Whatever happened to creative Halloween costumes?

[Dr.Girlfriend]

I was looking at a costume website and am sitting here laughing my butt off at these "costumes". And they're insanely expensive!

Just this "dress" alone is $31 (not including shipping)

Whatever happened to creativity anyways? Bah.

 

[allison443]

I guess you'd laugh at me because I have no idea how I would make that. I could never get the writing to look that that, and also, I cannot sew.


Are you laughing because people purchase costumes instead of making them, or laughing because you don't think it's creative to go as a 3 Musketeers candy bar?

 

[ilovejack02]

What happened to it in my house is that If I tried to sew something, I would sew my fingers together . : )

 

[fairestoneofall]

normally, i get creative and organize my kids' costumes. i don't sew them because i can't. but i buy real clothing that can double as a costume, but be worn normally too. last year, DS was Mario (as in nintendo). i bought a red t-shirt, overalls and had a hat embroidered with an M. okay. so he didn't wear the overalls again, but he wore the rest (loves the hat). and he wasn't sporting polyester.

but this year, i bought both of my kids' costumes. i just don't have time to think about it. DS wanted to be Boba Fett (star wars) and i had NO idea how to come up with that on my own.

 

[disneybound2010]

Two years ago, we had a puppy costume made for DS. It is absolutely precious and there is not another one like it. Everyone that saw him in it commented that it was refreshing to see a child wearing something original.

We cheated partly last year and bought half of his costume premade. This year, he asked to wear his "puppy" one more time before it doesn't fit anymore I was hoping to do somethign different, but this gives me time to start plotting for next year!

 

[KimR]

This year, my DD is going to be 'Imagination', how's that for creative? I have no idea how she plans to implement this idea and since I lack the creativity gene, I'm leaving it all up to her. Should be interesting, to say the least.

 

[golfgal]

No different then the boxed costumes we had in the 70's

I had a Cinderella one when I was about 3 or 4

 

[Angelhalo]

Some people just aren't creative. I don't see why there is anything wrong with that. Not everyone enjoys searching endlessly all over creation for all the pieces to a costume, nor can everyone sew. That's the whole reason why the Halloween costume stores do such good business. It's also the reason why they can charge as much as they do. If you;re not creative or crafty, you'll spend the money to get what you want.

No big mystery.

 

[*BTMRR*]

No different then the boxed costumes we had in the 70's

I had a Cinderella one when I was about 3 or 4

That brings back some memories! I had a Barney Rubble and I loved that thing. I remember how hard it was to breathe through the little dots that were punched out of the nose and the tiny hole in the mouth!

I'm trying to help my little kids come up with creative ideas this year, but I don't mind the store bought costumes if they are on sale. I found a Star Wars costume in the bargain bin years ago and one of the kids has worn it every year since. It has been well loved!

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

I guess you'd laugh at me because I have no idea how I would make that. I could never get the writing to look that that, and also, I cannot sew.


Are you laughing because people purchase costumes instead of making them, or laughing because you don't think it's creative to go as a 3 Musketeers candy bar?

I'm more laughing at the candy bar costume because 1) it looks so incredibly cheesy and 2) it's so stupidly expensive for what you get!

 

[plutotek]

I think a lot of the costumes you can buy are fairly creative, but what gets me are the kids (usually high school age) who's idea of a costume is wearing the same clothes they wear on a daily basis, maybe dab a bit of corn syrup on their face, and head out w/a pillow case. At least try and do some make-up.

 

[princesspiglet]

I think a lot of the costumes you can buy are fairly creative, but what gets me are the kids (usually high school age) who's idea of a costume is wearing the same clothes they wear on a daily basis, maybe dab a bit of corn syrup on their face, and head out w/a pillow case. At least try and do some make-up.

ITA! I refuse to give them any candy if they come to my house with a half-assed costume. Especially teens. I tell them, "sorry- Chocolate World has candy for sale if you really need it that bad, but my candy is for KIDS who actually dress up"!

 

[Tinkermommy]

No different then the boxed costumes we had in the 70's

I had a Cinderella one when I was about 3 or 4

I bet they were smiling behind those masks!

My son was a viking last year. I went to Copenhagen and got him a "real" viking helmet. My mom made him a brown fur vest. Everyone raved at how original it was. Then How to Train Your Dragon" came out! I am sure there are going to be more vikings this year.

My daughter wants to be a gypsy. We are pulling together her costume. I was a gypsy half of my childhood just so I could wear lots of jewelry and make up.

 

[jen0610]

normally, i get creative and organize my kids' costumes. i don't sew them because i can't. but i buy real clothing that can double as a costume, but be worn normally too. last year, DS was Mario (as in nintendo). i bought a red t-shirt, overalls and had a hat embroidered with an M. okay. so he didn't wear the overalls again, but he wore the rest (loves the hat). and he wasn't sporting polyester.

but this year, i bought both of my kids' costumes. i just don't have time to think about it. DS wanted to be Boba Fett (star wars) and i had NO idea how to come up with that on my own.

That is DD this year. She is going as Abby from NCIS. The only thing we have to buy that she won't wear again, is a lab coat. Everything else she can wear again.

We haven't yet found a big enough spider web tat. All the ones we have seen are very small. I may have to end up free hand drawing that one. She is so ready for Halloween to get here.

I was a kid in the 70's and with a mother who owned a sewing machine, I never had a store boughten costume. But my kids are 50/50 for home created/store boughten costumes. And I am not the one buying them. Grandma does it, the one who refused to buy her 3 kids a costume, when she could just whip something up. With three kids, they got multipule use.

 

[KimR]

My daughter wants to be a gypsy. We are pulling together her costume. I was a gypsy half of my childhood just so I could wear lots of jewelry and make up.

I loved being a gypsy for that exact reason! I can remember wearing those boxed costumes in elementary school then later we started becoming more creative by putting together costumes from things we found around the house. Anything involving make-up and jewelry was a winner for me.

One of the (very few) things I miss about life pre-kids is when we used to go clubbing on Halloween. They'd hold costume contests with relatively large cash prizes and as a result, there were some unbelievably creative costumes. People had to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on some of them. It was so much fun drinking and dancing the night away looking at all the outrageous costumes. Although that was often true on non-Halloween nights as well.

 

[MomofKatie]

I remember my brother and my childhood costumes- only did a store-bought one one time, when I was 2- Cinderella for me, complete with the plastic mask, and Superman for DBro. Every other year, Mom either made our costumes, or we looked around the house for stuff to use for homemade ones.

Looking back, it was probably because we didn't have the money for store bought costumes and had a mom who sewed. She did some pretty neat costumes- Indian braves, devils, Raggedy Ann and Andy, and a beautiful Renaissance Princess gown. When we came up with our own, we did things like pirate, gypsy, or hobo.

DD has had several store bought ones- mostly Disney Princesses when she was younger. In the last few years, she has opted for make-it-yourself ones: Pink Lady from Grease; Artemis, godess of the hunt; Material Girl-era Madonna, and cute witch, to name a few. This year, she and her BFF picked out store bought Pirate girl costumes so they can match.

 

[minkydog]

I"m with you, OP. I don't get it. Do people have no creativity at all? I never had a store bought costume as a kid. My mother could sew, but rarely did she make any sort of costume--she was too busy sewing our real clothes. So my sisters and I made our own costumes out of old clothes, construction paper, plastic bags, and props. My own children started making their own costumes around the age of 6. Most of their materials came from the thrift store or the bottom of my sewing basket.

A few years ago my DD17 asked me to take her and her friends to the thrift store so they could find Halloween costumes. We went and DD set about "looking." Her friends just stood there. They had no idea how to look for costume materials! I actually had to teach them how to look at clothing and fabrics and envision the costume. We were there about 2 hours while they rifled through the piles of stuff. In the end, we had costumes for "Gypsy Dancer", "Dead Pocohantas", "Zombie Bride", and "Wraith". Each girl came away with a full costume, shoes and accessories and the sum total for ALL of it was less than $50.

Hmmm, reminds me...Halloween is only 30 days away. Time to load up the girls and hit the thrift store...

 

[design_mom]

When I was little, my mom made our Halloween costumes. I loved it because I got to be whatever I wanted -- not determined by what costumes were available in the store.

I learned to sew *specifically* because I wanted to be able to make cool Halloween costumes for my kids. It's worked out okay. One year, DS wanted to be Donkey Kong, so we did that. DD wanted to be a butterfly, and I made her costume.

However, the store-bought costume has come a long way since I was little. When my kids want to be Buzz Lightyear or a Ninja Turtle, a lot of times you can find a decent store-bought costume for $20-30. It would cost me at least that much to make something decent, and it wouldn't look as close to the actual character.

It actually took me a while to bite the bullet and *buy* a costume... but the whole point is making the kids happy and letting them be what they want to be, right?

I keep trying to talk DS into being Clark Kent this year -- he could wear his first communion suit with a Superman t-shirt underneath. He'd look awesome (has the dark hair and glasses to boot)...but he's not interested.