Starting at the beginning of the year as a family we started watching the whole Harry Potter series and collecting or in my case re-collecting the books. As a thirteen year old girl when “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” was released I remember it was the first time I became excited to read since having my parents read to me as a small child. I grew up listening to my Father telling me magical stories filled with descriptions that would give you full-on hallucinations into this world that only existed when he sat and told them. You would go on to fall asleep and have the best most vivid dreams ever. I can to this day account many of the dreams that occurred from his stories and they are something I was ecstatic to have my Father share with Cole as he’s grown older. When the audio books became available for the Harry Potter series my Mother purchased them and we’d listen to them for hours. I’m almost positive we went on long road trips just to hear these magical stories that reminded me so much of my Father’s. I’ve tried for a few years to get Cole interested in the magic that surrounds the Hogwarts crew but this year finally he was old enough that it held his fascination.

Cole talked about wanting SpongeBob characters as our costumes since Halloween last year so when he came up with the idea of turning my radio flyer which had previously been Daniel Tiger’s Trolley, (follow the link here to see his trolley) it was adorable and I was so sad to take it apart to create the Hogwarts Express but it’s now my new favorite thing so in the end, it was soooo worth it and I only cry once a day about the trolley being gone forever.

Two fun days of creating a Dumbledore Costume out of bed sheets and The Hogwarts Head Master’s hat out of a pillow sham, along with hand painting signs and building the Hogwarts Express with help from my Father. I tossed together clothing we already owned and purchased some adorable cloaks and scarves I stumbled upon at Target (thank you Target, because I was not looking forward to making three of everything nor did I have the time this year, but I was willing because I didn’t want to disappoint my little man).

A long debate this year ended with us deciding to treat-or-treat in my Dad’s small beachside town of Kewaunee. We love our neighborhood and knew we’d miss it dearly. However, since The Switch Witch visits our home and trades out our candy for healthier plant based candy, toys, and some fall school supplies (my kid loves school supplies like I like stationary, it’s an addiction for real). I don’t think Kewaunee has experienced the kind of crazy that we are, and many homeowners we visited took Cole’s photo in his Hogwarts Express including the library where they had cookies and cocoa where we took shelter from the snow. The snow that made this Halloween the most magical ever. Kewaunee looked like the cover Midwest Living Magazine or Martha Stewart, it was incredible..I have a feeling more Halloween trick-or-treating for our family will be happening at my Dad’s for years to come.

See our other Halloween posts from years past:

Mario Brothers Chat Noir & Lady Bug Daniel Tiger