Maya’s love of the Moana movie was still going strong in October (and still is today). Moana shows strength of character, nimble thinking, and an ability to solve her own problems. But Moana is not who Maya loves best. Maya loves Te Fiti. She could watch the last few minutes of the movie again and again. Seeing Te Fiti’s heart restored and watching the goddess burst into greenery and flowers is her favorite part of that movie. Te Fiti is who Maya decided she wanted to be for Halloween. You know what they don’t sell on Amazon? A Te Fiti costume.

Te Fiti!

I have punked out on making the kids’ costumes year after year because with everything else going on, it was just easier to outsource that shit. But this year, Maya’s heart was set on being the big green Te Fiti goddess. Luckily Ian, when quizzed repeatedly about his preferences, told me pretty much every single time that what he really wanted to be was a jack-o-lantern. That I could get off the shelf.

Jack-o-lantern!

I spent several weeks buying little bits and pieces of Maya’s costume here and there. A wig and face paint from Amazon. A green t-shirt and pants from primary.com. I poked around on Etsy looking for a flower crown, but in the end, I just bought supplies and made one. And then because I’m not an idiot, I made a second crown for Ian to be his pumpkin vines.

Maya’s is the white one. Ian’s is the “rainbow” one.

While all these supplies were collected, preparations were made for Halloween. The kids painted little pumpkins at school. We bought a few decorations from one of those pop-up Halloween stores as a reward for good behavior. Our home jack-o-lanterns were done in our traditional way where each kid chooses what they want on their pumpkin, Anna draws the design, I gut and carve, and Sean heroically lights the candle. Maya, oddly, chose the littler pumpkin and wanted just a straight up jack o lantern face like she had seen on the cover of one of her books. Ian wanted Dingle Tiger. Don’t know who Dingle Tiger is? To the rest of us, he’s Daniel Tiger, and he’s something of an offshoot of the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood show we all probably watched when we were kids.

Dingle tiger and the old skool jack-o-lantern

We first got to debut the Te Fiti and jack-o-lantern costumes for the carnival at the kids’ school the Friday before Halloween. It was a cold evening for Texas, so we wound up putting a sweater over Te Fiti’s costume – it was pure luck that we had one that was kind of green. Ian, who loves to be pretty, had recently discovered Maya’s old orange tutu (seen here), and he insisted on wearing that to the carnival. I actually thought it worked really well, but in typical Ian fashion, he refused to wear it again.

Ready for the school carnival!

The kids walked around with a green tinge to their faces for a few days, and it was just wearing off when the big day arrived: trick or treat time! We got all dolled up and let Sean take some nice semi-controlled photos against a backdrop before heading out. Maya enacted several of Te Fiti’s best moments from the movie: gazing lovingly at a little Moana doll, throwing shade at a little Maui doll (he stole her heart, you know), folding herself up and turning into an island. Ian just pranced around hammed it up for the camera.

You mean, we just go to the door, and they give us candy? We’re in!

Maya and Ian had soooo much fun trick or treating. They took turns being the one who rang the doorbell. They said their trick-or-treats and thank yous with smiles and clear voices. Maya even left with a closing “see you next Halloween!” just to reinforce the fact that we are antisocial people who don’t see our neighbors but once a year. We closed out our evening with a visit to Anna’s to trick or treat there and let her see the kids’ costumes.

At the end of the day, the kids were left tired, sugared up, and with a faint green hue about their faces, but I think they’ll both tell you that they had a really good time and are already looking forward to next Halloween.