Goals for our first costuming adventure:

A. To look Early Victorian Era (1860’s) to those who know what they’re looking at, and to look 19th century/old-fashioned to everyone else. B. To have fun and be comfortable.

I spent the entire month of November collecting items from around our house, sewing, crafting, and buying things to put together our costumes. I used a combination of hand-me-down clothes and craft supplies (like ribbon) as well as costume pieces for the kids, as well as sewing several larger pieces for myself and the Chaplain, like a vest, period-appropriate dress shirt, and my Zouave Jacket.

I thought we’d be doing historically appropriate hair, but we ran out of time, and it didn’t really matter. It was dark and our bonnets covered everything, except Five, whose bonnet disappeared at the 11th hour, so she went bareheaded. She looked gorgeous, so it really didn’t matter.I was working on the bonnets for myself and my oldest daughter minutes before we needed to leave, and so Four, Five, and Six got dressed by themselves. Four and Five came in to ask lots of questions about layers while they got dressed, but Six just put the clothes I had set out for him on.

When we go out, one kid always slips through the cracks. This has happened like clockwork since we had our third or fourth kid, it’s just a question of which kid it will be this time and what the nature of the problem will be – will someone have forgotten shoes? Underwear? A coat? When we got there, I realized that while Six was wearing the flannel dress shirt I picked up for him at the last minute, his other layers were thin and unlike his siblings, he had no underneath layers for insulation.

Both his brothers were layered up, and both of them were fine all night. Even without proper winter coats on, neither of them were cold. (Anticipating the cold, I ordered coats on sale that would have worked for the event and should have shown up in plenty of time, but the package got lost in the mail. Its replacement won’t be here until after both of our costuming outings… by which time we won’t need it. We have plenty of coats to keep us warm when we aren’t pretending to be from the 1800’s.) I’ve already scavenged out some low bulk layering options from around the house to have Six wear underneath for next time.Six being under-dressed could have spelled disaster. He isn’t an easy guy, and he was visibly shivering a lot of the time we were there. He kept asking for food even though we ate a big meal there, and sampled lots of free food on the street. I think he knew he was uncomfortable, but didn’t know what the problem was. We made regular stops along the walk to go into stores and other heated public areas to warm up, but a couple of extra layers would have solved the problem. (And while this should go without saying, I felt TERRIBLE about him being cold, because I wanted everyone to be comfortable and have fun.)

Otherwise, we did have so much fun. There was one other family with kids who were in full costume, and a number of couples and individuals who dressed up, as well as several groups of carolers who busted out the capes and top hats.

People reacted overwhelmingly positively. We were asked again and again if we would pose for pictures. It felt good to be the part of what made the Stroll special. Lots of people came out, but not a lot of people bothered to dress up. These days with apathy growing and participation dwindling (if attendance at local music venues and other events is any indication), just showing up is so important.

The stretch of street that was closed off to cars was nice and wide and there were stores with pretty Christmas displays, lots of people, and plenty of live music along the way. The kids always had something of interest to see or do, plus they were entertained by people’s reactions to their costumes, which started with the pedestrians doing double takes at intersections on our drive to the event.With all the crafting and sewing I did ahead of time, I was focused on the big pieces and didn’t spend as much time on accessories. I felt I had to prioritize that way since I was starting from scratch. If I had to divide my time up again, though, I would have spent a little time on making sure someone besides the Chaplain had pockets.

I wanted to make myself a reticule (an old-fashioned purse/exterior pocket) but ran out of time. That left the Chaplain with his many pockets to stash keys, cell phones, and any odds and ends that I usually put in my own pocket or bag, including trash when we couldn’t find a trashcan. Before our next event on Sunday, I’ll try to throw together a couple of reticules or drawstring bags for myself and Two, and perhaps tack a pocket on someone else’s costume so we have a few places to stash cell phones, wallets, and odds and ends.

It was a major goal to make sure everyone was warm enough, and for the most part, we were. It was in the 30’s, with a breeze. We could have used some better neck coverage, though, in addition to Six’s lack of layers. That should be an easy fix. We swapped around some accessories when we got there and made it work. It’s impossible to eliminate the kids complaining completely, but I did want to get ahead of the obvious stuff. They all had gloves to wear, and no one complained of cold hands, so that was a win.We barely made it to the last shuttle bus of the evening, and got home around ten. The kids went to bed quickly and fell asleep fast. I may never get out of bed again, but it was a lovely way to spend an evening with the fam.

Since this was an evening event, I didn’t even try to get photos with my nice camera – all the photos here were taken with our cell phones. I’m hoping we can get some nice daylight photos soon.

Also, I’m hoping to do a dedicated post with a breakdown of what we wore, in case anyone else is trying to do something like this. I found a lot of sites where ladies describe the process of creating a single outfit, but not a lot about doing up a whole family, especially if you’re going for #historicallyadequate rather than strict accuracy.