The Saga of Robin Hood (and the Ghost)

We all love the new BBC America series Robin Hood. But I should have expected that Nicky, so much like me in so many ways, would start obsessing on Robin Hood as soon as he saw it. Robin's always been one of my favorite characters, and hey, how can you not like defeating the evil sheriff, defending justice, and winning the fair maiden? Especially when you can shoot three arrows at once, slide down ropes on your bow, and wear a really cool costume?

So naturally, Nick insisted on being Robin Hood for Halloween. But he couldn't be a BORING Robin Hood in the bright green, feather hatted costume (that I always thought looked more like Peter Pan anyway). He had to look JUST LIKE the Jonas Armstrong Robin.

They don't make BBC Robin Hood costumes. Or at least, not in America. And they won't ship them from the BBC shop in England either. (I shouldn't be surprised. They won't let us see the new season until 6 months after the folks in Britain.) So it was up to me to save the day. Two nights of sewing and three patterns later, the costume you see is the result. The trickiest part was the little "x"s along the side of the pants. Fortunately, Nicky didn't notice that his costume turned out a lot cleaner and less authentically shabby than Robin's. But all things considered, I think he make a cute crusader for justice.

Kai's costume has less backstory, basically because she couldn't make up her mind! We ended up buying her costume at the very last minute on the night before our party. Is it weird to say your daughter makes a pretty ghost??