Farewell to the Days of Sweet Halloween Costumes

This year my daughter had wanted to be an evil bunny rabbit. Then it was hotdog, John McCain, and finally a ‘business woman’.

(Note: The fact that she chose John McCain is less reflective of the political tenor of our home than her desire to oppose her brother, who had wanted to be Barack Obama. That is a whole other story.)

Now, inspired by a clown mask and the breif case she had planned to use to be a business woman, she’s been running around the house saying ‘Put the money in the bag!’. She calls it a bank robber. I say hedge fund manager.

Anyway… all this to say – it’s a far cry from last year when she was none other than prairie-sweet Laura Ingalls Wilder. As soon as she said she wanted to be this wholesome figure, I rushed down to the Salvation Army and bought up all their lace and ruffly pillowcases. Mind you, I’m not crafty. That’s why this costume will forever be my masterpiece.

Could she be any cuter? She’s wearing a gigantic grin. Trust me. (If you’ve been here for a while you know I don’t like to post my kids’ pictures.) Now, I’m no photograper. I probably won’t win the Halloween photo contest over at Parent Bloggers, but I’m entering this anyway under the category of–

Best Homemade Costume.

Because it is. Hands down.

Note the crafty use of ruffles….

… the home spun petticoat and apron

… the genius re-purposing of a too-small blouse.

I outdid myself. I really did.

And this year she’s a bank robber. Lovely.

By the way, was posted in part to promote Blurb’s super cool DIY photo books. You really ought to check them out!

Fear the Bunny, A Cautionary Halloween Tale

Every year my kids choose Halloween costumes. And every year since they were about four they have insisted that those costumes be different than the ones they wore the year before. As if anyone remembers. But okay. Off we go to Wal-Mart to find something good. Wait a minute – we don’t do that at all. Turns out I’m WAY too cheap to shell out $20 each and every year for some half-sewn wad of polyester. No, it’s a rare day that we buy off-the-shelf goblin attire. Usually I send my children into the closet with a pair of blunt scissors and a Sharpie.

“Be creative,” I say. And they are. One year my son made a convincing Luke Skywalker from nothing but a scrap of burlap and the core from an old roll of wrapping paper. My daughter looked just like Laura Ingalls Wilder in a dress made from pillow cases and some strategically placed pot-holders. They have paraded the neighborhood as fairies, witches, ghosts, and pirates.

But last year my girl settled on her dream costume long before we ventured into the closet.

“I want to be a bunny rabbit,” she told me. Great, I thought. I started mentally planning: white t-shirt, blush pink nose, floppy rag ears, done. I was all for it until she added, “We can use ketchup for the blood!”

I hadn’t factored in the blood. But it soon became clear that she didn’t want to be an ordinary bunny, but an evil bunny rabbit – the one from Monty Python. She wanted to be the bunny with the vicious teeth. If you haven’t seen the Holy Grail, there’s a bunny, lots of blood, and an injured knight of the round table. (All very family friendly I assure you.)

Although I’d rather she dress up as something a little less menacing, my daughter was intent on being evil. Who knew my cute second grader was a Halloween purist? I can’t blame her. Halloween is supposed to be scary. It’s fun to play evil. Who would you rather pretend to be – Cruella DeVille or the lame-o chick trying to save the puppies? Playing evil is fun because it’s make believe. And we all know that real evil doesn’t wear vampire teeth.

In the end, I was able to talk my angel of a girl into being a green-faced witch. She got to be scary, but traditional too and in my opinion, sweet and nostalgic. This year she told me she wants to be a hot dog. So apparently she’s simply intent on splashing herself with ketchup. And she knows how to work the system.