Kids and Costumes

🎧🎃 Kid-Safe Halloween Playlist 👻  

The days are flying by and All Hallow's Eve is almost upon us. That will be shocking to some parents, either because they've been toiling away creating the perfect costume that's turned out to be more difficult than expected, or are realizing they put it off too long and selection is kind of picked over. Trust me, I've been both. Over the years I've purchased adorable (expensive) costumes, DIY'd creative ones, and sewn popular requests. In the end, each of them have their own memories attached and what really matters is that the kiddies have fun. I spent way too much time on Pinterest last night and some of these had me in stitches. For your inspiration:

Oh, tears streamed down my face at that little Queenie! If that wasn't enough inspiration for you, take a look at 75 Fun and Easy DIY Halloween Costumes Your Kid Will Love.  or buy one of these 60 Kid's Halloween Costumes for the Uncrafty. There's no shame in admitting one is uncrafty. We put so much pressure on ourselves and time provides clairty.

Perhaps one of the worst ones for me as a parent now makes me howl with laughter. The month after I left my children's father and was living in a tiny room at a shelter with two little ones and a baby in a crib, my sister thought it would be a treat to make costumes for six kids.

I cried in the fabric store. 

It was one of those ugly meltdowns you think can't happen to real people and when it happened to me I fled. She had to apologize to staff and other customers as she whisked all the children out the door. The cost of every yard of fabric, button and notion was sickening to me as I faced an uncertain future with no income and no idea how I alone would meet all of my children's needs. I couldn't even get them costumes! 

She meant well, and though it really wasn't the best time for an enormous project like that, we persisted. Many, many frustrating hours later, the costumes were finally ready for the big night. 

It snowed. 

A lot. 

No autumnal frisky flakes to be had. 

We got a dumping of the white stuff with howling winds that could knock a small child over. Belle ended up in her snowsuit bundled under mounds of blankets as I attempted to push her stroller through white hell. Luckily we'd made the costumes large enough to fit over coats, because we are Canadian, after all. Our boys were M&M packages, both plain and peanut variety, but it lost some effect when their faces were hidden by scarves and their toque-clad heads appeared to be blobs plopped on top of the package. 

Kitty was a puffy Sailor Moon looking smart in her dress stretched over an already generous parka and weather appropriate accessories. With the snow pants, hat, scarf and boots, she could barely navigate the hall let alone the snow covered streets. Not to be outdone, my niece was some other sailor kid, also puffy, sporting her dress yanked over her coat, accompanied by what may have been the latest fashion on igloo runways that year. At least I think it was my niece. It could have been the neighbour's kid for all we could tell. 

Bless my sister's oldest child. Only a few years older than them, he was out there with us, herding what was quickly beginning to resemble a gang of fat, pissed off cats in some weird manhunt cosplay. I think we were out for a total of 20 minutes before they begged to go home.

I hated my sister a little bit that week.

But as it does, time passes and things get better. My Power Ranger, Little Black Cat and Minnie Mouse did not object to the colour coordination on a different Halloween. Please excuse the smudges on this old photo. It's got a special place in my heart.

Every year, Mancub reminds me of the Zombie costume I'd made for him years ago. Ironically, zombies are always the last-minute lifesavers. The deal his parents have is that whomever he's with the week prior to Halloween ensures he has a costume ready. He'd been with his dad. Imagine how delighted we all were when he was dropped off at 3 pm on Halloween without a costume. Did I forget to mention that Kitty was in the middle of moving? She had to hand over the keys first thing in the morning and I don't know which of them wanted to cry more. 

When Moi is motivated, Moi can produce. One hour later, just as it began to get dark, the ghoul appeared, ready to frighten the neighbourhood and bag the free candy. It took the sacrifice of one pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and some dude's flannel shirt along with a pair of scissors, a piece of rope, his mom's hair gel and make-up bag, dirt from the garden, grass from the lawn, and very motivated grandmother energy to create what is still his all-time favourite costume. The kid looked wicked good, his friends were impressed, and I needed a shower. It thrills me that he still remembers and speaks so fondly of what could have been a disaster.

So whether you buy a costume or make one doesn't really matter. Keeping it all in perspective and staying in the moment are valuable lessons children learn from watching us. Then again, my advice may be useless because when I saw this adorable little taco...

my mind raced to all the doggie costumes parents could make use of on their crawling babies. Twisted, I know.