My aunt just left after one of her usual fun visits at my parents’ house, and my mom and I always feel a little wan after she leaves because it seems like now there’s No More Fun. So today after moping around the house for awhile I emailed my mom and asked did she want to go out to lunch and to Goodwill to look for things for Elizabeth’s Halloween costume, and she said YES and we were OUT THE DOOR.

Elizabeth wants to be the White Witch of Narnia. I did an image search so I know that in the movie the White Witch has, like, beaded ballgowns, long fur capes, dreadlocks, and icicles sticking out of the top of her head. We haven’t seen the movie, so I asked Elizabeth what she thought the White Witch looked like, and Elizabeth thought she probably wore all white, so we’re going with that version. We have a pretty good start on it already because she has a white fake-fur coat, white tights, and silver shoes. She also has a white skirt, but it’s a short cotton-knit playskirt—not very White Witchy. My hope was that I could find something cheap at Goodwill, AND I DID:

What a ridiculous picture. There is no way to tell what’s going on here. I will have to describe it for you, as if there were no picture at all. On the left is a women’s size 7 ankle-length Jessica McClintock white shimmery/satiny skirt, or possibly a very fancy half-slip for under a wedding dress, way prettier that it looks in this frankly terrible and useless photo. I’m not sure yet how I’ll pin it—maybe I’ll fold/roll it so it’s still a skirt, or more likely I’ll pin on some shoulder straps so she can wear it as a dress, but WHATEVER, it’s exactly what I was hoping to find. It was $4.99, but then it turned out all the stuff on the Halloween racks was 50% off AND I have a 10%-off-every-purchase Goodwill card (it costs $10 and you can use it for a year, so if you spend more than $100/year it’s worth it—and if not, it’s a nice donation to Goodwill), so it was $2.25. TWO TWENTY-FIVE FOR THE REALIZATION OF MY DREAMS.

I was not really thinking when I took this photo, apparently, because I have the Goodwill stuff interspersed with the craft store stuff, so next there’s a white feather boa from Michaels, looking as if it’s part of the skirt, which gives the whole thing a racy look. (Plus, the hanging-loops are still on the skirt/slip and they’re flopping out looking like shoulder straps, and the skirt is folded over a bit creating a false bustline as if it’s a dress DID NO ONE THINK THIS OUT?) I’m not sure how she’ll wear that boa, but probably just around her shoulders. Or maybe I’ll pin it to the bottom of the skirt? or drape it around and around her neck? I don’t know, but I had a 40%-off-one-item coupon so it was $2.99. Probably unnecessary, but fun to buy.

Next is a package of plain white cardboard crowns, also from Michaels. I was all, “Hm, too bad they only have these colorful crowns and they seem too small, I wish they had something plain white and adjustable, oh well giving up and moving on,” and my mom was all, “Wait, like this exact thing hanging right here?” I think there are six of them in the pack. $2.99. Maybe we’ll decorate one with sparkles and/or glitter glue, or maybe it’s best to leave it white, I’m not sure.

On top of the crowns is a 2-pack of fake pearl bracelets from Goodwill, $.88. Again, probably-unnecessary-but-fun.

And last is a shawl-thing, triangular with impressive silky fringe, also from Goodwill. The fabric is champagne, but I think it’ll work because it’s so shot-through with silver that the overall effect is silvery/shimmery/fancy. It has a border of black and silver beads. 50% off, then another 10% off, so it was $.90.

I’m very pleased. I think this is going to work nicely. She can borrow a pair of my faux pearl earrings, too.

Oh! Oh, and then ALSO at Goodwill, I found a Lands’ End girls’ raincoat, a LONG one, like for SERIOUS RAIN, just exactly the sort of raincoat I would have loved to find for her this past summer for camp. I looked at the tag and it was $10, so I was going to pass it up (it’s in her size RIGHT NOW, so she’d only get one year’s use out of it and it might not even rain), but then I saw the tag was the color of the day so it was 50% off! And then another 10% off with my card! So it was $4.50. WELL OKAY THEN.

It does not look very long in this picture because I’m holding it funny and as you can see I was employing the “Are you going to make it look like it belongs on Etsy or are you going to get the job done quickly and easily?” method of photography, but it’s about knee length. The outside is a very sturdy- and waterproof-feeling hot pink, and the inside is a nice-feeling bright yellow canvas. I’d be surprised if it had ever been worn. I’ll bet someone else bought it for camp and then it didn’t rain.