The Accidental Halloween

Rachel Savage is a colorful food blogger, content creator, and mom to 2 of the hungriest kids you’ll ever meet.  Original, out-of-the-box, and visually delightful: hallmarks of the Sweet and Savage Blog.  Check it out later over here. In the meantime, here is Rachel’s one-of-a-kind take on Halloween. Hoping we take wind of some of her inspirational Halloween ensembles, both fashionable and theatrical at once.

Last year (at 36 years of age), I celebrated my very first Halloween. Not only was it my first time, it happened entirely by accident. “Does she live under a rock? “Is she allergic to having fun?” I hear you ask. So, before I go any further, let me explain two important things.

1. We live in a small country called New Zealand (you may have heard of it)- a few dots down the bottom of the globe if you look extra close. We’re often mistaken for Australia- which happens to be our neighbouring country, but we are most definitely NOT Australia. (We’re a bit sensitive about people getting us mixed up because Australia like to tease us about our accent; they claim they invented the pavlova (they didn’t) and they get way more medals than us at the Olympics) ;) We are a pretty friendly bunch down here- we also have lots of open space and green trees; are surrounded by ocean and we have a very, very nice prime minister. The only downside to living on these little dots that sort-of slip off the globe, is that we are some way from the lights and action happening in the party-town of Northern Hemisphere. Carrier pigeons take a little while to arrive with latest and greatest news from the big, wide world. Halloween has only recently begun to feature on our social calendar- and so it’s not entirely my fault that I’ve only just cottoned on. Call me a ‘late adopter’, if you will.
   
   
2. Furthermore, as well living somewhere that is nearly slipping off the bottom of the map, we also happen to live in a very remote location. Our closest neighbours have four legs and fur and eat lots of grass- they make lovely company but they’re not super fussed on Halloween. Basically- we’re country bumpkins, we get a lot of country air (maybe even too much) and we do things like play monopoly or light campfires for fun.

But things were about to change. A trip away to the city just so happened to coincide with the lead-up to Halloween. Our then 6-year-old begged to go trick or treating and we kept fobbing her off. Until, we realised she wasn’t going to give up and on the evening of Halloween, we gave in- on the condition that she only visited one house down the street that had been adorned in Halloween paraphernalia. The spiders and skeletons hanging outside were a sure bet, because, you see, you have to select your Halloween houses here carefully as there are still some other ‘late-adopters’ out there.

Great Bunny Coat

The second condition was that she properly dressed up and made some effort to create a thoughtful costume- and because we were so short on time, we had to work with what was in her bag. We used a gingham dress, cut up an old sheet to make into an apron, found some red wool to pin in her hair, made a poofy fabric hat out of a tea towel and string, drew a red triangle nose and some eyelashes with old makeup- and viola! We had our very own Raggedy Anne.

Olivia Denim Dugarees,  Blue Brightsider Shirt,  Tao x Reebok Red Shoes

Olivia Denim Dugarees,  Blue Brightsider Shirt,  Tao x Reebok Red Shoes

1. Often the most simple ideas are the best! You can compliment favourite wardrobe pieces with a few accessories, make-up or crafted items to create a really fantastic costume. I try to avoid buying items that are too themed or specific, I would rather purchase more versatile pieces that we love and that the kids will get lots of wear out of. When selecting clothes for our Halloween edit, I asked the girls: “will you wear this again?"
   
   
2. I draw the line at the scary stuff- not because I don’t agree with it or acknowledge that it is a part of Halloween- but because I didn’t think it challenged us to be inventive enough. Choose costumes that you know the adults will appreciate as they’re the ones buying the candy! (If the kids disagree with you, then they are wrong haha). Plus, it’s a great cultural education for the kids- our girls now know what a Raggedy Anne doll looks like, and they’re already talking about wanting to dress as Annie, or the Scarecrow and Tinman this year.

Silver Crown Blouse,  Sequined Skirt

Silver Crown Blouse,  Sequined Skirt

Olive Pom Pom Hat,  Yellow Long Sleeve T-Shirt,  Equality Shorts

We had a lot of fun putting these together, we hope you find them helpful when choosing your own outfits! The Halloween looks we’ve created are: a Toadstool; a Rabbit; a Farmer; a Robot; Mr Grinling from the Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch; and the Queen of hearts.

Rachel x