Creation of a Costume: part 1

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This year my 4 year old, Aden, finally gets it. Gets what’s supposed to happen at Halloween that is. And the thing that is exciting him the most is not the gobs of candy (that will haunt Mommy until Christmas treats start rolling in) but the act of dressing up. The quintessential ritual of the holiday itself is driving him insane with anticipation.

His excitement has brought back a few memories of Halloween’s-gone-by of my own. Growing up we didn’t have a lot and so my Mom made all of my costumes. To be honest I can’t remember ever buying a pre-made one. We sat down and brainstormed the other night about all of the disguises she’s made me over the years; cowgirl, clown, pirate, bat, genie in a bottle, Olympic gymnast. But my favorite, or at least the one with the most vivid memories, was the year I was a Domino.

That’s me and not a fancy app from Instagram…it’s the real deal filter from 1981.

I was 6 years old and in 1st Grade. Back when you could celebrate Halloween at school we had a party and a costume parade and contest. We wore our costumes all day long, if able to, and in the afternoon we all marched down to the auditorium to see who had won. Well, I won for the whole 1st Grade class and so after I picked up my ribbon they asked all the winners to sit down on the stage until the ceremony was done. To my horror, I couldn’t sit down! As you can see from the picture above, a box with some arm and head holes does not bend well and so when I tried to sit, my legs got stuck inside the box while my head sank in and my arms shot straight up. I do believe that my teacher had to help me up and off the stage but that part of my memory is vague as embarrassment flooded my body. Anyway, the costume was homemade easy and memorable.

Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about? Something memorable.

Aden wants to be Bumblebee the Transformer this year. I didn’t even give “homemade” a thought due to the complexity of the character itself until my Mom (that crafty costumer) planted the seed in my brain. So how are we going to go from this:

Raw materials

To some semblance of this!

Crazy DIY dream!

You’ll have to check back this month to see the progress. It could be a magnificent masterpiece or a colossal flop. But it is sure to be memorable!

What are some of your homemade costume memories?

3 COMMENTS

  1. 2 years ago a friend of mine got married 2 days before Halloween. That’s right it was a costume wedding! I made myself a Japanese Geisha Girl. I made the robe with beautiful fabric. Had my hairdresser color my hair Black with Spray Hair color and stuck painted chopsticks in my hair. I wore socks with flip flops. By the way the Justice of the Peace that performed the ceremony was Freddie Kruger!!!

  2. Yay! You can do it! Get this, I was a die (dice?) one year!! A cardboard box covered in white contact paper with dots, of course. My arms were on the inside, though, I had a hatch door. Funny, sounds similar, I definitely couldn’t sit.

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