Halloween 2011-part one

First up in our Halloween festivities this year was the Realife (the youth group at our church) party for Dakota on Wednesday night. She always has elaborate plans for what she wants to be and this year was no different. To really "get" her costume, you have to know the background of how we came up with it, though.

The youth pastor (who is amazing, in case you were wondering) encourages the kids to take sermon notes, so Dakota (almost) always makes sure she is prepared to do that...when she leaves the house. The problem is that somewhere between our house and the church, there is a black hole that sucks up pencils (there's always a time warp, but that's another story). It never fails that by the time we get to the church, her pencil has disappeared. So, I usually loan her a pen. But, pens don't like her either so they usually run out of ink about half-way through the service.

A month or so back, we were laughing about her pen and pencil problems on the way home from Wednesday night service. Cheyenne said, "You should get one of those things that soldiers wear to carry extra bullets and fill it up with pencils for church. Surely you would make it there with at least one pencil!" When she said that, a light bulb went on in Dakota's brain and she decided she would be a nerd for Halloween. But, not just any nerd would do. She was going to be "Captain Nerd" (aka Revenge of the Nerd).

So, the search began for one of those bullet holder thingys (we have since learned that it is called a bandolier) I couldn't find a costume one that didn't already come with "bullets" in it, so we decided that we were going to have to make our own. Here's what we came up with (oh, and every nerd needs a bowtie, right. Captain Nerd has to have a cammo one, of course). I don't sew, as much as I would like to, so I had to use glue. I used a piece of black elastic and glued it onto the suspenders at different points to make loops. Then, I added the paper clip "rivets" just for fun.

In true nerd fashion, we added some tape to her glasses. She even let me put her hair in pigtails!

To take her from regular nerd to "Captain Nerd", she needed some war paint. I thought it turned out somewhere between clown and swamp thing, but it was cute.

Next, we loaded up her bandolier suspenders with all kinds of nerdy supplies, pencils, erasers, staples, and even ruler nunchakus. Here she is all put together. She looked great!

As much work as it took to put this costume together, she said that next year she wanted to be something easy, like a cardboard box. I imagine that will change before next Halloween, though.
My vote is for her to go as a smarty pants. (Tape packages of smarties to her pants!) I saw it in a magazine a couple of years ago and it was so cute. I've tried for the past two years to convince her but she won't go for it. Maybe the third time will be the charm!

What did your teenager dress like this year for Halloween?