Once there, we would comb through fabrics until we found just the right ones. Pink laces and silky satins to make the perfect princess dress, or the right color blue stretch cotton that would transform my sister into the beautiful Smurfette.
The hours my mother spent huddled over her sewing machine, turning ordinary materials into puffed sleeves and hooped skirts. It was pure magic.
This is a tradition I’ve tried very hard to pass down to my own child, but alas, no matter what, the boy seems to only want to be one thing. That one thing turns out to be anything wearing a sweatsuit.
It started out quite perfectly. At age zero, I toted him around in an adorable Superman outfit that I had created out of a sleeper set, and I fashioned a cape and superman stenciled bib over the top. It was genius and he was warmly content as I carried him around trick-or-treating (hey you have to start early).
The next year, coincidentally, Aydin wore an army sweatsuit with dog tags and went as a little soldier like his dad. That sweatsuit was the beginning and the end of my Halloween fantasies.
Finally, Aydin was old enough to decide his own Halloween costume. He wanted to be Dark Heart from the Carebear Movie, which may sound cool, but Dark Heart is really a mean kid who wears a red, you guessed it, sweatsuit. I was doomed. I then decided to jazz it up by making a big car costume to wear on top. I spent hours creating this carific masterpiece. In the end it lasted three minutes before the car was discarded and Aydin went happily on his way in his red sweats.
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| Aydin the little store-bought army guy |
For some reason I thought I’d be smart the next time around; we broke family tradition, which slightly broke my heart, and we bought a soldier costume. This was the year he almost froze to death and trick-or treating ended with a stop at Safeway to buy candy that I snuck into his pumpkin bucket.
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| My sweatsuit masterpiece Knuckles |
The next year I created what I think is hands down my best sweatsuit masterpiece. The boy wanted to be Knuckles from Sonic The Hedgehog, and I was stoked! This was something I could work with. Yay!
I made gloves, and cartoony hair, I stenciled and sewed to my heart's content, and the kid was happy. He loved it. However, we lived in Alaska. Trick-or-treating meant drive the car...get out...run to a house...run back to the car before you freeze...drive ten feet...and repeat. It sucked, but man, the costume rocked.
The next year, when asked what he wanted to be, he said, “A jail guy.” What is a jail guy, you may wonder..or maybe you don’t? Well, I wasn’t sure if a jail guy meant an orange jumpsuit or a police officer. Off we went to the fabric store. We came back with all the crap to make a lovely striped inmate costume. Wonderful. The materials cost me about forty-five bucks. A week later, I found an almost identical thing to the costume I had just slaved over at Walmart for $6.99. Sometimes being creative bites.
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| A tribute to the years of the black sweatsuit |
The next three years pass in a blur for me as the "black sweatsuit years." There was the secret agent (meaning boy in black sweats), the ninja warrior (a.k.a. boy in black sweats with a vesty thing), and the sullen mean boy who looked like a burglar in black sweats and a ski mask, until the mask was too itchy, and then he was just the boy in black sweats.
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| Percy Jackson |
Finally, the year before last, Aydin actually was gung-ho for Halloween, and I thank his love of reading whole-heartedly for it. He wanted to be nothing less than Percy Jackson, and marvelously Percy does not wear a sweat suit. Nope, Percy wears a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt, but he carries a sword. At least, I got to draw on the orange T with Sharpee and we dyed his naturally blonde locks brown. Here’s to semi-creativeness.
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| My little witch, I mean wizard |
Last year, we were once again back in a black sweatsuit..well dammit, I'd had it!!!!! The kid was ruining my Halloween. He was twelve, perhaps my last year of trick-or-treating with my baby. What is a mom to do? Well this mom threw a hissy fit. This mom cried (I was probably premenstrual). This mom, forced her son to wear a little witch outfit and lied and told him that he looked like a cool wizard. But hey, the boy was in a costume and this mom was happy.
Now, in 2013, Aydin has decided he wants to do his own costume. He’s planning to be a very original zombie, or of course as he would tell me he is NOT a zombie, he’s a WALKER. I had better get this straight.
I was never allowed to be anything evil for Halloween. My sister was once lucky enough to go as a she-devil while I was the angel. My mom didn’t believe in wearing “Evil” costumes. She liked happy princesses and cute smurfs. My mother obviously did not have a boy. Boys want to be boys. They want swords, and Halloween isn’t really about Halloween for my boy. It’s really about getting that sword for future play. The important part of Halloween for him is the fun, and the candy.
So, I guess I have to leave my motherly fantasies of princess costumes and fairy wings. I can still dress up the cat, or myself. But hey, a thought just occurred to me. An exciting thought, a hopeful thought, a marvelous thought....I just might be lucky enough to have grandchildren one day...and one of them might be a little girl or two, complete with the desire for princess attire. One can dream.
Happy Halloween, everybody. Have a great time. Oh, and this year I'm wearing a sweatsuit....
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