Green on Halloween!

Despite the multitude of Halloween costume stores, in our family, we believe in making our costumes. When our children were little, I thought it was fun and a great way to express our creativity. I also thought it would give us lasting memories. The only Halloween costume I remember out of my many years as a trick or treater, was the year I was an orange UNICEF box. Unfortunately, it was the same year it rained as we were walking the neighborhood. I still had fun even though the clothing I’d worn underneath was permanently colored orange! So, although I started our family tradition by turning orange we continue the trend by going green.

Every time we passed a sign promoting Halloween costumes, the begging would go on as I repeated the mantra, 'in our family, we use our creativity to design our costumes.' Our son has heard the story of the year mom and older sister (then a very little girl) went dressed up as Little Bo Peep and her lamb. He has seen the many photos throughout the house and remembered his own past costumes, primarily as a pirate,  but as a sixth grader, it just wasn’t cool enough. Alas, in our family, it really wasn’t a choice. So, the night before Halloween, his creative juices began to flow…probably through pure desperation! By 7:30 p.m., he finally had a plan! He was going to be a scarecrow. I wasn’t sure our son had ever even seen a scarecrow with the exception of the one hanging out with Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz but he finally was excited about his costume. 

Dad donated on old white button-down, monogrammed shirt, not quite the garb one would expect on a scarecrow, but after all, this is South Orange County! Out of the rag bin came an old tablecloth that was donated to the cause. I helped our son cut out patches, which he carefully taped on the shirt and a pair of baggy pants we’d found. Unfortunately, he’d used packing tape rather than mom’s favorite, duct tape. As he proudly tried on his costume, the patches began to fall off. Mom to the rescue! Out came the safety pins. The costume was really coming together.

Friends joined us for dinner and then the boys were going to go out to trick or treat. After dinner the boys went racing to put the last touches on their costumes. Out came a very scary pirate and a scarecrow with teeth that would frighten any dentist! The boys patiently posed for photos. At the end of the night, as the boys were sorting their candy, I heard them challenging one another, ‘Wait till you see what I can come up with for next year’s costume!’ It may not have been the most elaborate costume, but our son was very pleased with himself and his accomplishment. I’m looking forward to seeing next year’s creation!