halloween

Growing up, mid-September always marked the time where we began to plan out our Halloween costumes. We didn't have money, and my mom's rule was that we either borrow it from someone who wasn't going to be using it, or we make our own costume out of what we could find at the house. This wasn't just frugal, it forced us to be creative. I remember in the fifth grade I went as Marvin the Martian with a green skirt and red turtleneck, my face painted black with big white circles around my eyes, red tights and white sneakers, white latex gloves (I was working with what I could find!) and a imaginative little hat made from the inside foam padding of a broken bike helmet that had been painted green and topped with an upside-down yellow construction paper brush. I had refused to go my sister's lazy route of borrowing the same extra witch costume from the neighbor, 5 years in a row.

Anyway, when I had Johnny I vowed (among the list of many things that I would change or not change about my upbringing) that I would teach my kids the meaning of creativity and imagination (and not spoil them) by making them work on original costumes for Halloween. His first year he was only 6 months old and we were flat broke. I was going to just stick him in a cute puppy-themed sleeper we already owned, but my mom couldn't resist the uber-cute baby costumes at the store and bought him a chunky monkey outfit that was adorable. His second Halloween I figured he was too young to understand any of it, so I bought him a little $10 soldier uniform off the internet and put my brother's dog tags around his neck. He was the cutest little Army man the world has ever seen!

The year he was 2 1/2 I took him to the store to look at the costumes and get an idea of what he thought might be fun. He was obviously still too young to get the concept of Halloween, but he did already have a box full of dress-up clothes and was excited when mommy offered him something new. Instead of him picking something generic that I could easily make at home, he picked Cookie Monster. Well, whatever. I just caved and bought it. It isn't like he was going to learn anything from me making it at home anyway. Last year, at age 3, Johnny decided he wanted to be "SUPER JOHNNY" for Halloween. We dressed him in a fedora and necktie with boxer briefs over his pants and put a cape on him that I had hand-sewn, made from old t-shirts. Finally! We were starting into the tradition of making the costumes ourselves. I didn't spend a single penny, though I wasn't (and am still not) opposed to buying supplies for his future costumes: I just don't like the idea of a complete costume out of a box. I especially detest the $45+ that they charge for some of these costumes! I digress...

This September rolled around and after we got into the swing of things with school, I decided to ask the kiddo what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween? He remembers trick-or-treating last year, so he was quite excited. What did he want to be? Well, Luigi of course!

Wait-- Luigi? Not Mario?

"But mom! Mario is already HERE!" -- Correct! We have our very own beloved Mario with us 24/7, so it does make sense that he wants to dress the part of Luigi to match. How could a mom believe otherwise? "You're so silly. You have to think, mommy!" Yes, think.

- Luigi hat

- Long sleeve kelly green shirt without logo or markings

- White gloves

- Blue overalls

- Brown shoes

- Mustache

So I got to work. I ordered the Luigi hat off of Amazon (complete with matching Mario hat, though Johnny knows nothing about that one quite yet!) and the gloves there as well. I know Amazon's prices fluctuate, but when I ordered them the hats were $6.50 as a set with free shipping and the gloves were $3.50 with free shipping. I had looked at making the hat on my own, but the supplies cost more than it did buying that set outright! 

Then, after checking every store in our town that sells children's clothing and eventually resorting to trolling the internet for something that could work, I finally came across WalMart's school uniform shop online. You can't buy school uniforms in stores, but you can order them on the website, so I ordered the shirt in a double pack, one in the shade of kelly green and the other a pretty blue that I'm sure he will wear at some point. Cost: $12 for 2. (I would have bought the other one in red so that he would have a Mario outfit all lined up and ready for him, but the only red they had was more of a scarlet...) 

So, add in one of the mustaches I found at Party City for 35 cents in their favors section, a pair of hand-me-down brown shoes someone gave us and a pair of jean overalls from Kid 2 Kid for $3.99, and we've got our costume! All-in-all, I spent less than $17 on the actual costume, which is cheaper than the ones they sell in the stores. (Plus, the ones in the store are flimsy quality things that fall apart after one day!) The best part is that he will have use for most of the components past just his dress-up time. 

I have to say, I lucked out this year. It doesn't get much easier than putting together a Luigi costume. And at least for the next few years, the creativity aspect is on me. Figuring out how to use what is at hand or make a costume with minimal extras and only buying parts and pieces of it will be a fun thing to watch Johnny learn how to do when he gets old enough. Since he couldn't do all of that this year, I did make him "earn" part of his costume. Because everything in our lives revolve around his potty training issues, it was only fitting that in order to get a Luigi hat, he had to show us that he could be a big boy! He earned it tonight, and so he was allowed to try on the entire outfit. 

I think it turned out well!