Bah humbug, Darth Vader.

Mass produced...sad.

Choice of costume that doesn't involve Mommie....perhaps progress?


As I remember (being insulated from the mainstream) Darth Vader is both powerful and scary. Mo's into power-packed role playing this year.

Can Darth Vader take a costumed teddy bear with him?

Do you go along to chaperone? Can you make your own costume?

I was going to start a very similar one!!!

Last year sozlet insisted on being a princess. Fine. At least I made it, dress and crown and all.

Now this year she again insisted upon being a princess. And she fell in love with a princess costume from Old Navy. :-?

I'm still going to personalize it, I think, though I haven't figured out the details.

Hmph.

Oh gosh.

Noddy and soz. My soul mates!

It is nice to know that I am not the only one bothered by mass produced, media influenced stuff.

I haven't yet figured out how to personalize Darth Vader - the powerful and scary. Super Villians are all the rage in our house right now.

I take some comfort in that ours are "nice" super villians who give kisses and hugs and reveal themselves to be "only me" when I get too scared.

And I take some comfort in the fact that I am still Inago Montoya (you killed my father, prepare to die) who gets to sword fight with Darth Vader.

And, frankly, it was fun taking the dog in for her shot today with Darth Vader in tow.

But..... I don't know.... I guess the fact that I don't get to make some crazy costume has made me sad or that Mo recognizes that "store-bought" is prefferable to home made. (And oh boy do I remember being there and doing that.)

I dunno.

I will chaperone but I really don't know what we're doing this year. Mo's favorite playmate is Mormon and the Mormons (believe it or not) do cool stuff for Halloween here.

Maybe Darth Vader and I will go to the big Mormon shindig then hit the block for extra goodies.

(And then I'll take all the gunk to work because Mo is not a huge candy fan (unless it is those crazy things from the Mexican restaurant)).

I'm rambling.....

The princess thing bothers me all on its own -- bo-ring!! -- and the store-bought part bothers me, but at least it's not one of those awful Disney princesses. (SO sick of them.) It's a nice costume as these things go, soft velvet and tulle and such. Looks like it can maybe even stand to be washed.

(Reyn just revived a thread from three years ago when sozlet insisted on being a bunny fairy -- a fuzzy bunny outfit with fairy wings [home-made] and a silk flower twined around one ear. That's more like it!)

Once upon a time in the 40's when I was a child with big ears and a Mother with Opinions, I learned that children with Store Bought costumes were children of Mothers who Wouldn't Spend Time.

In the 60's and 70's when I was a Mother and Stepmother costumes were always homemade--unless the Real Mother insisted that a Store Bought Costume was Full of Love.

Even so, Halloween parades round and round the elementary school yard were full of Store bought costumes.

I was talking to my son (40+) this afternoon and he remembered School Parties and Trick or Treating with home-crafted costumes, even for the dog.

The old order changeth, yielding place to new
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

In the 1950' when we were into Halloween costumes, my mother made the costumes for us (all 8 of us!!!) and they were not only creatively good they were so well made they became hand me downs for the younger siblings. In retrospect I think this was probably too much, but we had fun not only wearing the costumes but designing them, making the patterns and cutting the cloth. My mother and the older girls did the sewing. The one rule, and this was unspoken, was that the costumes were not to be copies of store bought styles. I realized this only in retrospect, at the time it was a given. My last costume when I was about 10 was Teddy Roosevelt. I was a Rough-Rider complete with hat and cap pistol. This activity forms a large part of my memory of Halloween, much more so then the actual Trick-or-Treating.

I remember several Halloween costumes.

In sixth grade I was the Pied Piper.

My mother found a pattern that could be adapted and my grand mother did the sewing using glossy cotton--which I've only ever seen used in Halloweend costumes.

I was a little dubious because my cloak was red, lined with yellow, but I'd envisioned patchwork.

"His queer long cloak from heel to head,
Was half of yellow and half of red..."

I also remember third grade when I was a witch with a pointed hat, flowing black draperies and a belt of chicken leg bones. I remember my classmates being fascinated and the teacher being Visibly Repulsed.

I thought chicken leg bone made very good human knuckle bones--for a costume.

T and I have different takes on costumes. She wants Yaya to be princessy.

So far, Yaya's wanted to be a firefighter, a lion, Darth Elevator, and a clown. Mama is quite miffed.

We've gotten a lion costume. Mama's miffed again 'cause it has a mane, which makes it a boy lion and therefore a bow in its hair would be silly.

Ha!

Once she's princessy there's no going back!!!!

(My experience, anyway.)

A big part of my thinking here though is that I don't want to take control over her (sozlet's) holiday. I've suggested umpteen alternatives, but no, she wants to be a princess. Period. <shrug> The dress was cheap, anyway. (On sale for buying early and about half the price of much flimsier stuff at Target and such.)

I don't want to be too Martha Stewart about it -- I've hand-assembled her costumes thus far, including a lot of last-minute sewing last year, and I'm sure I will again in the future.

I've figured out what I'm going to do with it, anyway. I have an absolute pile of silk flowers (90% off) that I bought to use for her birthday party. Will make a garland slash crown (flower garland with a beaded tiara part to it) and sew a whole bunch of flowers all over the existing princess costume. Around the hem, etc. On shoes, too.

At least she'll be different if she runs into someone else wearing the base dress.

Chicken leg bones are SO cool, though!

Part of it may be fitting in.

At Yaya's dance class all of the other girls are going to be princesses.

This makes me want Yaya to be something else, so that she has some individuality.

This makes Mama want Yaya to be a princess so that she'll fit in with all the other little girls.

I'm wondering if I should defer to the child psychologist...

Whatever it is, I'm with you on the individuality thing. It's precisely BECAUSE the neighborhood will be crawling with princesses that I don't want her to be one. (Meanwhile, she doesn't want to be a princess based on everyone else -- we don't know what anyone else will be, yet -- but because she loves to dress up, and dressing up as a princess is her absolute favorite thing.)

Rough Riders and witches with chicken bone belts -- now THOSE are haloween costumes!

I can't think of any way to individualize Darth Vader though. (Hey! Maybe I could wire up some flashing lights and noises......)

Soz, you're right about co-opting their holiday to serve our own whatevers.

I don't think the fitting in aspect has much to do with Mo since he doesn't go to school or classes.

I'm thinking my little niece Monkey might have something to do with Darth Vaderism though.

Well!

I didn't say nothin', I swear, but today Miss Pink piped up with "I want to be a witch for Halloween!" We discussed it and she wants to be icky and scary and have green "pimples" all over her face -- I brought up the chicken bone belt idea and she oooooohed and ahhed over it. (Not sure if we'll be able to accumulate chicken bones in time, tho...)

I told her that there wasn't time for her to change her mind again, so on Halloween she was gonna be a witch or princess, period. She agreed.

I had an idea and showed her a very dark navy blue silk sari with silver border that I bought in a lot of ten saris a while ago; it's the worst of the lot, a bit tattered and a bit stained and there isn't really anything good to do with it, but it's silk and floaty and vaguely menacing.

She LOVED it and thought it looked scary, so that'll be the basis of the witch costume, I guess! Probably will just sew a skirt on to a navy blue shirt, then have a floaty tattered cloak and a witch hat (I'm thinking wires for structure, not sure yet -- can also just get a store bought one and then glue this fabric on).

With her recent lack of enthusiasm for cheerleading and now wanting to be an icky, scary witch, I'm hoping the pendulum is swinging back a bit from super-femme.

Drew Dad--



Obviously the mane on YaYa's costume is a wig, Since she's a tomlion, of course she can have a bow in her hair.

Soz--

Don't forget silly putty warts.

Boomer--

Go for it! Not all Darth Vaders are created equal.

Lucky!

I'm jealous.

Mo's Darth Vader costume is practically in rags already so making modifications might not only be fun it might be necessary.

So far all I've managed to do is wire a voice transformer into the mask that makes Mo's voice sound Vaderish.

And let me tell you -- Darth Vader is one mean little teapot, short and stout.

Oh -- and I found this cool weird thing that I turned into a Darth-medallion.

But Mo won't wear it.....

..... yet.

<snicker>

Darth Vader will never be the same.

Sozobe - to collect enough chicken bones you can buy those large family size packs in the grocery store. Cook the chicken and remove the meat from the bone. Freeze the meat to add to stir frys, soups, chicken gyros, paellea, chicken salad etc. I do know you have to clean (boil) the bones real well and seal them with a clear acrylic spray or your daughter will have dogs and flies following her down the street.

That would certainly add to the scary icky ambiance! :-D

(Thanks for the tip!)