life lately: trunk-or-treat.

Alright, here's my Halloween post, a day or two late. Does your city have trunk-or-treats? I had never heard of them until we moved to Abilene. They're hosted at churches around Halloween, and everyone brings their car with a decorated trunk to pass out candy...super fun! I like this idea much more than door-to-door trick or treating.

So, the challenge was to come up with a killer idea that fit the budget. First idea: Kate Middleton + Price William...until I looked at the cost of a decent blue wrap dress. Scratch that. Second idea: sicky-sweet birds...until I realized I'd have to hand-stitch feathers onto our outfits (add "sewing machine" to the list of appliances we don't have). Scratch that.

But, Landon had the answer all along: The Oregon Trail. I spend a total of $10. We somehow already had everything in the photo below...which made me think we must be pretty primitive people...

I had a blue dress from H&M with a prairie-ish looking top, I just needed to perfect pioneer skirt to wear over it. I found this beauty at Goodwill for $3, and as I was checking out, the cashier said (without a hint of sarcasm), "Well, now that's a pretty skirt." ...uhh, yeah.

Of course, no pioneer girl is complete without a bonnet and a little mud on the face...

Of course I didn't have a bonnet lying around (what?), so I had to make one. I just took a circular piece of fabric, stitched around in (about 1 inch in from the edge), and cinched the fabric.

The only things I spent money on were the lovely skirt above and that little black lantern, which was $3. Next, it was time to pack the trunk. Which I'm sure made our neighbors think I was some kind of time-traveler. Or hippie.

And of course, our covered wagon had to be covered! Don't worry, no sheets were harmed in the making of this covered wagon. I just strung a piece of yarn through a white sheet from IKEA, and attached the sheet to the car by tucking it into the back doors and tying the yarn to the bottom of the car (I just tied them to some piece of metal under there...hope it didn't do any damage!).

And did I mention that I did all the prep sans-Landon? He was at a cross-country meet this weekend, but he made it back just in time for the last 15 minutes of trunk-or-treat. 

We were swarmed with little vampires, princesses, vampire princesses, and the like...

Conclusion? Trunk-or-treat was super fun...I'm already looking forward to next year!

xoxo.

P.S. Thank you for your very sweet comments yesterday. It is such an encouragement to know I'm not the only one, and I loved your tips...will definitely be using them! Xo.