Halloween Costumes

My youngest daughter and I have been talking about Halloween costume choices a lot this year. Her youngest daughter really wanted to be one of the Rainbow Rangers (a character from an animated tv show) this year. Her older daughter had easily accepted that in their house they didn’t choose characters for Halloween. The one time she had said she wanted to be Elsa, my daughter had just said, “No, what kind of animal do you want to be?” and she chose a flamingo. (She did get an Elsa costume for Christmas that year for her dress up corner) But this year my daughter mentioned that she had once been Ernie for Sesame Street for Halloween and her daughter was shocked, “Wait, What? You were allowed to be a character? I want to be one too.”

I pointed out that yes she was a character but that I made her Ernie mask and bought her a red and blue striped shirt, I didn’t buy a commercial costume. I said I thought it wasn’t so much what you were but that it was important to make or put together your costume.

But it turns out my daughter has another issue with characters which is that during trick or treating grownups often don’t know who you are. “Oh, what a cute Cinderella!” necessitating an “I’m Elsa” footstomp or eye roll. Given this explanation my older granddaughter who had wanted to be Mal (daughter of Maleficent) from the movie The Descendents said she would like to be a purple witch. Pretty clever since Mal is basically a purple witch. So my daughter bought her a purple witch costume and the younger one decided to be a witch too. Problem solved for this year!

The purchased character costume versus the home made or assembled costume is an argument that plays out in many houses. In an article in the Parade this weekend Kelly Ripa answered the question, “What was your favorite costume when you were a kid?” with this familiar sounding answer, “All I wanted was one of those costumes with a plastic mask that came in the box. But because my mom was not big on store-bought costumes, I always wound up wearing my ballet costume from the year before.”

I didn’t even have last year’s ballet costume, my memory is that I went as a gypsy every year with my pink and orange skirt, a peasant blouse, a kerchief, and curtain rings as hoop earrings. The last year I went trick or treating I tried to make a butterfly costume out of hangers and tissue paper which was very difficult but I managed to create something and then it rained so I just had to go as a modern dancer in the leotard and tights I had planned to wear with the wings.

My children have some interesting home made costume stories too. There was the year my husband created a Tin Man costume for our older daughter out of aluminum duct pipe which looked wonderful but was hard to walk in – she couldn’t bend her legs to climb the stairs! There was the year I made a Hershey Kiss costume for my younger daughter using a lamp shade for the kiss base that was a bit too short.

They went on to create some great costumes for themselves, though. There was Devil in a Blue Dress (Blue dress and Devil horns and tail) and with another friend A Little Bit Angel and A Little Bit Devil (one dressed in white and one in red and they each wore some Angel and some Devil costume pieces), A Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich (Large felt pieces of bread one with jelly and one with peanut butter that attached together), and a Gangster and his Moll (the perfect Chicago costume).

This year Halloween falls on the day I volunteer at the Children’s Museum and I have heard of some amazing past costumes. Since I’ve always thought a hat I had acquired for my classroom dramatic play area looked like Mary Poppins’ hat, I decided to create a Mary Poppins costume. Although when I put it on and look in the mirror I think maybe Mrs. Doubtfire would be more fitting at this point in my life. On the other hand it may seem like an inspired choice since rain and snow are in the forecast for Halloween this year and I’ll have a wonderful Mary Poppins umbrella!