Last year, Baby’s Halloween costume came to me as a perfect, fully-formed idea.
She had just turned one, had just started walking, and her trick-or-treating experience was going to be limited to a late afternoon stroll around our neighborhood to visit neighbors who knew we’d be coming early. For these reasons, and more, spending $30+ on a Halloween costume seemed a foolish investment. I wanted to put something together with items she’d use again.
So I bought a pair of black leggings and a black, long-sleeve onesie. I took a headband and fastened purple pipe cleaners to the top as antennae. And then I splurged on the one item that she hasn’t used again: a pair of purple wings.
And she was a butterfly.
A pretty damn cute one, in fact. She got quite a few complements. And even M admitted afterwards that while he had doubted my plan all along, it really came together in the end. The brilliance was that she could wear the onesie and leggings all day long and put the wings on when we went outside.
It was such a success that as Halloween approaches this year, I want to go all DIY again. I want to make a tradition of doing it every year. Who needs a store bought Halloween costume when, with a little bit of creativity, you can make one!
But this year, I’m stumped. I cannot figure out what to do. I’ve done the Google searches for DIY toddler costumes, I’ve walked around Target and the craft store, in search of inspiration. But nothing seems right.
This year’s costume is not coming to me.
Because, basically, I am doing what I tend to do in situations like this. I realize I did something pretty well once and so I’m going crazy with the pressure, trying to top myself.
Join me, if you will, for a tour through the crazy inside my head:
Baby should be a cat. That would be cute and easy to make. Black leggings, onesie…
Wait a minute… That’s basically the same as last year’s costume except for ears and a tail instead of wings.
Well that’s lame.
Maybe she should be a ballerina. Then I can justify buying a tutu and leotard and tights for her ballet class, even though she doesn’t really need them yet.
But this is probably the last year that I will get to decide her costume. Next year, and every year following, she will have very strong opinions about her Halloween costume. She will certainly want to be a ballerina some day. And, when she does, I’ll be all “You were already a ballerina!” And she’ll say “No I wasn’t! I don’t remember that!” And she’ll have a good point and I’ll have to let her be a ballerina. And then I’ll feel bad that she had to do a repeat. Because the number of times you get to dress up and ask neighbors for candy is limited. You really need to make the most of it.
So if this is my last year to pick her costume, I need to make it good! Something she won’t necessarily pick later. Something not so girly…
Like a superhero! Supergirl! Yay girl power!
But she doesn’t know anything about Supergirl. I don’t know anything about Supergirl. (Ok I just Googled her, apparently she is Superman’s cousin. Who knew?)
We’ve never talked about Supergirl. Sure I can tell her that she is Supergirl for when people ask her what she is but she’ll be lost for the follow up questions.
Maybe she should just be a cat. She likes cats. She could be a brown cat instead of a black one. That and some face paint will make it different enough from last year, right?
Yeah. I know. Crazy.
So, yeah, I think she is going to be a cat. And I think she’s gonna love it. She really does like cats.
What are you all planning for Halloween?