01 Nov Halloween 2023!

Happy Halloween! I’ve always loved dressing up for Halloween, but since Katya joined our family, it’s become even more fun. I love coming up with family costumes and taking advantage of how cute baby-sized costumes are. I mean—who wouldn’t want to dress up their little ones as adorable characters objects?! This is Katerina’s third Halloween (her first was when she was just three days old, wrapped up like a tiny mummy!). I’ll dress her up for as long as she lets me— hopefully all the way through her teenager years so I still get to have a say, hehe.

Starbucks Barista + Frappuccino

I first saw kids dressed as Starbucks drinks online way back in 2011, and I remember telling myself that one day, when I had a kid, I’d be doing that costume. The time has finally come to check it off the list!

I got my Starbucks apron from a college friend who worked at the campus Starbucks—she knew how obsessed I was (I basically lived off coffee during exams haha). I added a drive-thru headset, made my own name badge, and created a tip screen. Katya’s adorable Frappuccino costume is from Etsy—there are tons of colors to choose from! I’ve also seen people DIY their own version, which can be super creative.

I couldn’t resist poking fun at today’s tipping culture, so I included a 100% tip button!
Sadly, Katya didn’t earn that much—she served the cutest smiles but ended up in tears. (The real drama was because I took away the pen she was clinging to. She was big mad about that one.) As soon as the pen returned, she was sunshine again. And for the record, I needed at least one photo without a pen—first, it ruined the Starbucks vibe, and second… a pointy pen in a 2-year-old’s hand is just asking for trouble lol.

Meeko + Pocahontas

The second costume was inspired 100% by what Katya is currently into: garbage cans.
We have a motion-sensor trash can and she LOVES opening it with her tiny hands, plus she’s constantly checking every trash bin in sight. She doesn’t just throw stuff away—she loves taking things out. Nobody warned me that “trash” would be such a thrilling concept for a toddler lol.

So naturally, I had to dress her as a raccoon. And to make it cute and wholesome, I paired it with a mommy-and-me costume: Pocahontas (me) and Meeko (Katya). I figured I could pull off Pocahontas with my long dark hair, so it felt like the perfect match. I even drew the red arm band details with marker. The costume came with a necklace, but I ordered a bigger, more realistic one too.

Of course… Katya broke the necklace mid-photoshoot lol. I should’ve known better than to wear anything dangly around a toddler. One gentle tug and it snapped. My face says it all in the photos! Good thing the backup necklace from the costume set was still there so we could keep going. Lesson learned: avoid necklaces around curious toddlers!

I wanted Erik to dress up as John Smith, but he wasn’t feeling it this year. It’s always hit or miss with him and I honestly never know until the day of lol. He’s always our photographer though, so at least he participates behind the camera. Maybe next year he’ll join us!

This Halloween came with some challenges. Katya got croup on Halloween day, so we had to take her to urgent care (she bounced back quickly after a steroid dose), and we decided to skip trick-or-treating and push her first experience to next year. Also—taking photos with a toddler is HARD.

Toddlers don’t stand still, they don’t smile when you ask, and their attention span is about 0.5 seconds lol. We took a million breaks and basically played while snapping photos whenever we got the chance. Both costumes had headpieces she absolutely hated, so that was another battle. Getting her to keep anything on her head is an Olympic sport. The key was distraction until she forgot it was there lol.

Overall, it was such a fun Halloween, and I never regret participating and dressing up! Especially while the kid is still small—it’s so much fun coming up with themes and costumes. I want to do as many as I can, because there are too many cute ideas and not enough years to use them all!

Trick or treat,

Fatima