Oh, the Costumes of Yore

Okay, so I am a little late on the game, but I finally decided to start my own blog. I mean, I've always been a talker, so I guess blogging is the next natural step. And what better topic for my first blog than the upcoming holiday of Halloween, and more specifically Halloween costumes.

My question is, what ever happened to those homemade costumes of our childhood? Now days my kids expect us to go to Target, Party City, Disney Store and buy the latest and greatest expensive costume for one night of glee. Kind of sounds like prom, but on a kiddie scale. And don't get me wrong, I am all about the cool costumes. But who ever said the store bought polyester was better than a good ole homemade costume? Well, it was probably me. Yes, I now realize this was my fault.

We started off with the best of intentions. My son's first Halloween he was Obi Wan Kanobi (yes, I had to google that to know how to spell it). My husband made his entire costume from felt including his cute little shoes. The only thing we bought premade was the small little ponytail for the back of his head. I mean he already had the spikey hair, so it was perfect. But then, alas, the next year we eventually fell victim to the costume hype. I think it was that Rolly Polly Ollie costume at the Disney store. It was just too cute with its fluffy roundness and matching accessories. Couldn't...resist.... And thus, yes, we started the store bought costume trend. Oh, there was the one year when there were just too many cute costumes to choose from, so my daughter was Aurora for one party and then Cinderella for another. Okay, I admit it, I started the madness!

This year, my tomboy daughter could not find a single costume she liked at the store. Not to mention, she has reached the age all girls reach where they change their minds as often as Monica Kaufman changes hairstyles. One evening, after seeing the movie "9", my daughter sat down and started cutting up toilet paper rolls and cardboard. She broke out the tape and string and voila, she had made a "7" mask from the movie. My daughter just beamed at the homemade art and in her eyes (and in mine) those two rolls of toiletpaper and cardboard looked just like the "7" from the movie.

So that is what started me thinking. Half the fun as a child was using your imagination and seeing something there that wasn't there before... taking a sheet and cutting holes to make a ghost or putting on dad's old clothes to be a hobo. Or my favorite, wearing a blue turtle neck, white cords and painting my face blue to be a Smurf (not that I am speaking from experience or anything). Even the store made costumes of our childhood required imagination. I knew I was Wonder Woman for real under that plastic mask with the rubber string and two eyes cut out.

I think that we parents are the ones that have lost our imagination. We no longer see beyond things as they are... the princess in wearing one of mom's old dresses, the batman from a homemade cape. So, this year we are going homemade again but with a little twist. My son is going to be a robot football player (like the one on TV during the commercial breaks). Using a jersey he has, some baseball pants and a lot of gray face paint (okay, you have to see it to understand it), he is the ultimate football machine. And my daughter is picking one of her "coolest" outfits and a hat and wearing a badge that says fashion police. And they are just as excited as any other year.

Ah, the costumes of yore are making a come back. And I am rediscovering my imagination and childhood. Happy Halloween everyone.