by Mamma G
I don’t know why most of us Mommys do it, but we pretend June Cleaver is a realistic role model. “To be a good Mommy, I gotta have at least a little June Cleaver in me!” is the inner voice so many of us guilt trip over.
I can’t say I’m innocent. Look at this picture of my daughter so many Halloween moons ago. Yes, that’s a homemade costume. I bent coat hangers to make the wing frames. I sewed the dress from scratch. Glued on all the tiny beads. How many hours did it take? Probably about twenty or thirty. At a paltry five bucks an hour, that makes this a $120-$170 fairy suit. Not counting the actual $30-40 bucks I spent on materials.
Yikes!
There’re are a whole lot cheaper ways to dress your kid for Halloween! Don’t feel guilty about buying something ready made.
If you want some of the fun of a home made costume, do something simple. Even if I had purchased just the wings and still made the dress I could have saved myself time, money and stress.
In my experience, children-especially tiny ones-don’t care nearly as much about what they wear for Halloween as their parents do. You can still have the joy of piecing together a costume with your child by buying a few separate components and adding a few creative twists, like tail feathers. But take it from me, obsessing over a fancy costume isn’t worth the trouble. Of all the extra work I did as a parent, making costumes was one of the more worthless efforts.
The best thing you can do for your child is to spend friendly, fun time with them. A costume doesn’t have to be any fancier than a paper sack in order to accomplish that. Time to put June Cleaver back in the time machine. Besides, how often do kids end up wearing their coats for trick-or-treating? Just what a stressed out June wanna-be needs, the guilt of having to cover up that darling costume with a worn out overcoat!
Are homemade Halloween costumes really worth all the time and money?
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Speaking from hard-won experience, often they’re not. One year I bent coat hangers into wing frames, sewed a dress from scratch, and glued on tiny beads, twenty or thirty hours of work that, at a few dollars an hour, made for a startlingly expensive fairy suit on top of the materials. Of all the extra effort I put in as a parent, making elaborate costumes was one of the more worthless ones. So please don’t feel guilty about buying something ready-made.
How can I save money and stress on my child’s Halloween costume?
Keep it simple and mix store-bought with a little homemade fun. You can buy just a few separate components, like a pair of wings, and add a couple of creative twists such as tail feathers. Even buying the wings and making only the dress would have saved me time, money, and a lot of stress. You still get the joy of piecing something together with your child, without the marathon of sewing every last detail yourself.
Do kids actually care how fancy their Halloween costume is?
Honestly, not nearly as much as we parents do, especially the little ones. In my experience the fancy details matter far more to the grown-up than to the child. The best thing you can give your child isn’t an elaborate outfit, it’s friendly, fun time together, and a costume no fancier than a paper sack can accomplish that just fine. Besides, half the time they end up covering it with a coat for trick-or-treating anyway.
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