Time for a Halloween giveaway!
October 27th, 2008
Halloween is only four days away. Wow, time flies when you’re driving all over Texas visiting friends and family, and someone else at at your house watching your cats and unpacking boxes and organizing your house.
Coming home to a clean, orderly house that doesn’t have a stack of boxes in the corner of each room was so wonderful. Brenda did us a good deed. I’m going to pass it on that by GIVING AWAY my two remaining crocheted trick-or-treat bags, totally FREE!
The catch is that Halloween is only four days away. As much as I love you guys and want to spread goodwill and all, I don’t want to spend a fortune on overnight shipping. Therefore, this giveaway will close on Wednesday, October 29th, at 4pm PDT. At 4:01 I will use random.org’s number generator to pick two winners, and will mail the bags to them via USPS Priority before 5pm that day. Since Priority Mail takes 2-3 days within the continental U.S., there is a good chance your bag will get to you in time for Halloween…and there is a chance it might not. Just so we’re clear.
If you’d like the chance to win one of these bags, follow these two simple steps:
- Leave a comment, telling me about your best/silliest/most memorable Halloween costume. It’s okay if you can’t think of a costume story. I’d like to read your stories, but if you can’t think of any just leave a comment saying you want to enter.
- Email me (bethanyactually at gmail dot com) the name and address where I would send your winning bag. (Note: To make it easier on me, put “halloween giveaway address” as the subject. Because I’m going to close the giveaway and then mail the bags out within an hour, you must email me the shipping address in order to be entered. Unless, of course, you know with 100% certainty that I already have your address.
Good luck!
At 4:03pm PDT, I am closing comments. Thank you so much for all your Halloween/costume stories. I enjoyed them very much! You are a creative lot and I got some great ideas. I’m about to finish up some administrative details and then I’ll pick the winners.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I remember the Halloween of 1989 like it was yesterday. Stasha was just a baby and since it was raining I had no intentions of taking her out and having her end up sick. Heather had just started kindergarten and she just had to go out because all of her friends at school were going trick or treating and if she didn’t go then she would be an odd ball (her exact words!). Her daddy agreed to take her while I stayed home with the baby so I had to do a last minute costume pickup and and to choose from what was left. Unfortunately for Heather the only thing left in her size was an Alf costume. While I wasn’t excited about the idea Heather loved it because she loved Alf although all she really knew as that Alf was brown and furry with a funny nose. So alas … Heather was Alf. As I was getting her dressed, she was so excited, I noticed what looked like a blister on her back. I asked her if it itched or if it bothered her and she, of course replied with a NO. While putting on her sweatpants and costume bottoms I notice a couple of places that looked like blisters on her legs. I didn’t really give it a lot of thought, gave her a kiss and sent the out the door with Daddy and orders not to be out late.
The Alf costume ended up being a hit as 85% of the kids in our hometown had decided to go as Alf so she fit right in. The blisters however were not a big hit. When her daddy brought her home and I was stripping her down to put in the bathtub I realized that she was COVERED in blisters. You could almost see them popping out. Turned out she had chicken pox and the body heat from a sweatsuit and her Alf costume had speeded up the outbreak and by morning she looked like one big chicken pox. Poor baby was miserable!
October 27th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
You know angst driven teenagers don’t go trick-or-treating for the fun of it, they’re on a mission to gather the best sugar bombs around. My best friend and I didn’t want to spend any money for our costumes because all we wanted was the candy, so we crafted some makeshift hippee costumes with oversized colorful shirts and belts. Then I borrowed her dangling peace sign earrings. Unfortunately, our neighborhood had a sad array of candy givers which foiled our sugar bomb plan. Plus, I got a bad reaction to her cheap peace sign earrings, and since that day I can only wear real earrings with gold posts. So sad. Never again will I trick the candy givers on Halloween. It’s bad mojo.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Of course I’m gonna jump in here.
Well, I’d rather tell you about my brother’s best costume ever. Growing up we made all our halloween costumes from stuff we had at home (or could buy for very little money). This particular year I wore my dance recital costume (a yellow leotard, yellow tights, and a cowgirl hat) because I was six-ish. My brother was a bit older and he decided to be an alien. Here’s what he did:
He bought a large blow up punching balloon. Blew it all the way up. Covered it paper mache (strips of newspaper and starch mixture). Let it dry. Painted it green. Cut a hole in the bottom (where the knot had been). cut out eyes and painted the rest of the face. He wore regular clothes and a black cape. I think he even put some antennae on the top (wire coat hanger, bent and wrapped in foil to make thicker). It was awesome. He kept it a secret and no one knew who he was until the night was at a clothes and he revealed it.
I keep trying to get my son to do this and paint it like a Jack-o-lantern and be The Headless horseman, but he won’t play along. Maybe that is how I will answer the door this year. ;)
October 27th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I just wanted to drop by and say I think these treat bags are so ding dong cute. I can’t think of a costume story to share at the moment. Good luck to everyone participating!
October 27th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
One year I went as a Dead Farmer. Not just a farmer, a DEAD Farmer, with much emphasis and fake blood on the “dead” part. I even had a plastic hoe covered in fake blood. Because apparently I had an farming accident and thus: dead farmer. Needless to say it was a ridiculous costume and what’s even worse, I don’t think I have any pictures of my costume that year. Or, wait, maybe that’s a blessing in disguise. : ) It was a WARM costume, though, and in the city where I grew up, warm was totally key.
I think you have my address, but I’ll email it anyway, just in case random.org likes me.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Please! Replace our purple plastic pumpkin thing! Actually it’s not so bad except it really doesn’t store well, you know? :)
Two costume stories. I loved foxes when I was a kid (and my 6yo daughter does now too), and of course one year I wore my red footie-style pajamas and was a fox. We couldn’t find the anything like those pjs (except for babies it seems anymore) for my daughter, but she’s got some red sweats and (most happily) my mom found the furry ears and tail that I wore as a kid and is sending them to us for my daughter to wear. Heritage costume! :)
The costume I’m most proud of when I was a kid though (one year I used a broken umbrella for bat wings, that was cool), was when I found a sort of “wand” in a box by a dumpster - but instead of a star or whatever on the end of the plastic stick, there was a small plush jack o’ lantern. So I grabbed it and took it home, wore an orange sherbert colored play dress, and asked my mom to make me wings and a crown from posterboard. So I could be The Pumpkin Fairy. (Who is the Pumpkin Fairy? I really don’t know. But Mom wrote it on my crown so people would know what I was supposed to be.) Fun stuff.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
My fave costume of my own was in college. One year I was Mary Katherine Gallagher from Saturday Night Live. I found all the pieces of my costume at Goodwill stores and Target. I walked around all night sniffing my fingers and saying “Superstar!”. It was great fun.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I kirtsy’ed you. :) *smooooooch*
October 27th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Hey Bethany,
Ok, so my BEST Halloween was when I was 14 or 15 and living in Germany. The military housing development we lived in was having a huge trick-or-treat party…so I went down with a couple friends. But I ended up meeting up with my best friend’s 2 brothers (1 younger who was trick-or-treating and 1 older who was unhappily chaperoning). I walked with them and the older brother flirted with me. We ended up walking about 5 miles that night through the development and even though nothing ever came of our flirting, it was still nice to spend time with him without his sis. :)
October 27th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
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October 27th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Ok, apparently I misread the directions…here’s my story about my worst Halloween costume ever…
When I was about 8, my mom made me a pumpkin costume. We lived in Alaska, so it was imperative that the costumes be homemade for 2 reasons…1: The store bought ones sucked. 2: We had to be able to wear our snowsuits under our costumes — it was often snowing during trick-or-treat time, and we needed extra warmth.
She made me a great costume and I can’t wait til my son wants to be a pumpkin so I can make him a great costume too!
October 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Oh I was so close to buying a pumpkin bag! Anyways, my silly story is: last year my best friend dressed as a garden hoe and I was a farmer. It was a blast trick or treating and having people guess her costume all night with her saying, ‘Nope, I’m a hoe’. Haha, it was a hoot!
October 27th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I have always loved Halloween! This year I am making my son a sushi costume that has been really fun but my favorite was a mummy.
I was old enough to trick or treat the whole neighbor but my mother knew where I was because the toilet paper we used slowly unraveled.
I adore the bags!
October 27th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
We didn’t trick or treat much when we were kids because there was a lot of taboo at our church about “Satan’s birthday.” So one of my favorite Halloween memories occurred when I was seventeen. My sister and I dressed up on in poodle skirts and handed out candy to the little kids from the neighborhood. We had a blast.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I am so smitten with your Halloween Bags. Especially the lighter colored on with the big smile. Wish I had a charming Halloween story to share from my past, but I don’t. But this year we’ve been busy making little Halloween capes for our Uglydoll Ice Bats. Soon we’ll take a group shot of them in their capes and post to Flickr. I am so inspired by your crochet work, and in awe of your skill. Thank you for posting your wonderful work on Flickr. Please enter me in the drawing for a Halloween bag. I will email my address.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Every year, at leas one of the kids costumes are my favorite. I love the creativity they have in choosing what they will be, and I enjoy the challenge of creating those visions. This year, Monster is a Mummy, and he is so stinkin cute I want to cry when I see him.
And those bags are seriously cute!
October 27th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
[...] - Check out the giveaway on Bethany’s site for uber-cute Halloween bags. I would be tempted to enter, but I think they should go to people who [...]
October 27th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Hi –
My favorite favorite Halloween costume was in sixth grade when I went as Cruella de Vil. The best part was that I didn’t have to wear bulky warm clothes on top of or under my costume because my Fabulous fur kept me warm.
My favorite Halloween, however, was last year when I tricked my daughter into being Cruella:
http://brittandjacob.blogspot.com/2007/10/happy-halloween.html
and she had so much fun watching the kids trick or treat that we took her out and about too!
(great bags — and glad yours are unpacked!)
October 27th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I just posted today about the two costumes I made this year. My son wanted to be Link from Zelda. We spent some time putting it together. I mentioned to him that he might have to explain who he was. He said. “Mom, it is so obvious, as soon as people see the tri-force delta they will know.”
Being that I helped create the design and didn’t know it was a tri-force delta???? He is a happy kid and that’s all that matters.
Bags are adorable.
October 27th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Hi Bethany,
Don’t count me as an entry-the bags are adorable, but I think my two little ones would mess them up good. Better to go to a home of someone else. :)
BUT–here’s my Halloween story.
One year, in college, I dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein for a Halloween party. I wore a slinky black dress, fierce make-up and we teased my hair straight up. (picture a troll) But it looked cool. I had a friend spray paint it black, and then when it came to the time to spray the white streaks, my friend thought the spray went up the front (not up the sides…) I was clueless–so I went to the party with the white streak up the front of my hair, looking like a skunk.
Oh well. Lesson learned, right?
October 27th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Oh, enter me. I don’t have any really great stories, just because we didn’t celebrate Halloween when I was younger. :( But, now that I’m all grown up with kids of my own, I get the joy of dressing them up. I really wanted to dress up my son as Johnny Cash this year (especially since he likes to sing Ring of Fire), but alas, he wanted to be a Ninja Turtle.
Those are super cute bags!
October 27th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Ok, don’t enter me as I already have one of your gorgeous bags for Apple, but I do want to share…
After many years of not celebrating Halloween, I finally had a cool boyfriend (or so I thought back then) that wanted to dress in a matching costume and take me to the Halloween pub. I made his and hers Cave people costumes (which I still have and wear when I need a costume). We headed out to the party. We were there maybe a half an hour and I had to leave. I got the flu. I just made it home before getting very, very sick and have never quite recovered from missing my first Halloween pub.
October 27th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Leta… I was MKG about 10 years ago and bought my outfit at Goodwill as well, it was great fun! Superstar!!
My most memorable Halloween costume was Wonder Woman. My mom had a full length red satin skirt that she made into a cape, she sewed stars onto blue shorts that I tucked into my underwear and we covered cardboard with tinfoil for my wristguards and crown. Add a red leotard and gold belt and voila! Wonder Woman. I was so proud and if I can find the picture, I’ll email it to you :)
October 27th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
One year when my brother and I were younger (5 and 6) I was wonder woman and he was superman. Everyone kept asking us if we were married. You know, to be cute. I cried the whole time because it was soooo horrible that people thought I was marrying my brother.
The bags are adorable!!
October 27th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
[...] is giving away trick-or-treat bags for free! Leave a comment for your chance to [...]
October 27th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I really can’t remember any costume that just sticks out in my mind. I was Pippy Longstocking one year and had hangers (for the wire) in my hair to make it stick out. By the end of the school day, I was in SO MUCH PAIN!!!
October 27th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
The bags are so cute! I wish I had some super fun costume story but I really don’t! My childhood costumes were all store bought and honestly, not that special but I’ve always loved Halloween. Fun contest!
October 27th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
My most memorable costume was the year I wanted to be a rainbow. SO my dear mother went to town with crepe paper streamers. And that was the year it poured down rain. Crepe paper and rain DO NOT MIX. What a mess! But I still love that my mom made me that costume.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
When I was around 10 I dressed up like a punk rocker chick, it was my favorite costume!
October 27th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I remember dressing up as Strawberry Shortcake and I had the plastic costume with the plastic mask with the eyes cut out of it. Circa early 80s! Costumes are sooo much nicer now. Still, my favorite costume ever!
October 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I wish I had a great Hallowwen story to relate - I took ballet as a kid, so most Halloweens I wore one of my last year’s recital cotumes - on year I was dressed as one of those Russian dancers that squat repeatedly and kick their feet out in front of them - with the black boots, capri (hee!) pants and a tall brown fur hat on top of my head.
Did I say I didn’t have a story to tell? Seems I did!
~Mad(elyn) in Alabama
October 27th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
My costume story involves an argument between my dad and I. When I was 13, a friend of mine invited my brother, sister, and me to a night of trick-or-treating in a neighboring town. Adults were going, but not my parents. I decided that I was going to be a witch (just like the years past) except this year I was going to dress a little more risque than previous years. The dress was long, black, and the only risque part of it was that the shoulder/sleeves had slits in them. Nothing was inappropriately showing, I swear! But my dad, being used to seeing me in jeans and tshirts and not anything remotely adult, well, he yelled. And screamed. Which resulted in me screaming back. Lots of yelling between us both. Anyways, I ended up giving up and just wearing extra extra large clothes, mismatched, and went as a clown. I was a very unhappy clown. But I had my revenge– I decided that I was going to ease my dad into me being more ‘adult’- and I did. I gradually went from tshirts to fitted shirts to cleavage showing shirts… and thankfully that was all the further I went lol. He never once noticed/said anything. Fathers. Silly creatures. :)
And by the way, those bags are adorable!
October 27th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Your trick-or-treat bags are so cute!! I’m sure if I win the boys will fight over who will get to use it.
I can’t really remember any costumes from my youth. I do remember having to trick-or-treat one year in my snow pants and winter coat because it was snowing and so darn cold.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I may have hit the wrong button or something I thought I was submitting the comment and the window closed.
My most memorable costume was a PacMan costume my aunt made when I was in 1st grade (I believe). It slipped on over my head and was filled with Tulle to keep it’s shape. The mouth had two large pieces of cardboard attached that I could move from inside to open and close the mouth. I don’t know what happened to the costume and there are no pictures I know of but I can still picture it clearly in my memory.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
i’d say the most memorable halloween was my daughter’s first one…it changed halloween a lot for me…i love her excitement and watching her get all dressed up…
October 27th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I can’t think of any Halloween stories at the moment… But, I would like to participate in the drawing for a Halloween bag! Thanks!
October 28th, 2008 at 2:03 am
My favorite Halloween was when I was 5 and dresses up as an Ewok from Star Wars. It was a classic 80’s costume with the plastic face and plastic garment. It was my FAVORITE costume!
October 28th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Those bags are GORGEOUS.
I LOVED the year my mom made me a flapper costume. I thought all the fringe was pretty much the greatest thing ever.
October 28th, 2008 at 9:04 am
OMG HOW cute. I wish I could get two before Friday!!
October 28th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I was once a clown, which isn’t that silly, I know, but I AM NOW DEATHLY AFRAID OF CLOWNS. And it doesn’t help when I nostalgically look back on childhood pictures and then scream when I stumble upon MYSELF as the one thing I fear most. Apparently the fear set in some time after the costume and before today, but when that was, I’m not entirely sure.
(The bags are adorable, Bethany. You’re insanely talented.)
October 28th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Halloween is my absolute favourite holiday. It’s the BEST. I love coming up with costume ideas, and playing the part for an evening.
Probably my favourite Halloween was two years ago. My boyfriend and I had just started dating, and although he’s not all that into the spirit (pun intended, ha!) of the holiday, he agreed to dress up with me.
Well, I don’t think he knew what he was getting into.
http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=n187900795372297236194kh3.jpg
haha! Well, he was amazing about the whole thing then, and even though he grumbles a little bit more than he used to, he still lets me dress him up ever year. This year? He’s the Yoda to my Darth Vader.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:06 am
My two favorite Halloween costumes were Bob Ross - the painter guy with crazy hair on PBS and Bride of Frankenstein.
Both involved teasing my crazy hair! I carried around a palette for Bob Ross and used floral oasis to make my Bride of Frankstein hair stand out. When I dressed as the Bride I volunteered to be in a haunted forest walk and one of the kids on the walk thought I was a power ranger! haha
October 28th, 2008 at 10:34 am
One halloween, I was dressed up as a hooker.
We told everyone I was Jem though. She was some punk rocker with her own cartoon and dolls in the 80s.
October 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
My most memorable Halloween was one in which I didn’t actually dress up. I was in Costa Rica and went to the movies with a friend named Cari. The movie got out late and much to our chagrin, the mall was completely deserted, it was foggy and there was a complete lack of taxis. Finally a car drove up and we hesitated. We were told never to take unofficial taxis, otherwise known as “piratas” or pirates, but we had no other choice. He drove very slowly and took a different route than we were used to. We were so nervous the entire way home and decided to get dropped off together even though we lived several blocks apart. She began to walk me home, but we came across a group of sketchy-looking teenagers with masks who looked like they were up to no good. With no other way to get home, we were frightened. We ran to the local fire station hoping it would be a refuge. We hung out with the firefighters for a few minutes and then they took us home in one of their official vehicles. A nice end to an eerie night.
My favorite costume story is when Jenny Mabe and I dressed up as a clothesline (as did her sister and Tara). We had matching lattice-patterened raincoats and tied line at our wastes and socks and undies on the line. Ah those Canaan days.
October 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Jem is outrageous, truly truly truly truly outrageous. Jem is her name no one else is the same. Jem!
October 28th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Cute bags!!!
October 28th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
It always snows at Halloween, so one year, my mother dressed me up as a giant bumble bee. I had a big black marshmallow coat that we striped with yellow duck tape and a cute pair of antennas with yellow ping pong balls on the ends of springs. I buzzed around everywhere and ended up getting stuck in my coat. I think I slept with it on and they cut me out the next morning.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I remember being a clown for many years in a row when I was little. The funny thing was, the clown costume we put together looked a bit more bum-like and when I look at pictures now, the wig I thought was soooo neat looks really strange for a clown. How many clowns do you know with white hair? What kind of clown was I dressing up like anyway?
October 28th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Pretty rotton trick to make me go leave my first comment!! but you know I would have to TRY for a bag!!
:*)
not to age myself, but I will … In 8th grade (i think) I dressed up as the Ayatolla Khomeni … turban, beard, and the works. a little inappropriate, really, considering that the hostages were still in Iran at the time!!! I remember us singing a version of “Barbara Ann” It went “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”. Nice! Interesting what perspective life gives you!
October 28th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Holy canoli, I forgot to comment!
October 28th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Two of my best costumes were ones my mom made. One year I was a yellow crayola crayon. And I think my favorite was being a bag of M & Ms (garbage bag with contact paper letters) because it looked good without really looking like I was trying….so important in middle school.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I honestly can’t remember much of my Halloweens of past…I do remember one year that my Mom walked us all over the neighborhood, so pregnant that she couldn’t fasten anything warm around her belly and it SNOWED while we were out!
October 28th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
My favorite Halloween memory was when I found a gorgeous Orange slinky long dress from the 70’s and went as Cher. I had a wonderful time singing songs and tossing my hair back all night. It won the award for best costume that year!
October 28th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I remember my brother and I dressing as Kermit & Piggy for Halloween. It was the best costume ever. My Mom made it for me and I wore it until it wouldn’t fit.
Kevin was afraid of the head piece and it took lots of convincing for him to wear it. I won first prize at the school costume parade. I think I was in second grade.
I’m hoping that my girls will have the same memories.
October 29th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Those bags are awesome!
My most memorable Halloween costume was the one we put on our son last year. We told him he was a monkey, but our older son had to point out to us that the costume was very obviously a bear….apparently we don’t know one animal from another!
October 29th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Your halloween bags are sooo sooo cute. When my son was 6 months old I had these wonderful dreams of taking him to the pumpkin patch in his cute little dragon costume and taking some fun pics. Well we were living in Santa Barbara and like most of S. Calif. Halloween was (and is) so HOT this time of year. The pictures we got were of my hot and sweaty little boy sitting amongst the pumpkins in is white onsie. Still love pumpkin patch pictures!
October 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Very, very cute bags!
My best costume was the year I dressed up as a Jif peanut button jar, complete with lid hat. We made the entire thing out of a massive cardboard tube.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
So adorable! I think my favorite costume was a “funky witch” costume. My mom made all my costumes (what a rock star mom, right?) and it was this truly funky animal print witch dress and hat that matched! Now I’m making my son’s Halloween costume and Mom and I have had the most fun remembering all the costumes of years past…
October 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
My funniest Halloween memory wasn’t even on Halloween. When my brother and I were little we decided Halloween should happen in the middle of July. We dressed ourselves up from the dress up box and also dressed up stuffed animals. Then we went Trick-or-Treating to Mom. We were pretty sneaky kids!
October 29th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
[...] sister-in-law Dana commented on the giveaway post about the Mary Katherine Gallagher and Wonder Woman costumes [...]