Halloween is about 6 weeks away - for those of you whose kids celebrate it, let's talk about their costumes! Do you sew them or buy them? Do they re-use costumes or get a new one every year? Who picks? How do you deal with the cold weather? At what age did your kids start picking their own costume out? How much does what you did in your childhood impact what you do for your kids? What do you do with costumes after Halloween is over?
This year Eleanor is going to be a dinosaur - a costume she "picked" (with some nudging guidance from me). I'm sewing it from grey fleece with polka dots and coordinating scales down the back. My mom pointed out to me that this is likely the last year that I'll be able to pick her costume out (as she's not quite 3 yet), so I picked something cute and relatively easy (and also gender-neutral - no fairy princesses in our house!).
I remember my mom letting me pick, but making me wear a turtleneck or long underwear under most of the costumes because it's cold in Seattle at the end of October! She's also the sort who can't sew anything halfway - it's going to be PERFECT or simply not done at all. Because of this, she would make me finalize my costume decision no less than a month away, and then spend hours and hours sewing a beautiful costume, but would then be disappointed that I only wore it a few times.
So - what are your kids going to be this year?