To Be or Not to Be...

Halloween is just around the corner. There are costume decisions to be made. What to be? What to be? What to be?

Seven year-old boys are in a tough spot when it comes to costumes. It is no longer acceptable to go as something cute, such as a super hero or police officer. Yes, those are what boys would call cute. Did you think I was talking Elmo? The gory costumes have started to come into play. Either that or something Star Wars related, which my son is not into at all.

Gore is not really our thing. You see, I am a scaredy cat. I absolutely hate horror movies. My imagination is way to vivid to sit through that and then ever sleep again. When I was a child, my father used to torment my sister and I into going into the local haunted house. Thank God she was even worse than I. We were escorted out by the workers yelling to hold off so we could pass (in tears). Fortunately or unfortunately, I seem to have passed the scaredy cat gene onto our children. They may have it even worse than I do. So, a scary, gory costume is not in the picture for B-at least not at seven. I’m sure he’ll succumb to peer pressure down the road on this, but for now, we’re safe.

So, B is going as his favorite thing-a Boston Red Sox player. Good choice I think. Since the boy owns a million and one sports jerseys, we already had that and the pants and the belt. So, all that was needed were the red socks. Done.

A wants to go as something cool this year. So, she’s decided to be a rock star. I asked my very non-girly girl if this meant she wanted to go as Hannah Montana. No was the answer. Of course we couldn’t go with the readily available costume. We’d have to make this up ourselves. Which, honestly, I didn’t mind because it reminded me of coming up with costumes when I was a kid. She started to get very detailed in her idea of what she wanted to wear. I had to curtail this a bit and informed her we couldn’t be that specific. So, I’ve been trying to go out and get clothing that makes her look like a rock star. I thought I’d be able to do this pretty inexpensively at a discount store like Target. Wrong. So far, I’ve spent a ton on her costume. A terribly tacky silver glitter belt at Target cost me $9. A black t-shirt with a purple cross type of sparkly thing all over the front cost $12. She has black leggings that we’ll pair with it. I still need to locate a jacket and the appropriate jewelry. The microphone was only $5 at the party store. Got a break there at least.

And last, but not least, we have my three year-old princess, R. She has an absolute obsession these days with the Disney princesses. So, naturally, she wanted to be one for Halloween. Her favorite princesses are Cinderella, or Rella as we refer to her, and Belle. For some reason, she chose Belle. This was perfect because A was Belle when she was three and we have the costume in that size and everything already. But, R, being R, has not wanted to actually get into the costume. Last year, she was the cutest little butterfly. She refused to wear it to trick or treat. Not even for a second. No way, no how. So, I started prepping her early this year. In order to go to your ballet class Halloween party, you have to be in costume. For your sing and party at preschool, you have to wear your costume. To get candy and go to the neighbor’s Halloween party, you have to wear your costume. And so it goes.

Last night, we told her she needed to try it so we could make sure it fits. I’ve been trying to get her to do this for a month now. Nope. She didn’t want to. My husband spent 45 minutes trying to work through this with her. There were tears. The facts were presented. Costume=Candy. We waited. She decided Belle was not the way to go. I thought it was going to be because the dress was too itchy. No, she does not like yellow. In her defense, this is a true statement. I tried to bite my tongue, but did let it slip that she did indeed know that the dress was yellow before we started all of this. So, a last minute switch was made and she is going as Ariel. She has a purple, blue and green dress, which met her standards.

I know we’re going to have issues on Thursday when she needs to wear it for the first time. Uggh. Is it even worth the fight? Last year, I said no and she went in jeans and a Halloween t-shirt. How many years can that be acceptable? I think you either participate in the holiday or you don’t get to reap the rewards. That is me being difficult. I know she’s just turned three, but here is the crux of where R and I butt heads. She will never take the simple route. The easy path. The path of least resistance. Just put on the costume! For the love of God, this is supposed to be fun.

Why do I care so much? Why can’t I just let it go? Because I tried that last year and here we are again stuck in the same spot. And to be honest, I let my mommy imagination run wild with this stuff. If she can’t cooperate now and bend a little to wear some type of costume (and I gave her the choice of anything), than how will she cooperate with us when she is a teenager and we tell her she can’t do something important like date that band playing druggy guy? I know it’s a big leap. But remember that big imagination I told you about earlier? It’s scary enough. That’s why I don’t need the horror flicks. I can torment myself enough.