Book Week

So in the USA we have Halloween where the kids get to dress up in costumes and go to school. It is an exciting and fun holiday that I really looked forward to as a child. After moving to England and and then Australia and learning that Halloween is not nearly the pomp and circumstance of the USA I was a bit disappointed that my kids were missing out on something. However, in both England and Australia the schools participate in book parades. You bring a book to school and dress up as a book character. Parents can come for half day and the kids do a parade, share morning tea with their parents and then go to the library to purchase a new book which you donate to the school. The library gets tons of new books each year. In addition a week before book parade events take place the whole week; this is called book week. There is a coloring competition with awards, authors sighing of new children's books, and a read-a thon.

This year for Olivia's book character she wanted to go a Tinker Bell. I wanted her to go as the paper bag princess but she wouldn't have it. This difference in opinion left me with 4 days to find a tinker bell costume. Most costumes online are $60-70.00 + shipping from the USA and there is no way I could get it in time. This left me with one option...to make it!

I am domestically challenged but since I can sew a straight line I figured that is all I really needed to do right? I bought a meter of material for $5.00 and some wings for $6.00 and some sequence for $7.00 (this material (except the wings) actually made two costumes so Mary was happy too. I pulled a dress from the girls closet, traced it, cut it out, and sewed it together along the sides. It was a bit snug since I didn't make room for the sides to be sewn together. In addition, if I wash it, I am sure it will unravel since I didn't hem where the sequence is (that was a pain) but overall a huge success for my limited skills and all done in about 2 hours

This is where I should have stopped. I was so proud of my efforts that I decided to make Mary one too. I spent a day on her dress and then finally cut off the top, threw it away, and gave her some sequenced straps and said, "your dress is done!" I borrowed my neighbors sewing machine which is ancient and hadn't been used in 15 years and it would get caught every 5 stitches. I did bring my sewing machine over from the USA, but due to the electricity voltage difference when I put my foot on the pedal it would go into hyper speed and eventually it started smoking and now no longer works. I used it once for about 5 minutes (yes, with a plug converter) and now it is taking up space in my closet. I would probably have to bring it back to the USA to get it fixed...anyway, I am not a sewer but here's to BOOK WEEK!

Olivia with the Principal Mrs. Pike

Some of her friends from year 1

Thomas LOVES buzz light year!

Except for the rain (which rained out the parade) and the power outage, which killed the lights and microphone Olivia did a smashing impersonation of Tink! It was the perfect end to a busy week! :-)