Lilly as a Spanish princess, Jonah in his jammies, Adam without the Hobgoblin mask and Maggie, one sad starlet.
While scrambling to come up with Halloween costumes this time of year, I always reflect back to the snafus we’ve had in our house in past years.
One year I ordered costumes after Halloween for cheap that I was sure would go over the next year. One was an awesome Power Ranger costume. But Adam didn’t agree. He never said he didn’t like it, but I got the drift when he went into his room, cut “patches” out of paper, pinned them onto a sweatshirt and declared he was going to be a scarecrow. That Power Ranger costume is still hanging untouched in the closet.
One year Maggie picked a Hollywood starlet costume off the wall at Party City. She totally loved it, until it was time to put it on and go trick or treating. Not sure what the problem was — maybe the long sleeve shirt I made her wear under it — but she was totally in tears when everyone else was ready to head out.
That same year Adam picked out a scary hobgoblin mask. When it was time to go, there was no sign of the mask. Instead he was wearing an old Rastafarian hat with dreadlocks we picked up in Bermuda years before. Apparently, he didn’t like the smell of the mask. Against my better judgment, I bought him another mask again this year.
Jonah has the propensity to tire of costumes once he’s worn them to school. So there’s always last minute scrambling to put together something new to trick or treat in. My one rule about this is no money will be spent on a second outfit. Last year, he was a cowboy at school and put on his Incredible’s pajamas to trick or treat in. (Mr. Incredible, however, did wear cowboy boots).
Lilly is my only child who has strong ideas about what she wants to be and sticks with it. One year she made herself a ladybug costume. Another year, she picked out a Spanish princess dress. This year, she wanted to be a white dog with brown spots. She only wavered briefly when we walked by some princess hoop dresses on deep sale while looking for the brown fabric. Luckily, they were just a bit too small.
