Dollies for Halloween

As I pointed out in my Liebster Award post, I'm a Christian who loves Halloween.  We made a big deal out of the holiday when I was small, carving pumpkins and decorating our house with appropriately spooky (and occasionally obnoxious) decorations.  We'd get a big bowl and fill it with candy a couple of nights before the main event, and my sister and I were allowed to take a piece every now and then.  The best part, of course, was Halloween itself.  We were rarely allowed to Trick-or-Treat, as Halloween often fell on a weekday and we'd all be worn out from school.  But we got to go to the parade and wave to our friends, and then we'd see more of our friends while our parents passed out candy.  Bottom line, I love Halloween.  If God has a problem with that then I know He will set me straight, but so far He's been okay with it.

I know it's a day early, but the weather promises to be downright lousy tomorrow, so I'm posting this today to give you a taste of how the weather is right now (lots of sun and a cool breeze).  Here's the star of my recent My Twinn review, Xenia.

Xenia is wearing an outfit that Mama got me for my birthday.  It consists of an orange handmade dress, a feather boa, and an unpictured wiglet that's constantly falling off.  As long as I hold Xenia still the wiglet stays on fine, but when I pick her up it falls off.  Bobby pins didn't work, so she just goes without it most of the time.

Next is Denise.

Denise has this cute pirate outfit, another gift from my mother.  The quality of this outfit is good enough that I thought American Girl had made it, but there are no tags anywhere so I guessed wrong.

Sadie is a cowgirl.

This costume is one I got from Hobby Lobby.  The boots are Madame Alexander boots that one can find at Wal-Mart.  Neither Hobby Lobby nor Wal-Mart had an appropriate hat; they did have cowboy hats, but the hats were pink or purple.  I'd need red or brown for the hat to match this, so Sadie is doing without for this year.

Gracie is a genie.

I originally wanted Xenia to wear this, but the pants were too tight for her so Gracie got it.  Since she's blonde she makes a convincing I Dream of Jeannie.

Smug little Alissa is a flower fairy.

Alissa wore this last year too, come to think about it.  Since dolls don't grow as they age, they can get away with wearing last year's costume this year.  This is one of my favorite costumes, by the way; not only is it green and blue (my two favorite colors), but it bears a passing resemblance to American Girl's modern dance outfit.  I never got that outfit and plan to rectify that.

Natalie is a witch.

This is an LTD Commodities costume, and I can't write home about the quality, but it sure is cute!  I crammed this onto Samantha last year, and let me tell you, I almost didn't get her out of it!  I even pulled out some of Samantha's hair (accidentally) while trying to pull the dress off.  This year I wised up and put it on a smaller body.  Natalie doesn't have the the witchy-looking hair that Samantha does, but she makes up for it in charm.

Speaking of Samantha, here she is.

I don't usually get my historicals in on the action, but as I mentioned above Samantha has witchy-looking hair so I wanted a costume for her.  This is the Spider Witch costume that American Girl had available from 2004 to 2006.  This was another birthday present from my mother, and it's so complete that it even still has its original box!  I'm not an American Girl purist by any means, but it's so nice to have a few brand-name things!  Needless to say, Samantha looks appropriately witchy in it, and no hair-pulling was required this time.

As you see, most of the costumes I've got are eighteen-inch scale.  However, three of my Barbie dolls got into the act.  Sophie, my California Dream-Wonder Woman chimera, is a witch.

This costume and the other two that I have came from Etsy, and were more birthday gifts from my mother.  The witch outfit is hauntingly similar to Natalie's, but it has one thing that Natalie's getup does not.  Every proper witch should have a broom!

Sun Jewel Shani is wearing a Jamaican-themed outfit.

I'm not sure if this is appropriate for Halloween, but I got it at the same time I got the others so Shani got it.  No way would I put this on a white doll, not when the majority of Jamaicans are dark and lovely.  Plus, the full skirt helps hide Shani's chewed feet.

Last is Connie, formerly a Really Rosy Kayla.  She is a pirate.

That's about as far a cry from Denise's costume as you can get!  I love the different spin on this, though; this looks more like something a real female pirate would've worn.  That corset is ridiculously tight, by the way.  I wasn't a big fan of putting it on, but it adds an authentic touch.  Who's ready for Gasparilla Day???  LOL, what a pity I don't live closer to the Tampa area!

Happy Halloween,

RagingMoon1987