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Home > Blogs > Adventures in Motherhood > Archives > 2009 > October > 29 > Entry
Halloween about to give up the ghost
It is mere days before Halloween, and I have to ask: Do your kids have their costumes yet?
This might seem like a silly question, especially for parents of little ones who likely have had their beloved costumes (or at least plans for them) for months.
I ask because just the skeleton of that pink, pudgy love remains in my house. In fact, as I write this, my elementary-schoolers still don’t have a stitch of ghoulish garb, or anything remotely Halloween-y.
And, although they are just fine with that, it is kind of bumming me out. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that we were searching in earnest for the perfect Harry Potter glasses, or trying to find a mask that wouldn’t cause the younger one to sport truly bloody knees.
Is it me or aren’t they a little young for the fascination to have worn off?
It’s not like I wasn’t warned. Last year, the then second- and fourth-graders showed a dropoff in interest from the year before.
At the time, I faulted premature visions of sugarplums for their sudden lack of Halloween luster.
But I can’t even fault St. Nick this year, since I also am the one bringing up Christmas.
“Why don’t you guys start your Christmas lists?” I asked them when they were bored a week or so ago.
“In October?” they asked.
To be fair, though, one of the factors in this year’s alienation of Halloween affection might just be fitting the shopping into our schedules.
For instance, on Sunday I told the guys: “If you want to get costumes, we should really do it today since we have a pretty full week ahead. Besides, all the good costumes might be gone soon.”
But they both said they wanted to watch football instead.
“Sorry I’m not too much in the spirit of the season,” the younger one added, with one eye on the TV screen.
So I asked them, “Do you even want to go trick-or-treating? You don’t have to, you know. You could stay home with me and pass out candy.”
“No, we want candy,” the older one said.
Earlier this fall, upon my prodding, they each did have some idea of what they might want to be.
The 8-year-old thought that he might want to be a bottle of ketchup. As puzzling as that was, it was still a better choice than that of his 10-year-old brother.
“I want to be a urinal,” he said.
“Why? That’s awful,” I told him.
“I know!”
At least that showed some interest. However, I still wasn’t going to let my kid out of the house dressed as a restroom fixture. That’s what college is for.
He then thought he might want to be a hippie.
“All I need is a tie-dyed shirt, some glasses and a wig,” he said. Looking at his hair, I thought the wig might be optional.
Then his brother, hearing the simple costume accessories needed, said: “Well, maybe I could be a hippie, too.”
“That might be cute!” I said, picturing them in matching costumes.
“That would be terrible,” the older one said.
So, the pursuit continues. With any luck, in a couple of days when this story is published, the kids will have something to wear in their less-than-festive search for candy.
And I will take lots of pictures, since it just might just be their last year to get into that particular spirit. I just hope they have fun — even if it has little to do with costumes.
“I just think I am more into the pumpkins this year,” the 8-year-old said.
Which reminds me; we don’t have any of those, either.
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Comments
By Lea
October 29, 2009 8:05 AM | Link to this
The teenager is all into the Alice-in-Wonderland thing with an emo twist. Sigh. Don’t have a costume for the tween - he will be with bio mom - but he’s just not very interested. YAY… But… Weird.