I’ve always made halloween costumes for the kids, labouring at my sewing machine into the wee hours of the night long after they have fallen asleep. It’s usually a rush job to get everything done for the big day, but to me Halloween has always been about coming up with a unique costume idea and then making it come true to life. Last year the kids were ‘Queen of the Eagles’ and ‘Superhero Baby Puppy’ (their ideas). This year, however, we’ll be buying costumes for the first time.
Turns out that the year-of-buying-halloween-costumes was timed perfectly, because both kids decided they wanted to be vampires. I’ve never shopped for costumes before but I assumed vampire costumes are a dime a dozen. I heard that a particular store had some great costumes, so I went to investigate. Of course, there were no vampires to be had. I ended up finding an elaborate queen costume with velvet, satin, and lace, and a giant hoop at the bottom, topped with a velvet and jewel crown. I found a costume that would work for my son too – a skeleton with a ripped up shirt, pants, and boots. I’m guessing this one was meant to be some sort of zombie pirate.
I spent way too much money on the costumes, deciding i could probably convince the kids that they really wanted to be a queen and a zombie pirate. Then I moved on to my next errand. What should I find? Right at the front of the store, two perfectly black, decent quality vampire capes. So, I retraced my steps, returned the elaborate costumes, and went home with the capes.
I wasn’t quite sure what sort of reaction to expect out of the kids. After all, these were just plain capes – no embelishments, nothing fancy, nothing that really screams vampire, and certainly low-end compared to the costumes I had just returned. But the kids were immediately excited and put the capes on and suddenly, without me having to explain what to do, how to act, or what to say, they just fell into role play and immediately BECAME vampires. I quickly remembered that when you’re small, all you need is just a small spark of an idea, and you’ll transform that idea into exactly what you want it to be….without anyone telling you what to do.