Halloween: Be Creative and Resourceful!
It’s that time of year again, where the kids are planning their costumes and already making requests to have friends accompany us on our Trick or Treating adventures. I have developed a love/hate relationship with this holiday that is so beloved by the kids.
When our oldest son Jacob was one, my husband came home from work on Halloween night to proclaim that he was ready to partake in the festivities and bring Jake around the neighborhood to visit and enjoy his first foray into Trick or Treating. Secretly, I was horrified that my baby, who was still breast-feeding and just precariously walking, would be exposed to the Halloween horrors of candy. “Where’s his costume?” he said.
I replied that he didn’t have one and perhaps we might want to wait until next year for his First Halloween. “No problem, I’ll make one,” says my resourceful husband. And he did. Out of a simple roll of toilet paper, Todd wrapped Jake up like a Mummy and off they went. It was quite a sight, a toddling baby with the mummy wrap coming off in certain sections and waving in the night winds with the autumn leaves swirling around. Precious memories!
Fast forward to Jake’s grade one Halloween, where this year, there was little time for sewing costumes and I was back at work and busy with 3 boys under six. It was arranged, Jake would be a Dog wearing a store-bought costume that he had worn the two previous years. (It still fit, was warm and furry and since October is often cold, I thought it was perfect.) Until the week before Halloween, the teacher was showing me some of the kids’ art pictures. The topic was Halloween and the paper was divided in two sections. On one side, they drew a picture of WHAT I WANT TO BE and on the other side, WHAT I AM GOING TO BE. Many of the kids had the same picture on both sides except for a few. Jake had that he wanted to be a Pokeman and on the other side that He was going to be a dog and in big letters the word AGAIN.
After that, I really got into Halloween and organized pumpkin carving parties and sewed costumes for our family of five. We even won a few costume contests along the way!
Now, I don’t sew any more, the costumes are not as elaborate and the kids put together their own costumes. They are resourceful like my husband. We use what we have around the house and the Halloween costumes are creative and usually hilarious. The evening is always fun with lots of friends in tow. The kids think it’s great that we don’t establish a curfew before we go out on Halloween. It’s the kids’ agenda and we stay out with them as late as they want. Funny,with the chilly night air and the exhaustion of the walking, the kids are always done by 9 o’clock. Finally, we are home by the fire, taking inventory of our candy take.
Halloween is on Saturday this year. Love it or Hate It? How will you spend the day?
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