The last Halloween costumes I'll ever make...(until next year)

I've always bought or borrowed my boys Halloween costumes. I have no problem with that, but I do want them to experience making their own. I have good memories of putting things together for Halloween, whether it was cutting a sheet to make a ghost, or dressing up in my mom's old dresses as a gypsy or Annie Oakley.

My plan this year was to help my boys make their own costumes. And then Soren decided to be a Transformer - and I immediately surrendered and went to Walmart. No way was I going to puzzle out a homemade Bumblebee or Optimus Prime.

Then four days before Halloween, Soren changed his mind. He wanted to be a monster - and not just any monster, but a green one with four arms, claws and one big spike on his head. So four days before Halloween, I found myself at the fabric store.  I couldn't resist - I was so excited that he had thought up his own costume.

First, I had him draw it out for me. I know my child and he has a specific vision in his head for everything and is easily disappointed when reality doesn't match up to his imagination. This is what he drew:

He could tell me all the little details - how many claws, what shade of green, how many spikes, fuzzy belly, no spots or tail etc...

Next I took him and Lucas to Joann Fabric and let them pick their own fabric. Somehow, we ended up getting fabric for Lucas, too. He wanted to be Mike Krzyzewski from Monsters Inc. (And that is where everything started going down hill. If only I had recognized the signs of a certain two-year-old only wanting something because his brother was getting it, not because he cared to be a monster. I could have saved myself a lot of time).


For the next couple days, I sewed like a mad woman. I neglected my house and put on a lot of Monsters Inc. and Despicable Me for the boys.

And finally, the day before Halloween, everything was wrapping up. There was just one little problem - neither one of them would wear their costumes!

To have spent hours and energy and more money than I should have on fabric, only to find my work unappreciated, was slightly devastating. Okay, majorly depressing. I quit sewing and vegged until a few hours before trick or treating the next day. By that time, I'd come to terms with the situation. If they wouldn't wear my costumes, they could wear one of their old ones. But I was not spending a single dime on anything new.

Then to my surprise, Soren put on his costume...AND LOVED IT! I was relieved and happy not to have my efforts completely wasted, so I was okay with Lucas running away from his costume whenever we tried to sneak it on him.

My husband is awesome. He held the sneaky kid down and wiggled him into that Mike Kryzewski despite kicking and tears - just so I could see what it looked like on him. Then we let Lucas change into whatever old costume he wanted. He chose Buzz Lightyear and looked pretty darn cute.

We headed out around 5 p.m. to hit as many indoor places as we could with our nasty, Idaho weather freezing it up outside. Then we finished up at our neighborhoods trunk-or-treat. Somehow, I ended up carrying both boys pumpkins - "Its too heavy. My arms hurt," said Soren.


We walked the block as quick as we could, but Lucas dragged behind the whole time. His eyes were wide and he couldn't stop staring at all the different costumes and decorations. At one point, we turned around and saw that he had gone up to people on his own for candy. He had a bag of M&Ms in one hand and a lollipop in the other.

When went home with two pumpkins full of candy and hardly anything missing from our own candy bowl. Only one group of trick-or-treaters stopped by the whole night. My plan to only buy candy I don't like backfired, because now I'm stuck with it all.

But we had fun and made memories. Lesson learned - helping kids make costumes is all about letting them do more than me. We'll see how next year goes.