Some holidays strike fear into the heart of time-pressed parents.
And when you come right down to it, all parents are time-pressed parents.
For some, the holiday of fear is Thanksgiving, when moms are expected to cook a turkey and all of the fixings while the kids and dads watch football. Some dads break out in a cold sweat when they think about tromping through a field to find the perfect Christmas tree.
But for many, the Halloween is the holiday o' fear _ and not just the tricks-and-treats kind. No, the horror begins when it's noon on Oct. 31 and your kid doesn't have a costume. It's enough to drive any parent into the bag of "fun size" candy bars that were intended for the small monsters who will visit.
Of course, you could just go out and buy something for your kids to wear. It feels like cheating, somehow, to let the Mart du Wal solve your problem for you. Besides, those store-bought costumes can get expensive, especially if they're only going to be used once.
When any parenting challenge strikes, the best course of action is to ask everyone around you for advice. While you may not use those words of wisdom, it is always nice to have another parent's perspective.
On that note, in order to come up with some easy and cheap solutions to the continual costume conundrum, I took a highly informal poll of the moms I know.
Before you panic, rest assured that I don't know any Martha Stewart moms who can easily whip up dinner for 12 (with hors d'oeuvres) while simultaneously crocheting a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle get-up for their youngest kid. Most of us are happy to get out of the house without jelly on our shirts.
The most common idea involved a sheet and a pair of scissors. Anyone who has ever watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" knows what comes next.
Heidi Dugan thinks that recycling is a great approach on Oct. 31.
"It's an absolutely total cop-out to just dress kids in their dance/sports/scouts uniform for Halloween," she says. "But it's not cheating to put the same outfit on a sibling. Let the daughter be the football player and the son be the ballerina prima donna."
In keeping with that idea, when mom or dad wears their "work clothes," it means they're off to the office. But when a kid wears them, well, it's just a cute and nifty costume.
Conveniently, just as I was scouring the minds of moms around me for ideas, Real Simple magazine's Family edition hit my mailbox. Some of its costumes require a little more effort but do pay off in terms of sheer amusement value.
A few of the suggestions are: "A green clown wig + a schoolgirl outfit = Broccoli Spears; A pig nose + blanket = Pig in a Blanket; A clear umbrella (preferably dome-shaped) + party streamers or metallic ribbons = Jellyfish."
Some moms are better with a needle and scissors than others. Still, this next idea from Stephanie Richter doesn't require much in the way of sewing skill.
"Take a piece of brown fabric that reaches shoulder height on your kid. Double it and sew down sides. Cut out a neck hole. Buy a small grapevine wreath and a piece of green felt. Cut out oval-type shapes and glue to grapevine wreath. You are a tree," Richter says. "If you are ambitious, you can cut out apple shapes of red felt and slap them on."
Richter's second suggestion is to dress up like Peter Pan, a costume that has the bonus of using recycled bits from Halloweens past.
"I actually made a (Peter Pan) hat, so it isn't simple," she says. "But I can't sew, so it really is. Find a green shirt and green pants. If you have ambition, you can buy brown felt material (or use leftover tree, like I did) sew it into two sheath thingies, and slide on each of the child's legs to make boots. Buy a bow and arrow from the dollar store. Plus, this can be used again next year and you can say you are Robin Hood."
You can always look online for inspiration. Two helpful sites are http://fun.familyeducation.com/halloween-costume/halloween/33351.html, which includes recipes for Static Cling Costume, and http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/halloweentheme/a/091399.htm, which gives you directions for the classic "Cereal Killer" costume.
Still, you can find plenty of ideas even if you don't have the time to leap online. One of the easiest was suggested by Lee O'Neil. Dress your kid in black sweats, she says, then dip two tires in yellow paint. Roll the tires across the kid and, bingo, he's a speed bump.
"Pitifully lazy," she says. "But I really stink at Halloween."
Print this story
E-mail this story
