As the mom of toddlers, Mandy Moore knows it's all about making memories, even if they may be too young to fully remember. In an exclusive interview with People, she revealed how "excited" she is to come up with family holiday traditions now that her boys are getting older, and what her son Gus might be for Halloween.
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Creating new holiday traditions is bringing her joy
During last year's holiday season, Mandy's two sons, Gus and Ozzie, were so little that it was less about tradition and more about enjoying the moment. But now that they're ages 2 and 1, things are a little different.
"I think we're excited to figure out what those traditions are going to be," Mandy explained to People. "But we're going to move soon, and so I'm excited to settle in and put down roots and figure out what those traditions are going to be."
One of those traditions? Dressing up for Halloween
Mandy shared that her older son, Gus, is starting to really understand the fall holiday, which is exciting for both of them.
"I think this is the first year that it's actually going to make sense to him," she explained. "Last year, I remember he was still too small. I tried to put him in a cute little chicken costume and he was not into it at all. I could barely get a picture out of it, and I was like, 'OK, well.'"
Gus already has options for his Halloween costume
Mandy explained that Gus is "really into dragons," but he also "just started watching Peter Pan for the first time." She also shared that her mother-in-law got Gus a Peter Pan costume and "he wore it to the grocery store."
"When I put the dragon costume on him the other day, I was like, 'Oh, this just came in the mail. Do you want to try it on?' Thinking maybe he'd want to put on the tail or the wings or something, and he wanted to put on the whole outfit, and then he went to the park as the dragon that day. And I was like, 'OK, that's real progress,'" she said.
Her boys were the inspiration for her latest collaboration
Mandy recently created a winter-themed capsule collection for Gymboree that is inspired by her first winter being a mom of two. They spent their winter on the East Coast, which served as an ideal holiday backdrop.
"I had a newborn and a not even 2-year-old, and I think a lot of the inspiration for what this collection became sort of stemmed from our time here and stemmed from getting to experience winter through their eyes, their first real, proper winter because we don't get winter on the West Coast," she explained.
She is making the most of this time while the boys are young
Mandy said that Gus' first experience in snow was a big inspiration, and that it has been really special to share the collection with her family.
"We all got to take photos in them, and they're still amenable to me matching them, obviously, because they don't have the wherewithal yet to object," she teased.
