The Year I Caved

Usually on Halloween I pull out my mad costume making skills and try to create whatever costume the boys want.  To clarify, my sewing arsenal includes: a glue gun, one needle, white thread, and felt.  I have a friend, and this won't surprise my small group, who believes I can sew. Really sew, as in, can make a quilt and possibly my own clothes. This is not true. I can barely hem a curtain using my sewing machine. But that is not the point.

My older sister has made reference to some slight competition between us.  When I decided to do a daily blog post so did she - except she continued long past the 30 days.  I wore a few skirts one summer, she decided to wear skirts daily - rain or shine!  I had three kids - she has three dogs.  So, when she made her kids costumes every single year, I decided I could too. She made Dorothy, a scorpion, Annie, Laura Ingalls Wilder, etc.  I have made a bat, a parrot, a rat, a vampire, and batman. The only reason batman came to be was because my mom took over. My only contribution was hot gluing the batman logo onto a black t-shirt.

My favorite part of Halloween is hunting the thrift store for clothes that I can turn into costumes for the boys. But this year the costumes the boys wanted to be was a bit too much for my sad pitiful sewing skills. Jack and Micah were very clear that they wanted to be ninjas. Finn, well, he said he was going to be a Wampa Beast, complete with fur and claws.  Taking a cue from my sister, I decided to just go ahead and buy the ninja costumes. The only year I remember her children wearing store bought costumes was when her daughter wanted to be a ninja. So, off to the thrift store I went.  I know, I can't get away from thrift stores. I love them, and they do still have costumes - both new and used!

I found a ninja costume for Micah, a very tiny ninja costume for Finn, but nothing for Jack. Well, that is not true, I found one but he said it was too scratchy.  And Finn, well, once he saw what his brothers were wearing, he was done with being a Wampa Beast.  I was going to continue my search for Jack's costume when a friend asked if I wanted old costumes her boys were too big for. Free costumes? Of course!

Which is how I ended up with: A Tiny Ninja, A Black Ninja, and A Transformer.

I did cave and go buy Finn a costume that actually fit him. The 2T $.99 cent Ninja suit, was not going to cut it.  This year will go down as the year my boys actually wore costumes that people knew what they were. No explaining at each door - I'm Linus or Earl from My Name is Earl, or A Pirate, but I'm not actually wearing any of my pirate gear.

This was the year I caved.