Oh the Balinos. What will they think of next?
This year was one of those last minute scrambles, once again. Every October 30th of virtually every year, since we started our FAM-O-Ween tradition, we promise ourselves “Selves, next year will be better. We will NOT leave our creative brainstorming to the very last minute”. And every year around October 29th, we think…. “ummm… we have a couple days. OMG WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!”
This year was no exception. As much as we love our yearly dose of crazy, being the Balinos has its drawbacks. We have an in-house artist in my husband George, and that just opens the doors to more crazy ideas from yours truly, and a couple of very panicky late nights. It’s not like coming up with ideas and their execution are highly impossible – but they do take time. So, like anything else in my life, it’s a series of steps.These are our Fam-O-Ween list of to-dos we frantically go through annually to get to our final decision:
- We sit down and brainstorm. As a family.
- We shop – second hand and vintage shops, our own closets, Grammy & Poppy’s closets, or otherwise.
- We argue – George absolutely REFUSES to be anything other than a human being, and Smallie wants nothing more than to be a poo emoji <insert eyeroll from both parents>. If my dogs were alive today, I’m sure they would have fallen victim to said emojis. Poor things. They sure took a lot of abuse.
- We come up with a handful of ideas, most of which George scoffs at. I mean, Smallie was thinking he’d make an amazing Pinky Pie from My Little Pony. You can only imagine his immediate response.
- We narrow down to one or two ideas – and opt for the easiest, most feasible, and least painful. That means – cheaper (or free) costumes, no need to shave heads, grow beards, or magically grow 3 feet (apparently, me and my 5 foot self would make a pretty lame NBA star. Boo).
Unfortunately – this year was different. We’ve had a share of complications in the household. Don’t fret – it’s nothing to be concerned about – not anymore anyway. But it certainly threw us for a loop. Bugs going around, appointments to run to, commitments to not flake out of – so once we got through the above 5 steps, we were quite disappointed that NOTHING came to mind. Keep in mind, we literally got through all steps 3 days preceding Halloween. What were we thinking??
Part of our problem, was that while we were having our family discussion about what we were going to be this Fam-o-ween, Smallie would be dancing around the house singing obnoxiously to repeats of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” from The Beatles and of course “Yellow Submarine” – both of which she’s changed to “You Better Hold My Hand” and “Lellow Submarine“. Meanwhile, thanks to our in-house DJ Smalls, “Hey Jude” (which she changed to “Hey Dude“, obvi), was literally blasting through our Bose Speakers. My head was spinning as I could barely hear myself think.
And that’s when it hit us… right slap in the face! THE BEATLES!!! Let’s be the Beatles!!
Ladies and gentlemen… as we are undoubtedly, a far cry from the greats… allow me to introduce:
“THE BALINOS”
More specifically…
Okay, so adding the doll, Jenny – creepy right? Well – it’s not like I really had much choice. Smalls is absolutely in love with her, and it broke my heart knowing that her only stipulation for doing yet another fam-o-ween theme was that we include Jenny. How could I not? It was perfect. I mean… she has her own drum kit and a coordinating black suit (thanks to the ridiculous talents of Grandma Sadie’s Closet – talk about 24 hour turnaround!)
“Jenny” Starr it is…
And while we’re at it, might as well give you a healthy dose of “Smalls” McCartney”.
Yes. We’re strange. And we are old school. I mean… circa 1960s OLD school.
But in our defence, George and I love music that doesn’t require having to decode lyrics with a fine toothed comb. We’re sappy. We’re straightforward. We like a good melody that’s easy to sing along to, is safe enough for a 6 year old to belt out in public, touches the heart, and stays there. All three of us wholeheartedly agree that you can’t get any better than pretty much all the collections of The Beatles. Our favorite? Abbey Road. Or should I say “Fam-O-Ween” Road…
And you know, we can’t just pretend we’re The Beatles without actually coming up with our very own Fam-o-ween collection now, could we? Here’s our album “The Balinos” and their greatest hits. Yes, I know Jenny’s creepy. Work with me here – I had Smalls-induced provisions I had to adhere to.
Maybe next year, With a Little Help From Our Friends, we’ll actually get some of these family friendly Beatles/Balinos’ hits recorded in studio.
IMAGINE?? (Okay, I’ll stop)…
Happy FAM-O-WEEN and stay safe – from The Balinos,
The LOOK:: Want it? GET it!
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