#Halloween Carnival 2014 at Verdana

After weeks of preparing Riley's costume (I only work on it during my spare time, like 30 minutes a day), he will finally get to wear it in public. He had some dry run on wearing it inside the house just so he can get accustomed to the feel of carrying it on his shoulders. And so far, it was a success. He almost broke it apart but after a few strengthening tricks (double-sided tape and glue were my best friends) all of its parts held on after a few rough handling.

Happily wearing his Thomas the train costume!

This year, we took part in the #halloween festivities in my relatives' village in Laguna. We attended last year and found it satisfying so we decided to go there again this year. I would probably try other places next year like in Fun Ranch or the hotel parties but since Riley is still young, I did not want him to get crushed in the crowd in those places.

This is giving me a heart attack...

It was held in the village clubhouse and since we were quite early, we spent our energy in the nearby playground. It is very seldom that Riley experiences playing in an outdoor playground. Aside from the play area in Alabang Town Center, this is only the second time he was able to run around an actual playground.

Love the bright red pants from Mothercare

We were seated up front so the kids will have more room to walk or dance around. They were playing Pharell Williams' Happy song and since he loves this song, he was dancing in the front with his balloon sword. So cute!

The theme this year is Halloween Carnival and they had face painting, balloon sculptures, photo booth and was hosted by McDonalds. They served the one piece chicken meal with rice (the chicken was mostly skin so thumbs down for this). There was a nachos booth but you had to pay additional for that. I find that the food choices were lacking this year. They had ice cream last year and with the heat that afternoon, it would have been a hit. The loot bag was better this year though as they gave away happy meal toys (doraemon and scooby doo) and kiddie giveaways from a pharmaceutical company (sample medicines, flash cards, origami paper, kiddie chopsticks, lunch bag, pouch, and pens).

Grimace and Ronald Mcdonald made an appearance and boy, was Riley scared! He jumped into my lap when he saw them come out. And take note he was still wearing his costume so imagine the chaos! We had to step out of the covered area just so he would stop crying. After seeing the 'scary' mascots, he would not go down from my arms. He kept telling me he only wanted to be carried. Oh dear...

Still in shock from seeing the 'scary' mascots

He quickly wore his costume again when he saw another boy wearing a truck costume. Riley said he wanted to go racing with him and kept following the boy around the place (even though the other boy did not want to play with him).

When they were announcing that the costume contest was about to begin, Riley promptly stepped out of his costume and ran to the pool area. I tried to coax him to wear it again and have him line up the judging area but he was having none of it. Sigh. Better try our luck next year!

After the event, we were divided into two groups and started trick or treating. It was fine for the first two blocks. But since Riley did not want to walk or ride his stroller, we had no choice but to carry him while going around the village. And we did that for almost two hours! Luckily, my husband was there to carry him too or else I would have gone home early. If we are doing this again next year, I would definitely consider bringing a car with us because it was just too tiring to walk around the village.

He only walked one block and we carried him all the way

Riley may still be young to really enjoy this holiday but I think he had fun. He loved choosing which candy to take, he carried his pumpkin filled with treats, and did not even want us to touch his loot!

He did not stop taking from the candy bag until his pumpkin was full

Even though we were so tired, it was all worth it seeing how he enjoyed himself. Me munching on the candies while Riley was sleeping is just an added bonus! Ha!

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#DIY Thomas the train halloween costume

I have been browsing the shops (both online and physical ones) for a costume that Riley would like to wear. The #halloween costumes they have in SM are too large for Riley. Even though the salesperson was insisting it will fit him, the pant legs are too long and the sleeves are tight. I found a cute firefighter costume at Mothercare but the price made me hesitate since he would not wear it often. I searched online to see if someone is selling a dinosaur or Thomas and friends costume but all of them are overseas.

Then I saw this site that made a kick-ass #Thomas the train costume for her boy!

I'm thinking it looks like I can do it (not the 3D face though!). Not perfectly but I can try. Why not?! We have tons of carton boxes at the back and I only need to buy a few supplies to color and make Thomas come to life.

Game!

I have chosen a box that is the right size for Riley. Something not too heavy for him to carry and has a double wall of carton to make it sturdy. I followed the pattern shown from Little Red Window, or at least I tried to make it close enough since our box dimensions are not the same. I taped the edges to close them and made sure that it would not break apart easily.

cover from Chef Tony's popcorn

I cut some circles from the carton to form the wheels. I only needed three circles as I only needed a half circle for the wheel.

The last wheel did not exactly fit perfectly so I had to trim it a bit. A bit lopsided, I know! I tried not to let it bother me as I am sure it would take me a while to make it perfect. I used a combination of glue, double sided tape, and packaging tape to stick those wheels under the carton. First I inserted the half wheel in the space between the double carton and the double sided tape is used here. When it is in place, I glued the edges to seal it. When the glue was dry, I taped it to make sure it is attached. Sinong segurista?! Me! 

At this stage I let Riley try out the train by letting him push it around. Well the wheels did not hold up from the abuse so I had to reinforce the wheels so they are 3 times thicker. I left the glue to dry overnight. After another round of testing to see if the wheels are better, I asked my husband to spray paint the body for me. I bought this can spray paint from the bookstore for around P250. And it did not cover the print on the body! It was transparent. Apparently, the carton was so porous that is soaked up the paint even after 2 coatings. Shifting to Plan B, I carefully cut colored paper (you can buy them in big sheets) to cover the whole body. Then using styrofoam and a styrofoam cutter, I made the circle for the face. I used black poster paint for the outside area of the face. And silly me. I forgot how poster paint transfers to your hand/body easily! So I had to cover the paint with packaging tape to prevent a messy situation.

Looking good!

I made long strips of styrofoam for the red bumper and attached it using glue all around the bottom portion. For the details, I made the pattern and number using Adobe Illustrator. The funnel was made from toilet paper roll. Finally, I downloaded the face from this site (thank you!).

Meet Thomas the train!

Success!

Cute right? My husband was asking if I can make him a Percy costume so he can match Riley's Thomas costume. Is he kidding me?! Luckily, he is...

So far he is playing with it by pushing it around. I have not placed the ribbons to make the carton hang from his shoulders yet. But so far, he is happy to step inside and make choo-choo noises as he goes around the living room. And it is still in one piece! Hopefully it will last until the Halloween festivities.

This actually took me almost two weeks to make as I only did it on the weekends. I'll try and get a decent image of Riley wearing it. So far it is hard as he is too fast for my lagging camera!

Hopefully, I can make him another DIY costume next year.

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