With 3 small children, getting anything done can be a challenge so I usually try not to take on extra, non-essential tasks however, Halloween is coming up. I love Halloween, especially the dressing up part. I love pretending to be something or someone else for a while (one of the things I love about being a dancer and performing) and also love dressing up my children.
I’m a little particular when it comes to costumes, though. I don’t like my children to be “trendy” things and especially stay away from things that are too mature for them and try to pick things (or guide them to pick things) that are relevant to the time in their lives. I have also committed myself to carrying on the tradition my own mom started: mommy-made costumes. I have never bought a Halloween costume for my children and I don’t ever plan to. While I loved the true-to-life, fluff-stuffed extravaganzas my mom made us growing up, I’m not nearly as talented as she and so my children’s costumes tend to be more simple and abstract. The stress involved in making their costumes can be a bit overwhelming sometimes (like last year when I was in my “going to pass out any second” pregnant phase) but in the end I have always been overjoyed with the results and am happy I made the effort. And to ease the stress, I recycle costumes whenever possible between children and years.
Honeybun’s first Halloween my mom helped me with her costume (and mine). She was a bumble bee and I was a flower.
Her 2nd Halloween I made her a cow costume since she was just beginning to talk and was only saying “Mom-mom”, “DAAd” and “mooo” so it was an easy choice.
Honeybun’s 3rd Halloween and Sugarplum’s 1st, my mom sent us a bunny costume she had made for my older sister and that I (along with all my younger cousins) also wore. I didn’t think a bunny and a bee went together plus the bee costume was too big for Sugarplum so I made her a flower costume.
The next Halloween we were on a Holy Land cruise with my family and I recycled costumes. Sugarplum wore the Cow and I made a tutu for Honeybun which she wore with the same bunny costume (my mom insisted the year before that it would fit her but was WAY too big) and she was a “funny dancing bunny” after a statue near our home in Dublin that she was scared of at the time.
Last year (our first Halloween back in Florida) Honeybun wore the tutu again and was a ballerina princess and Sugarplum was a snail since I thought it was too cute that she called it an “escargot” (which she learned from Honeybun’s time at the French School in Dublin).
This year we’re going with a bug theme. Honeybun has been desperate to be a butterfly (she really wanted to wear a costume I had worn but I was almost 3 years older so it won’t fit her just yet) so I convinced Sugarplum she should be a ladybug and I’m making Doodle a spider as his wiggling will make the most perfect spider! My little bug clan is in the works right now but hopefully I’ll get enough mommy-alone time to get them all done in time! (I actually need Sugarplum and Doodle’s for a costume party this week, yikes! Better get making!)
