We spent some time shopping for Halloween costumes this weekend with our 8 and 4 year olds.
The 8 year old has been talking a lot about wanting a costume involving a lot of blood, white make-up with blood smears, more blood and a cleaver coming out of a headband. WTF is this holiday even about anyway?
The four year old wants to be a princess or a fairy, whatever comes with the greatest number of accoutrements ie; wings, headbands, fairy dust, wreaths, sleeping pills.
The eleven year old is far too cool to knock on doors collecting candy but will submit to the idea provided she can wear something a friend wore the year before which achieves two things. 1) me not having to buy anything and 2) her knowing it must be cool because the older friend wore it when she was Hanna’s age.
We hit the costume store and Ellie told me she and her friend (who were twin burglars last year) thought they wanted to be prisoners this year.
WHAT? I’m all for candy and being neighbourly but why can’t we just wear something cute and scarf back as many mini Cadbury’s as it takes to induce vomiting by 8pm and call it a celebration like when we were kids?
We hit the prison/solitary confinement aisle in the store and the only orange jump suit I could find was a men’s size XL that had the words Department of Corrections printed on the back with a black sharpie. This blows.
The material was made out of recycled paper and the price tag was $49.99 (probably the cost to recycle actual prison jumpsuits). I couldn’t justify spending $50 on a prison jump suit nor did I allow Ellie to get too attached to the bloody cleavers she was salivating over in the next row.
We went to another store where I convinced Ellie to get a gypsy/fortune teller costume with the caveat I would allow her to wear a ring pop that she could indulge in at a time of her choosing whilst making the Halloween rounds. The ring pop would substitute a crystal ball. I can’t remember how or why that made sense but it wasn’t a $50 orange jump suit so I was all over it.
She told me she could see the future and it was her wearing an orange, prison jumpsuit.
Chloe chose a woodland fairy costume because it came with a head piece, wand and wings. She’ll likely freeze to death and between now and Halloween will most certainly lose all of the accessories but for her, this is a numbers game.
She did ask what fairies wore on their feet and I was quick to point out, “Fairies wear comfortable running shoes with a lot of reflective tape.”
Happy Halloween.
