As I'm sitting here trying to come up with something to write about I am listening to my little people discuss what they want to be for Halloween. Also while I'm sitting here I can feel the control freak inside me coming up for air. I don't want them to be Batman or god forbid, Barbie or really anything mainstream. Every year I plan their costumes around a theme and since I have three (the teenager bowed/fought her way out a few years ago) to work with I can have all kinds of fun. But they are a little bit older now and have their own opinions. So as I'm getting ready to burst their bubble I remember a promise that I made long ago.
I promised myself that I would let my kids be whatever they wanted to be for Halloween, and if they wanted a store-bought costume then a store-bought costume they would have. I think I made that promise when I was around 9 or 10 years old and had just suffered through my mom's latest costume "creation". In her defense we had no money so whatever costume I wore generally had to be made out of whatever we had lying around the house. One year I was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. All that consisted of was a pillow, a sheet and a piece of rope to hold everything together. I already had the limp because I had twisted my ankle on the playground a few days before (We didn't go to the doctor unless a limb had been severed from our bodies and it had to be a really important limb at that). Another year I was a scarecrow. This costume was made out of a pair of jeans and an old flannel shirt that had a few rips and tears. But the "best" part of that costume was that the shirt was stuffed with hay to give it that "authentic" look. Oh, did I mention that I am deathly allergic to hay?! I spent that night wheezing on a hayride and being told to "stop whining". Again, in my mom's defense the doctors hadn't yet pinpointed what triggered my asthma attacks. But by far my most vivid memory of my childhood Halloweens involved a witch's costume. This costume was made up of black clothes, a witch's black hat (probably borrowed) and wait for it . . . face paint that was made from my mom's liquid foundation and black and green food colorings. In case you're wondering that does not come off the face with a simple scrubbing. More like it has to wear off . . . over time. So for the remainder of that school week guess who got to go to school with "green face"?!
I promised myself that I would let my kids be whatever they wanted to be for Halloween, and if they wanted a store-bought costume then a store-bought costume they would have. I think I made that promise when I was around 9 or 10 years old and had just suffered through my mom's latest costume "creation". In her defense we had no money so whatever costume I wore generally had to be made out of whatever we had lying around the house. One year I was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. All that consisted of was a pillow, a sheet and a piece of rope to hold everything together. I already had the limp because I had twisted my ankle on the playground a few days before (We didn't go to the doctor unless a limb had been severed from our bodies and it had to be a really important limb at that). Another year I was a scarecrow. This costume was made out of a pair of jeans and an old flannel shirt that had a few rips and tears. But the "best" part of that costume was that the shirt was stuffed with hay to give it that "authentic" look. Oh, did I mention that I am deathly allergic to hay?! I spent that night wheezing on a hayride and being told to "stop whining". Again, in my mom's defense the doctors hadn't yet pinpointed what triggered my asthma attacks. But by far my most vivid memory of my childhood Halloweens involved a witch's costume. This costume was made up of black clothes, a witch's black hat (probably borrowed) and wait for it . . . face paint that was made from my mom's liquid foundation and black and green food colorings. In case you're wondering that does not come off the face with a simple scrubbing. More like it has to wear off . . . over time. So for the remainder of that school week guess who got to go to school with "green face"?!
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