Those 70's Themed Halloweens

How cute was Clover in her very first Halloween costume?!?!

The idea to dress her up as Holly Hobbie this year had been in my mind for several months. Ever since we came across the blue bonnet in an old box of toys at her grandmother’s house. For months, since I’m not much of a sewer, I had been keeping my eye out at the thrift stores for a suitable dress/apron/bloomers combo to go with the hat… to no avail.

A couple of weeks ago, just as I was beginning to think I may have to break down and settle for one of those *insert cute fuzzy animal here* suits, I came across this adorable hand made calico apron dress at the Goodwill. Luckily, it was a perfect fit :)

I stopped by the Salvation Army Friday afternoon (totally last minute) to look for some finishing touches and found this pale pink and white leafy patterned vintage onesie that looks like a little clown suit when she wears it on its own, but under the apron dress it was absolutely perfect. The white collar with embroidered flowers came out over the dress, the pant legs peeked out from underneath like little bloomers, and the prints on the sleeves and the dress were so sweet together.

I also found a fake bunch daisies and a little woven basket just her size. I have a stash of vintage ribbon bows with wire attachments that I picked up long ago at a garage sale, so I attached one of those to her tiny basket as the final touch.

We took her across the street to my sister-in-law’s house for a mellow evening of drinking lemon drops, eating cookies, handing out candy to cute little trick-or-treaters, and watching toddler hi-jinks ensue as Clover played with her twin two-year-old cousins on the living room floor… always entertaining!

They have this great linoleum in their kitchen and I loved how all the patterns in Clover’s costume looked against it as she crawled around on the floor.

I thrifted this vintage minidress from the Goodwill years ago. I’ve always thought it was a cool dress but it’s a bit much with that big crazy collar for everyday wear. It was perfect though for my costume, which was supposed to be me as a little girl back the 70’s, with my Holly Hobbie doll of course :)

Apparently big crazy collars did NOT bother me when I actually WAS a little girl back in the 70’s. This was me at nursery school on my birthday back in 1977, hence the paper crown and tray of cupcakes. If you look closely you can just make out the five candles. Isn’t it funny how similar the dresses are? I must have liked this one because there’s another picture of me wearing it on Santa’s lap.

I actually even HAD a Holly Hobbie doll back then, but I think the one I have now is much cuter ;)

While we’re on the topic of the 70’s, I thought I’d throw in these from Halloween 2006 when I was one third of Charlie’s Angels (though I didn’t know it the time, this was to be my final pre-Clover night of Halloween partying):

It was funny when all three of us, having each gone out on our own to find something suitably 70’s and Angelesque to wear, showed up in these awesome jumpsuits as if we had planned it that way! Between Lucie’s vintage neck scarf collection and Jody’s extensive collection of Bakelite bangles, we were accessorized and good to go.

It actually turned out to be quite an interesting night too as, due to a work obligation of Lucie’s, we spent the first half of our evening tearing up the dance floor as the only three straight girls at a wild New Age lesbian Halloween party where we were um,… a BIG HIT.

The best part was when a surly looking women (in a particularly convincing man costume) asked us if we had been hired as “entertainment.” Such. Good. Times. It was also pretty cool that my friend Luis provided us with a handheld tape recorder allowing us to, upon entering a room, invoke the soundtrack to this:

Thanks Luis, for the sound effects then, and for digging up the Angels pics! Hope you all had a fun Halloween this year!