smaug is a dragon who spends a lot of time lying atop his enormous pile of stolen gold, until his chest is almost entirely encrusted with gold.

ViMae's Daddy has passed along his love of this story, and she decided to be Smaug for Halloween. "Maybe a nice Smaug," she says. Still, she wants to breathe fire and scare other children.

We started with a red hoodie and pants, and I built the whole costume on the hoodie.I posted some sneak peeks here.

She was very specific: There had to be gold, jewels, and long, "mean" wings. I bought stick-on jewels at the fabric shop and she applied them.
I glued some pointy wings to the sleeves of the hoodie and drew on them with a gold pen. (ViMae was planning to fly from door to door trick-or-treating; Pa and I were careful to tell her these wings are just pretend.)

She loves that the tail swings when she walks, and in this photo she is admiring the shadow of her spikes, wings, and claws. Pink claws.

Augie decided to be Bob the Builder. Not surprising for a kid who owns a full-size tool box, hammer, screwdriver, and metal measuring tape, and who spends lots of play time constructing roads, houses, zoos, castles, etc.

Peter and I scouted up the necessary garb including "work boots," and Peter fashioned a tool belt using his own father's WW II ammo belt.

Augie brought goggles and some toy tools. The minute he put on the goggles, he was the proudest builder in the universe. He kept them on for hours.



Our trial outing was to the library for story hour Thursday. We knew from last year that lots of children would be wearing costumes. (Pa was the only grownup wearing one: his red sweater and Santa hat.)
Friday evening, the kids and their mom and dad went to a preschool party. These two photos are from Mommy's blog: she reports that ViMae did a lot of fire-breathing, and Augie stayed in character all evening. No surprises there!


A comment on another blog said the real test of success for a costume is how the child feels wearing it.By that standard, these outfits seem to be a real success, and it's the most fun I've ever had celebrating Halloween.

19 comments:

Grandmother Mary said...

The costumes are great! It's wonderful that they chose them and stayed in character with them. A tail and wings- you're the bomb!

DJan said...

Awesome dragon! And the Builder is obviously a talented engineer... I love these pictures; you're just the perfect grandma. Can you adopt ME? :-)

Sharon Longworth said...

Well I didn't guess! But I'm glad of that, because it was just lovely to see the finished article - and it looks like everyone is thoroughly pleased with it. What a very fine Grandma you are.

Jeanie said...

Wow, the dragon totally lived up to my expectations. You did a great job and it is easy to see how proud she is of it....that is the most important thing. Bob the Builder looks very cute and proud of himself too.

Teresa Evangeline said...

Great costumes. I remember how much my boys loved Halloween and looked forward to their costumes. How blessed they are to have such fun and loving grandparents.

Daughter Number Three said...

Oh, that gave me warm fuzzies. I love to see your creativity and the kids'
pleasure in it. Thanks.

Ms Sparrow said...

I wonder who had more fun--grandma and grandpa making the costumes or the kids wearing them?

Linda Myers said...

I especially love Bob the Builder. One of my grandsons went through an Everything is Bob the Builder phase.

AiringMyLaundry said...

Love the costumes!

Happy Halloween!

Lisa @ Grandma's Briefs said...

Smaug and Bob are ADORABLE! Great job, Grandma!

Happy Halloween!

Sally Wessely said...

I am impressed! I love the costumes. You are such a great grandmother. Your grandchildren will treasure these memories.

Far Side of Fifty said...

What a wonderful costume you made for your little Smaug! Your Bob the Builder is as cute as he can be, I thought he might be a Birdwatcher! :)

Unknown said...

Great costumes! The best part of Halloween for me is seeing all the little ones dressed up. Pure delight!

Cheers!
Julie
Julie Magers Soulen Photography

Unknown said...

Beautiful pictures! Halloween is magical for me. I love seeing all the kids run wild with what they dreamt up for themselves, admiring "the shadow of [their] spikes, wings, and claws." It's fantastical! And I, like your Bob the Builder, still want to build castles :)

xoxoxo

Pearl said...

Oh, how cute was that?!

Smaug. :-) That cracks me up.

Pearl

Rubye Jack said...

For some reason it took my mind a minute to realize what was going on here. No wonder with such a gorgeous dragon standing there. She is too cute!

troutbirder said...

What fun for all concerned. As we just returned from several weeks in Arizona I especially enjoyed your fall trips around St. Paul. They invariably remind me of treasured memories of long ago. Lake Phalen was a favorite venue. :)

Dee Ready said...

Dear Nancy, how lucky and blessed Augie and ViMae are to have you and your husband as grandparents and how blessed you are to have them as your grandchildren.

The costumes are a delight. Both of the children look happy to be dragon and builder. They shine!

Peace.

Jeanie said...

All I can say on this post is TOO CUTE FOR WORDS! Honestly, they are adorable! I miss those days!

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