Hi!
My siblings recently got blogs of their own! You can find them at https://benkotecki.com and http://ginnykotecki.com. My brother had the idea of, and has since done, a post ranking our own Halloween costumes over the years. I decided to grab that idea from him!
Halloween has always been a highlight in our house.
I’ve got some great memories of Halloweens over the years. We’ve never missed a year of dressing up- and I mean our whole family! Sometimes we do one big theme, sometimes a few people are themed together. But we always go trick-or-treating as a family and bring in an epic haul of candy. It’s also the only night of the year that our parents let us have as much candy as we want- we get to decide what and how much to have. So that’s fun!
I have a very big sweet tooth.
For most years our family friends, Sue and Jenna (They met our parents in college, Jenna works for our parent’s business, she’s my God mom and Sue is Ben’s.), have dressed up and gone with us as well! Jenna is extremely good at making Halloween costumes! She’s made some epic ones for both her and Sue practically every year! When I share mine and my family’s- I’ll also be sharing their’s. They’re a big part of the tradition too. They’ve missed a couple and now that we’ve moved and they actually moved as well, it’ll be a bit harder to get together for this I’m sure, but that’s okay.
At our old house we would always go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It was a good neighborhood for that and they had everyone meet at the park and had a parade with a fire truck. Nowadays, we drive a few minutes to a neighborhood with houses closer together and that have lots of decorations.
So, I will go through each of my costumes in order of how much I like them (it might partly have to do with our joint theme too, something like that). You’ll also see my family’s, Sue and Jenna’s costumes each year. Keep in mind, some of the pictures may be edited and have a filter.
#16. The Unicorn
This costume was in 2018. Our family, Sue and Jenna did a whole fantasy theme! It was a pretty good year of us all together- and I liked some of their costumes more individually. They were all simpler I’d say (except Sue and Jenna’s- theirs are epic! 😂). Mine however, is not my favorite, it was too simple and generic. I was never a huge unicorn person either. It was cute though, especially with Ro and I as matching unicorns!
#15. Cinderella
This costume was in 2017. It was meant to be Cinderella from the new (at the time) live-action “Cinderella” movie. It’s alright, it’s just pretty simple. The blue scarf was a little random and my hairstyle doesn’t look that great. It was a pretty dress though. My family’s costumes were pretty good this year and I loveee Sue and Jenna’s! They’re the lego versions of Batman and Wonder Woman. They were Jenna’s doing, and if I’m remembering correctly they were a surprise to us! We didn’t know what they were going as until we saw them that Halloween night! Definitely very creative, unique and well done!!
#14. Belle
Belle, from “Beauty and the Beast” was in 2013. This one is alright, the reason it’s pretty far up the list is that it’s pretty simple, and I just like the next ones more. It’s a cute one though. At one point in the night we met a kid dressed up as the Beast and we got a picture of him and I. Ben was a cute little Spidey and Dad… went as mom! Quite disturbing! I don’t think Mom was anyone in particular. I loved Sue and Jenna’s, they were trees with a hammock in between them. They are so creative and they always pull it off so well!
#13. Elmo
Elmo was in 2010, I was almost 2 years old. I do really like this one and think it’s very cute, but it’s obviously simple and I like a lot of my later ones better. I like the pumpkin my dad painted this year- I loved Curious George (and still do!)! Sue and Jenna’s costumes were pretty great this year as well, a cookie and a glass of milk!
#12. Loki
As of when I’m writing this, this was my most recent costume, in 2024. I did not put a lot of work into this costume, so it probably could have been cooler. I liked the premise because my sister went as Thor, so we were siblings portraying other siblings! I don’t know, it was kinda plain but also at a certain point I just don’t look like Loki so it could have only gone so far.
It wasn’t my favorite but still I think it turned out pretty nice. We found the green robe really randomly at a resale store and it was great. Ro made my staff which was awesome and really well done! I was going to do a black wig but it wasn’t looking like Loki so I ended up going with my own hair and I think that definitely looked better than the wig.
Ben went as Hawkeye, Mom was Wonder Woman and our Dad bought that full Batman costume which was awesome and he had a lot of interactions with little kids!
I’ve probably been starting to feel this, but this year especially I felt extra awkward and too old for trick-or-treating. Who knows, this might have been my last year for full-out trick-or-treating.
#11. Elsa
This was in 2015. I like this costume! I was quite obsessed with “Frozen” at that time in my life. I remember that getting the wig was a big deal on one of our road trips. My sister was probably the cutest Olaf ever! Our family loves looking back on that stage of Ro’s life, she was a very cute toddler! The trio of Mom and Dad as Batman and Batgirl and then Ben as Robin was very cute as well! I loveee Sue and Jenna’s costumes that year, Sue was St. Micheal and Jenna was Snoopy sitting on his dog house! So creative and well executed!
#10. The Sugar Skull
This year was in 2021. This one was alright. I like the concept of it and overall I like the execution, it just wasn’t my favorite. I think I look extra weird without glasses so there’s that, plus it wasn’t super enjoyable going trick-or-treating without glasses, I couldn’t see as well!
I like the dress (it was the same one I wore the year before for my costume), I like the skeleton sleeves and the headband. Dad did a great job with my face paint too.
Ben went as Aquaman, Mom was Batgirl, Ro was Harley Quinn and Dad was the Joker. As always, he got pretty into that character! And Ro and I both had dyed hair for our costumes! I don’t think mine was specifically for my costume though.
This year Sue and Jenna surprised us on what they were going as, we didn’t know until we saw them that night! A frying pan and a toaster- so awesome and so well done!!
#.9 The Skunk
This was in 2009, I was almost 1! I think this costume is so cute! The little hood and black painted nose, I love it! It’s definitely simpler but I think it’s cute which is why it’s so high up the list.
#8. Amelia Earhart
This was in 2023. It was quite a gross Halloween this year, it was sleeting and windy and cold! So my costume worked pretty well for that! I like this one, I was especially liking that I’d get to wear my riding breeches as well as my riding boots and half chaps! The vest and scarf were found at thrift stores, I really like the look of those, as well as the hat and goggles. It is a little on the simpler and generic side which is partly why it’s not higher.
Jenna ended up going as one of the Wright brothers with me! She made that amazing plane out of cardboard! Ro was Rocket Raccoon and Ben was Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy, so Jenna made Sue’s costume to go along with them, Groot! That was a very creative, neat costume! Unfortunately, eventually Jenna’s airplane got destroyed from the wind, and Sue’s fell apart from the walking and they had to throw a lot of them away. They were epic though!
Mom and Dad were Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World, and they did pretty great on the looks! My Dad got his character down, it was pretty funny!
#7. Captain America
This was 2012. This was one of our only full group themes! I really liked this year of costumes! I loved Captain America at that time, as well as the “Avengers” movie! I loved him, I loved his shield, and I was excited to be him for Halloween! It turned out pretty cute!
Ben was also a super cute hulk!! Hulk was one of his favorites early on. My parents went as Thor and Tony Stark (he’s a favorite of my dad’s) and Sue and Jenna were Black Widow and Hawkeye, who I believe were some of their favorite Avengers as well.
#6. Snow White
Snow White was in 2011! I love this costume, especially the blush! It’s just so cute and I love how Dad was the Prince and Mom was (kinda) Dopey! I LOVED the movie, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” at that time in my life… especially the part where Grumpy says “Mush”!
#5. Rey
Rey was in 2019. I really love this costume! Rey is one of my all time favorite “Star Wars” characters, and she was pretty big at this time. I just love her vibe, and I had a pretty good vibe going on here too. I love the costume, the staff and the gun. I also love those boots! I love the pictures we got that night. It was a pretty accurate costume! The only thing is that I didn’t do the three Rey buns. I like this look though!
Ben went as Boba Fett, Dad as Kylo Ren, Mom as Chewie, Ro went as Vamperina who she was into at the time… and Jenna was Vamperina’s house! So epic!
#4. The Cheetah
This one was in 2014. I’ve always loved cheetahs and I think this was a pretty great costume! Dad did great on the makeup! I believe I got that costume from a cousin and it was pretty cool (I know, it’s not a true cheetah pattern)! The other thing that makes it though is that Dad and Jenna went in on the theme with me, Dad was a lion (I think meant to be my predator?) and Jenna was my prey, a gazelle! Her costume was awesome and they were both so kind to dress up with me! It was veryyyy cold that year so I remember struggling and Jenna helped warm me up at a certain point in the night- the prey helping the cheetah!
Ben and Ro were very cute as well, a little Kermit and Super Grover! Sue went as Cookie Monster to go with them!
#3. Anna
This one was in 2016. This was a pretty great year, not only because I quite like the costume and I know I was super excited about it leading up to it.
But also, Jenna went as Kristof and we decided to transform our double stroller into Sven and the sleigh! Obviously, Jenna is very crafty. It was so much fun working on it with her and it turned out great! It was also fun because we were working on it in our garage and kept it a secret to the rest of the family- we’d put a blanket over it and everything! Then we made Sven as kind of a stick horse out of paper mache. We had him for a while afterward! Unfortunately, as we were walking the stroller/sleigh to the park where our Halloween parade started… it fell apart. So that was sad. Mainly the back frame we had to get ride of but the front and Sven we kept the whole night and it was pretty awesome!
The rest of the family went as “Star Wars” characters! I think my sister Ro was one of the cutest Darth Vaders ever!
#2. Bellatrix Lestrange
Our “Harry Potter” year was in 2020. This was one of our only years where our whole group was under the same theme. It was definitely my favorite of those, though!
It was a pretty awesome year, I think everyone’s is spot on! I love Bellatrix Lestrange, she’s just an attractive character to me. I liked my dress and wig and I liked that red lipstick (and my mask was red which looked neat). We made some wands with Jenna preparing for this and I really loved how mine came out, Bellatrix’s is very unique!
My dad loves Snape and he was really into it! I love the picture of him in his costume pulling the bread for dinner out of the oven! Mom likes Professor Trewlaney, her costume was great and she was really in character too. Ro was an adorable Luna Lovegood, her costume was really great as well. Then Ben went as Draco! Finally, Sue and Jenna went all out as usual! Sue was a great Professor McGonagall and Jenna’s Hagrid costume was so great and funny! You could barely see her under that beard!
It was a different experience of trick-or-treating this year during Covid! We had to wear masks at times and a lot of people got creative with their social distancing ways of giving out candy.
Overall, I loved my costume individually and especially with everyone else’s!
1. Napoleon Dynamite
It’s a tricky decision between first and second place. But I think for specially my costume, this one gets first! This was in 2022.
Our family loves this movie! And I love this movie! My mom went as Pedro to go with me which was pretty epic. I think both of our costumes were really well done. Those boots I had were great! I also love the cake pics!!! I got lots of comments from people during trick-or-treating.
Ro was a very cute Tinkerbell! Then Ben and Dad went together as Marty McFly and Doc Brown- their costumes were both really accurate too! I also liked my pumpkin I did. That year a couple of friends went trick-or-treating with us, so that was different and fun!
I enjoyed being a little weirder than I already am and acting as Napoleon that night!
I’ll be answering these questions for just our Halloweens in general…
What’s something you liked about it (and why)? I love all the creativity each year and coming up with our costumes, because it’s always so much fun and a chance to be creative in a different way. There’s always a lot of anticipation! Plus we just have so many memories of Halloween, that makes it fun to come up with costumes each year too.
I also love the candy! And the fact that we can have as much candy as we want on Halloween, since I have quite the sweet tooth and it’s fun not to be limited! After trick-or-treating I always love sorting it out on the ground in our living room while my siblings do the same, trading with them and eating it throughout the night, because that has just become such the tradition for us and it’s really fun!
What’s something you disliked about it (and why)? I’m not a fan of all the super spooky decorations. I mean, I never have but now that I’m growing in my faith and understanding more of what’s real, I’m even more against it. I’m still trying to figure out how I stand on Halloween. I like it in general but as I think more about it, I’m not sure I like everything involved with it. This year especially when we were out trick-or-treating, we stopped at some houses that had some pretty gross stuff. I don’t like it because it’s making us think of and sometimes even associate ourselves with bad and evil things.
What was your biggest takeaway or lesson? Maybe just seeing how Mom and Dad have prioritized this each year. They’ve prioritized this fun thing! It’s always been something we look forward to, and Mom and Dad get into it as well! They practice what they preach, I really appreciate all the fun they bring into our lives.
What is something you’re curious to learn more about as a result of this experience? I’m curious to learn more about what the Catholic Church thinks about Halloween. I know there’s probably extremes on both ends and everyone has their own opinions. But I definitely don’t want to be celebrating bad or evil things.
Nevertheless, we’ve had a lot of great memories from Halloween and there’s always a lot of excitement and anticipation. I think I’m getting to the point where I won’t be trick-or-treating but much longer, but I hope I still dress up, no matter how old I get!
Thanks for reading!
Lucy