Halloween Haze

Friendly Friend: Hey! You're creative! What are your kids being for Halloween this year?!? I bet it's amazing! Don't you always make their costumes?

Me: Uh, yes. I, uh, usually do. But--

Friendly Friend: Oh yeah! I remember the pictures-- you even make them for your dogs right?

Me: Well, yes, I -- but we only have one dog now--

Friendly Friend: I can't wait to see what you're doing this year! I bet they're amazing and totally original! Didn't you make Pascal last year for your son?  And your daughter was Rapunzel?

Me:  Well the Rapunzel costume she got for Christmas the year before but I did make the Pascal one.

Friendly Friend: Oh! And I remember you making Princess Leia for your little dog. What's his name?

Me: Rizzo. It's a girl. Yeah, those brown buns were fun to make.

Friendly Friend: Well, gotta go, but I can't wait to see what you post this year! Woot!

Awesome.

Cuz this year Mommy went back to work full time and doesn't have time to pump out anything except orders for extra-large teas.  Seriously.

This is the first year both my kids will have store-bought costumes.  I think I'd be more sad about it were it not for the exhaustion.  And the tiny bit of glee that I don't have to be up for 48 hours straight on October 29th sewing my brains out.

It was much more limiting, costume searching, this year. Usually I have them pick a favourite book or movie or idea or whatever, and we figure out how to make that happen using all available methods of adhesion and random bits and bobbles.  Like, this year I was hoping my kids would want to be Minions from Despicable Me, and we could make overalls and yellow foam heads and it would be awesome because then Hubster could be Gru and I could be Vector (or whatever) and have all sorts of fun.

And then I realized that it was October 4th and I'm working full-time and holy schnikes, who has time for crafting meticulous costumes when they work.

It was that thought that made me realize two things: 1) parents who work buy costumes and 2) parents who don't work make 'em.

THEN, suddenly, I fully appreciated Paris Hilton, who up until her TV show, had never made a trip to Walmart, let alone done a load of laundry; she's too rich to know how to do those things. Too rich to know how to do that stuff-- it's for the 'masses' to have to do.

Sigh.

Here's to working and buying homemade costumes from parents who don't work.

Here's to hoping our kids are so fabulously wealthy that they are utterly useless.

Here's to Halloween, my favourite holiday full of unnecessary decorating that stays up for a total of 6 weeks (dependant on which side of October you  put them up or take them down), to make room for Christmas decorating, which stays up for another total of 6 weeks.

Let the merriment begin!