August 22, 2008

Halloween Costumes


Halloween is over two months away but I have learned from experience that unless you buy your costumes early, your children will have to choose between being a brown M&M or a hippie.

Because I live by the mantra "Only the Best for My Children," I take them shopping for Halloween costumes in mid-August, when the thrift stores in my area have the best selection. Usually there are a wide variety of costumes of choose from at this time of year, but this time around, the options were downright scary: the "Halloween" rack was filled with an assortment of ratty pumpkin sweatshirts, a princess dress made out of what appeared to be a plastic tablecloth, and several Kung-Fu warrior ensembles that I recognized from last year's Halloween line at the Dollar Store. Fortunately, in addition to these undesirables, there were also three furry animals that were roughly the same size as my three children.

"But I want to be a snake!" yelped Cortlen when I took the animals off their hangers.
I looked around the store. "Hmmm... I don't see a snake costume," I told him. "Your choices are panda, koala, and... (# 3 required some interpretation)...baboon."
"But none of those animals are poisonous," he whined.
"That's true," I told him, "Except for the koala."
Cortlen looked at me skeptically. As I squeezed my son into the costume which turned out to be least two sizes too small, I told him about the rare breed of flesh-eating koalas that live in Southern Australia.
"Perfect!" I said. "All you need now are some vampire fangs."

Having pacified Cortlen, I turned to Camber, who was holding the baboon costume in the death grip.
"I love this one," she told me. She continued to love the costume until her Dad came home from work and asked to see her in it.
"Mom's making me be a monkey with a red bottom for Halloween!" she cried.
There's $3.50 down the drain.

That left Kellen with the Panda costume. He wasn't too wild about his outfit either, until we went to Panda Express for lunch and he recognized the resemblance between his costume and the fast food restaurant's mascot. Now when anyone asks him what he is going to be for Halloween, he simply answers "Orange Chicken."

Overall, my husband was very impressed with my Halloween purchases.
"I hope you washed those things," he said.
It took him a few minutes to get into the Halloween spirit. Eventually, though, he came around.
"What am I going to be for Halloween?" he asked jokingly.
My husband stopped smiling when I pulled out a pair of skintight khaki short-shorts and a matching button-up shirt from the thrift store shopping bag.
"A zookeeper!" I answered.

17 comments

Jen said...

Can't wait to see pictures! I still need to find something to dress mine up as!

Just Jaime! said...

LOVE the picture, love your writing style, love your blog!

-Jaime

Anonymous said...

LOL at the zoo keeper! Isn't that what he is on a regular basis? ;)

Jessica said...

Hi! I too am fretting over Halloween costumes. I've even resorted to a poll on my blog, but then Jen and others have emailed me so many other great ideas, I may not do those at all! Your bunch is adorable!

You have the cutest/funniest blog header I've ever seen! = )

Jessica

Unknown said...

oh my gosh! this made my ENTIRE week!!!! kellen as orange chicken....adorable!

Erica Kain said...

Hilarious that you're writing about this, as I am currently OBSESSED with finding two mermaid costumes ASAP. I thought about putting my #2 daughter in #1's old costume, but that somehow seems like bad Halloween juju. And it's not as appropriate for her. She's just not as much of a lobster as her sister was. More of a merbaby, see?

I hadn't thought about the thrift store route. Awesome idea, hitting it in August.

Melanie said...

I wonder if that panda costume comes in my size...that would be amazing!!!

Megan W said...

I am one of those people who never laughs out loud. Except when reading your blog - it's one of the highlights of my day!

Anonymous said...

that's hilarious. Just found your site; hope to return often. You are braver than I am... my kids are SO fickle about what they want to be for Halloween. They start discussing it in the Spring and change their minds a dozen times before October! I just know that if I run out and get one the Robin Hood costume he swears he wants, on October 30th he'll say, "But Mom, I really wanted to be Darth Vader!"

Anonymous said...

Halloween? Are you SERIOUS??? School started last Wednesday and I still haven't gotten my boys their new school shoes! LOL

They are hilarious! :)

Janee said...

Those costumes are awesome!

Jana said...

It appears that I have ruined Cortlen's life by making him be a poisonous koala instead of a spitting cobra for Halloween. If he still has his mind set on being a serpent when October rolls around, I may have to suck up the $3.50 I paid for the koala costume and make him a snake outfit. Or, rather, beg my next door neighbor, who is an amazing seamstress, to make him a snake costume.

Rosemary said...

OMG so I saw you left a comment on my blog and I swear I felt like Oprah or some huge celebrity was commenting on MY blog. I flippin love you. I have the entire city of Mesa, AZ reading your awesome stories. You need to seriously consider writing a book. Can't wait until tomorrow when I get to read another post (that is if you decide to post one tomorrow). Have a great day!

Nikki said...

Smiles!! And hey - I must say you absolutely made my night when I saw your post on my blog!

It may sound a bit stalkerish ( is that a word?), but I felt like a fan who just got a signature! :)

I think you are awesome. And hey - any new updates on how you and the baby are doing? Devoted readers like myself are dyin' to know...

(ps. I could only laugh out loud about your trip down South, being a GA girl myself, with relatives in all the Carolinas)

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh - I love you and don't even know you! Zoo keeper costume - too funny. My husband keeps asking what I am laughing at. He better be careful. He might end up being a zoo keeper too!

Joy said...

That was so funny. I couldn't stop laughing.

Bonnie said...

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