09/20/2016
So I love Halloween, second to Christmas it's my absolute favorite time of year. I LOVE the costumes and dressed up myself until I had kids and wound up spending so much time and energy on their costumes. I actually learned to sew so that I could make my childrens' Halloween costumes beccause when I was growing up, my mom made me these amazing, handmade costumes that always made me feel special. Wendy the Good Little Witch, Peter Pan, Princess Leia, Blueberry Muffin (complete with horrifyingly skinned knees thanks to a bike accident), you name it, my mom made it happen. And though I can remember secretly admiring my friends' weird plastic store bought costumes and moderately suffocating masks, being able to come up with anything and have my mom help me make it a reality was awesome. And so, of course, I wanted to do that for my kids.
And so I learned to sew. Skip the part where something in my brain snapped and I loved to sew so much I couldn't stop sewing and so it became more of a lifestyle... Suffice it to say, I can sew. And I'm crafty. And I have pretty good ideas. And so I can cook up almost anything my kids want for Halloween and feel good about it. Which is pretty easy for Ada, who though she has some wacky ideas (anyone remember the Rainbow Sparkle Unicorn Fairy Princess with Butterfly Wings from last year?) but can easily be swayed with a few pieces of glittery fabric. But, Quinn, whew, Quinn, he's a whole other story. He was a pirate for three consecutive years, I believe. And each time, I dutifully made him a new and improved pirate costume. And then he wanted to be a cowboy, so I figured out how to make him chaps and a fringed vest. And last year, he wanted to incorporate our dog Garcia, so I made Cia a lion's mane and Quinn a lion tamer costume.
But this year, he's been undecided. His gut feeling was a baseball player. Which I was having a hard time talking myself into making a costume for because in this year alone he has played for 3 separate baseball teams with 4 total uniforms. And then we got a catalogue. A catalogue that I love, cause I enjoy going through it and to get ideas for children's clothing. And in this catalogue, he found a Stormtrooper Costume that he just loved. (Although he calls it a "Clone Costume", which tells me I clearly don't understand the Clone Wars show cause I had no idea they were Storm Troopers). And so I started thinking about how I could make a Storm Trooper Costume. "A white jumpsuit type outfit with embellishments? Would it make more sense to draw them on because of the complexity? What about the mask? The mask would have to be purchased, right? Could I make it out of paper mache or something? I should check Pinterest." I've been thinking through all the details in the last week or so.
Flash forward to tonight when we ran into Walmart to get Iron Out to wash out his baseball pants. We had to walk right past the Halloween aisle and Quinn begged to look for a Clone costume. And there it is, a size too big, all made out of cheap polyester, mask included. And he LOVES it. Loves it so much he BEGS for it. And the kid's getting smart, he didn't throw a fit or act out or yell or any of that, just politely begged for this hideous Storm Trooper Costume. And it was $15. I've already bought the fabric to make Ada's costume and I can tell you, the fabric alone was a lot more than $15. So I started to waffle. And then I called his dad (Why? I don't know. Cause clearly I'm the one who is insane about handmade costumes. And he's cool with it. Of course, he is. Did he learn to sew so he could make Halloween costumes? Does he start polling for Halloween costume ideas in July?). And so, we came home with the $15 Storm Trooper costume. Thankfully, it was a bit too long (since they didn't have it in his actual size) so I did get to trim a little off the arms and legs and stitch them up, but that's it. That's my whole participation in "making" this costume. 2016, the Year of the store-bought Storm Trooper. I'm suddenly finding myself at a loss for words...