Halloween Fun

 

Halloween Fun?

by Judy

 It was early October, the time of year a mother of four young children should have been thinking about Halloween costumes. It seemed like it was just last week I was carefully laundering the Raggedy Ann dress and burning my fingers pressing Raggedy’s white apron. I knew my chances of getting either of my sons to wear it were slim to none. No doubt, I needed to come up with four entirely new costumes.

Our small town celebrates Halloween in a big way. Volunteers coordinate a festival which lasts ten very long, activity-packed, expensive days. There are parades on three of those days, one devoted entirely to the town’s children. At least a thousand kids dress in costumes and walk down the three main blocks of our town. Unfortunately, over the years competition has developed among some of the mothers as to who can come up with the best costume.

Now, I am as competitive as the next person. In fact, I’m more competitive than many people. And my young children were cute, personable and very insistent they walk in the parade in costume. Oh yes, I’ve spent many nights before Halloween at the sewing machine unhappily stitching furry black cloth into a gorilla costume, sewing red petals on sweatshirts to frame little, candy-sticky faces, or gathering shiny, slippery, silver material into a tutu or scorching my fingers gluing feathers to a baby’s shirt. Fortunately, I blocked all thoughts of the hundreds of naked baby chicks running around in the cold, night air…all so a sleeping six-month old child could be pulled through town in a little red wagon.

My personal favorite costume was the one my older son wore when he was ten. I simply had him put on his red polo shirt, jeans and his favorite baseball cap. Thirty minutes before the parade I picked up a pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. The kids and I quickly devoured the pizza. (I had been so busy creating original costumes for my other three children I hadn’t cooked a real meal for a few days.) My son appreciated the light-weight empty box as he carried it down the parade route. I thought it the best costume ever. Sure, the kids parading with him were disappointed we didn’t share the pizza. But really, doesn’t everyone love the smell of pizza?