How Halloween is Haunting me!

Gone are the days when I can simply stroll into Walmart and pick out a cute and simple costume for my kids.  Of course, I went in well equipped with my list of criteria: 1) It had to be cute, 2) It had to be able to accommodate a winter coat underneath it.

I wouldn’t need to spend all too much time as there was a variety of adorable outfits and most were tailored to have room for warmer attire.  But, my kids are older now and no longer do I play such a deciding role in what they want to dress up as for Halloween.

So, with the summer now gone and fall in full swing, we have begun the dinner table discussions of what each of our kids would like to be for Halloween.

An eager response jumped from my daughter’s mouth.  “I want to be a food!”  Nope, that is not a typo.  She wants to be a food…like pizza or spaghetti & meatballs.  I found this rather impressive and was quite proud of my little girl for having such a different idea from what most kids her age I assume would have.  I applauded her creativity and said “Food, it is” with a confident smile.

And then I started shopping for a costume.  This is where my enthusiasm began to dwindle.  There are some wonderful costumes of “Peas in a Pod” and a carrot, even a banana.  Though they would meet both of my set criteria of being cute and warm, however, my daughter is no longer 3′ tall and I’m guessing she’d be quite uncomfortable squished inside a toddler costume.

I traveled to my regular Halloween haunts (yes, pun intended), Walmart, Party City and The Children’s Place and unfortunately could not find anything.

Now, like most working moms, I don’t necessarily have a lot of available time to make a costume from scratch (even if I did, I’m not what you’d refer to as an avid sewer – buttons are all I do).  And, I’m not about to pay for a professional costume that will get worn for the maximum of 5 hours.  But, I am still like every other parent and I want to make my kids happy and help them explore their creativity.

So, for the next week, my daughter and I will be embarking on a new adventure.  We are going to work together on creating a wonderful costume of some sort.  Whether it be a bag of cotton candy, a bunch of grapes or a plate of spaghetti we’ll make it happen together. …just as long as she doesn’t decide she wants to be jambalaya!