i love the fall. i love to decorate for the fall. my house is currently full of pumpkins. some people love to decorate for halloween. i'm not one of them. my decorations have to last until i pull out the christmas decorations (this usually happens before thanksgiving.) still, somehow i have gotten caught up in the throws of dressing up my kids for halloween. i don't just let them pick out a costume. no, i let them pick out a costume as long as it fits into my pre-picked theme. i can see the years of therapy lining up already.
last year, my kids were all characters from "the chronicles of narnia..."prince caspian, king peter, lucy, the baby was the lion. seriously...so stinking cute. i have had friends dress their baby up as a bee and then get little bee keeper costumes. this year it was going to be "star wars." they could pick any character i could buy as a costume. can't you just see it...a little ewok, boba fett, princess leia, master yoda. i had it all planned out and, miraculously, the kids were happy to play along.
then i looked at how much this little venture would cost me. i was looking at close to $150.00 for one night. that's when i decided my obsession was a bit ridiculous. it is dark when my kids "trick-or-treat." no one notices how cute they are except for me and while the cuteness does bring me a bit of joy, so does buying them winter clothing.
so, this year i've gone practical. i'll have one boba fett, two characters recycled from last year's "narnia" and one recycled dinosaur from three years ago. it won't be coordinated but it will be affordable and for one night of candy swapping, i think that's the smarter move. i think that matching costumes might be one of those luxuries i have to give up while having a big family. what about you? to match or not to match...i'd love to hear your stories.
A couple of years ago my 2yo was Batman (saved from my older kid) and my much larger 5yo was Robin. The Robin costume we found at the Goodwill, brand new for $2. You wouldn't believe all the Darth Vader costumes the Goodwill has!! I find that a black cape is indispensable for Halloween. Batman, Vader the Grim Reaper, a Witch, a Fairy all require one. We now have several. We have a huge box of costumes that the kids (4 of them) go thru every year, and then we buy the one or two pieces they need to finish their look. Last year I stuck my daughter's black gypsy wig on the 3yo along with a pirate outfit to turn him into Captain hook. While a theme is super cute, I find we enjoy re-purposing old outfits into new ones. I think Captain Hook even wore a black cape.
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