The sailor man with a spinach can and his fam

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man. 
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man. 
I'm strong to the finish,' cause I eats me spinach. 
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man. 

Did any of you folks watch Popeye reruns when you were younger? I watched the cartoon and sang along to the catchy theme song (abridged lyrics above) whenever I was at my grandmama's house. I loved that I could always count on Popeye to guzzle down cans of spinach needed to acquire superhuman powers in order to rescue Olive and save the day. I had been contemplating our dressing as Popeye and Olive for Halloween since this summer past. I think Alex exhibits Popeye's courage, and I'm enamored with him as Olive Oyl is with Popeye. Knowing that Serene would be born by All Hallows' Eve sealed the deal, for we think she makes the sweetest Sweet Pea, the baby left on Popeye's doorstep that he eventually adopts.

Our costumes were budget-friendly and took only a couple of hours during Serene's naptimes to assemble. I used this image for inspiration, but wanted our costumes not to look cartoon-y, but rather, as if we were the characters in real life. Hence, I strayed away from the bright blues or yellows customarily found in the cartoon images. Alex already had brown shoes, navy pants, and a black button-down shirt, so all I had to do to complete his Popeye costume was sew a red sailor collar onto his shirt, make a can of spinach, and unearth a sailor hat I had in the closet. He bought a toy pipe that I made white so that it resembles Popeye's corncob pipe. As for my Olive Oyl costume, I already had a red sweater, black skirt, and brown shoes, so I sewed a scalloped white collar onto my sweater and swept my hair to the side to resemble Olive's. Serene's Sweet Pea costume consists of a onesie with nautical anchors on a Peter Pan collar that she already had, a white bonnet I altered to look like Sweet Pea's, and a swaddling blanket that I sewed from red fleece using a sleep sack Serene has as the pattern. Serene turned 4 weeks old today on All Hallows' Eve, and though she is a bit too young to trick-or-treat tonight, that won't stop her daddy from toting her around the neighborhood to acquire as much candy as possible for his enjoyment. Hope you have the happiest Halloween, lads and ladies!

See our past Halloween costumes:
Halloween 2012: I dreamed a dream of time gone by