A Full-Circle Halloween (Rainbow Brite + Patty O’Green)

I feel like everything lately has been about my mom’s passing, and unfortunately, in a way, this Halloween was a stark reminder of her absence. Last November she and I discussed having a Full-Circle Halloween this year — meaning that I would sew Emma Vance a Rainbow Brite costume, just like my mother did for me in the 80s. It was an idea that just seemed right (and fun).We were both so excited at the idea; I even hunted down the original pattern online in April and had it ready and waiting six months in advance. As my mother’s health quickly declined at the end of this summer, I tried to encourage her about the few immediate things she had to look forward to, to live for, and one of the things on the list was to see this project come to fruition…sigh.

Enough of the sad stuff, though. Halloween is our favorite holiday around here! Growing up I LOVED Rainbow Brite, and I’ve passed that obsession on to Cricket and Emma Vance. We’ve got a few vintage toys from the original Rainbow Brite days, including a book. The particular book we own has a storyline that focuses on Patty O’Green, Rainbow Brite’s green-themed friend/Color Kid. Cricket really fell in love with Patty (mostly because Cricket is a little bookworm), and so when I asked if she wanted to be her for Halloween, she was all-in. (My alternate thought was to do TWO Rainbow Brites, but this worked out much better!) I do have to say that my sewing skills were waaaaaay below what was required of this particular pattern (and I could only find a European pattern, meaning that on top of all my insufficiencies I had to convert cm to in). Let’s just say that there are quite a few safety pins in there, and the pattern required a homemade yarn wig, which I actually did attempt. It was not pretty, literally and figuratively, haha! However, it’s the thought that counts, and this year in particular, the action of making these exact costumes was very significant for me. I think my mom would be proud, and even though she didn’t get to see it herself, I’m glad that she knew it was going to happen.

After taking one million pictures (hey, if you sewed as feverishly as I did, then you’d want proof, too, haha!), I took the girls over to my brother and dad’s house. Emma Vance has been wanting to scare Papadon for weeks now, so I bought a Hillary Clinton mask for her to don when we showed up at my Clinton-bashing father’s door (haha, no commentary — this mask is either the scariest or most inspiring costume of 2016, and I’m staying out of the argument). She laughed and was tickled at the idea that Papadon would be spooked at the sight of her as “a scary lady” — her words, not mine. ;) Too bad clueless Grumpy Gramps didn’t even recognize who she was trying to be! At least my brother got the joke, right? Oh, well. At least we tried! ;) Happy almost-voting day, everyone!