Happy Homemade Halloween

When Westley decided he wanted to be a Grouch spaceman with a trash-can rocket for Halloween, I knew I was in deep shit. There was no way I would find anything useful at the local party supply store. It was do or DIY.

Except that I don't DIY. (DIM?) Dinner from scratch? No problem. Costume from scratch? Uh...not so much.

So I went to Goodwill and bought a colander for 69 cents. I managed to put together the helmet - All By Myself! - in a couple of evenings. Then I called my dad, who went to the hardware store and bought a garbage can for $10.00. A few days later, we had an Othmar the Grouch costume.

In the days leading up to Halloween, Westley treated his trash-can rocket like a new toy. I hoisted him into and out of it dozens of times a day. He walked it up and down the hall (by holding the handles my dad so brilliantly placed on the inside of the can), careful not to bump his orange Styrofoam "fins." Still, they had to be duct-taped back on before the Big Night.


Unfortunately, even a lightweight garbage can turned out to be too heavy for Westley to lug around trick-or-treating. Rob stashed the rocket back in the car.

Our spaceman had a blast anyway. And he wore his helmet almost all night.

.....................................