Step-By-Step EASY-PEASY Halloween Costume Guide!
For all Trick-or-=Treating fun, be sure to check out our
14 Ghoulishly Great Places to go Trick-or-Treating,
plus our full Trick-Or-Treating Neighborhood Calendar!
Halloween's coming and that means it's costume time! EEEEEK! Why does it seem to always come up so much faster than last year??
Don’t worry, I’m here to help!
Before you start to panic, I've got a Halloween Costume guide just for you, complete with just 10 easy steps on how all the cool, calm, collected moms - and dads! - do it.
Below is my personal and oh-so-helpful step-by-step guide on how I get my kiddo’s
ready for Halloween fun:
STEP 1: Choose Your Costumes Early
Have your child choose what he or she will be during the summer season. This will give you plenty of time to search for great deals and start on that awesome handcrafted, hand-sewn, hand-numbing project you’ve been hoping to spend hours upon weeks upon months on! After all, what parent doesn't have loads of free time just waiting to be used up?
STEP 2: Have Child Change His Mind
Have your child change his or her mind on who/what they want to be at least 95 times, up to the last minute. It’s a ton of fun when they insist to no end that they NEED to be Superman, only to find out on Halloween that what he really meant was he wanted to be a monkey that was also Superman. How did you not know???
STEP 3: Fall Down the Rabbit Hole Of Craft Supplies
Get your coupons ready and head to the craft supply store to oh-so-wisely make your kiddo’s costume for so much cheaper than store-bought. Return to craft store multiple times through the season to get additional materials for re-do’s and forgotten necessities. Proceed to spend about 5 times as originally planned.
STEP 4: Some Ideas Are Best Left Unsaid
Try to pair your kiddo’s up in darling matching sibling costumes. Yes, they may all have competing interests, but here’s where your super mom creativity comes in. Surely there are ways to match up Captain America, a tiger, Shimmer and Shine Genie, and a ladybug. A new-age Wizard of Oz, perhaps? After dramatic cries ensue, no matter your AWESOME suggestion on how absolutely adorable it would be to go as the family of The Incredibles, nix the whole idea and crawl into a hole until tears have stopped.
STEP 5: Have a Blast With Last Minute Requests
Stay up until the wee hours of the night figuring out all the requested accessories for the costumes. It turns out your princess has decided she wants to wear a crown made entirely of glitter (take this time to remind yourself how much you LOVE how glitter sticks to EVERYTHING in your house – yay!) and your superhero needs a shield, and all you have left from your craft supply raid are 3 popsicle sticks, 5 pipe cleaners, & a chocolate bar (hint: everything is better when you start with chocolate).
STEP 6: The Costume Stand-Off
When it’s time for your kiddo’s to get into their costumes you’ve worked so hard on and know they will look so precious and so cute and down-right huggable, cue toddler meltdown. The costume that was SO. MUCH. FUN to play in two days ago is now Too itchy! Too tight! Too hot! Too cold! Smells funny! Feels weird! And it MUST. COME. OFF.
STEP 7: Know When To Throw In The Towel
Discover when you put your little pumpkin into his carefully crafted costume, somehow he has sprouted 2 inches and 2 pounds since last week and it no longer fits (surely it can't possibly be my sewing skills). Ensue panic as you try to squeeze him in regardless, determined that it will fit after all. Realize after struggling with a ridiculous amount of wiggly, squiggly resistance from your wee one (who has somehow achieved Hulk-like abilities), it's time to throw on a pumpkin onsie and call it good.
STEP 8: Let It Go, Elsa
As you head out the door to your favorite Halloween party or Trick-or-Treat fest, remind yourself that you will tell the other parents that yes, Johnny is a ninja in his sweatpants and hoodie, and isn’t Suzy adorable as Princess Elsa (wearing her Frozen pajama set)? And, of course, these bags under my eyes are part of my Zombie get-up! Of course!
STEP 9: The Imperative Candy Search
The fun is done! After kiddo’s fall asleep in a candy-induced coma, comb through their goodie bags, looking for anything deemed dangerous or not safe for them to eat. Make sure to take out any full-size candy bars, Swedish fish packets, Skittles, and Reeses Pieces, and leave behind all Smarties. After all, you are doing what’s best for them.
STEP 10: Reap Your Rewards
Enjoy some chocolate, some sugar and some candy amid your glittery couch and your table full of fabric strips and popsicle sticks, and swipe through all the pics on your phone, sighing and thinking, “Man, my kids are the cutest, sweetest kids ever! This was so much fun! Can’t wait until next year!”
Okay, okay, so maybe my guide isn't exactly helpful...at all...but I hope it at least brings a smile during the last week of Halloween madness, er, I mean Halloween fun!
Be sure to check out our Fall Festivities Guide for genuine fall fun!