Costumes of Old and New

When I was a kid, there was no extra money in the budget for me and my three other sisters and brother to go to the store and buy costumes for Halloween. I used to be a little jealous of my friends who got to wear those silly plastic masks and shapeless getups that were sold back in the day. The costume business was definitely not what it is today. No, we were relegated to our imaginations and anything we could find or design at home. Now that I have kids of my own, I don’t think that was such a bad thing.

Instead of relying on their own creativity and resourcefulness, my kids rely on going to the store and picking something off the shelf. Thank goodness for Grandma. She’s been kind enough to have bought my kids’ costumes almost every year since they were little. Those darn costumes are expensive.

This year my daughter is going as a “dark angel,” with big black feathery wings, and a little bit of punk styling mixed in. She’s setting the look off with skulls and black combat boots. Where in the world did she get the idea for this? I’m not sure I want to know.

My son didn’t know what he wanted to be, just something scary he said. He went to the store with his Dad and came back with an army costume complete with camouflage shirt, pants and helmet. For the scary part he (I should say Grandma) bought a scary skull mask with scraggly hair and sharp teeth. So I guess he’s going as some kind of zombie soldier. I give the mask about two minutes of wear before it ends up in his trick-or-treat bag.

I guess I should be happy that my daughter’s costume is sort of creative. These days I think the costumes being sold for girls and women are really questionable. I’m not just saying that because I’m a mom either. I think Miranda in the movie “Sex and the City” summed it up well when she said the only costume choices for women these days are sexy kitten or witch. It seems all the more feminine costumes border on the risqué even the ones for little girls.

I probably sound like an old fuddy-duddy. I guess we shouldn’t take it all so seriously. It’s the one day when we all can pretend to be something or someone other than ourselves. Just don’t get me started on the kids that go trick-or-treating with no costume on at all. They make no effort to get in the spirit and want all the rewards of the holiday. For those trick-or-treaters I reserve the right to give them a less desirable treat…..the dreaded apple. Those are in plentiful supply this year. Happy Halloween everybody!