Halloween Costumes – Could I Have Done This Differently?

Oddly enough, the only Halloween costume I’ve ever bought for my kids was a giraffe outfit last year for my older daughter. My girls are two and four, and somehow we’ve managed to receive Halloween costumes as gifts in past years, so there hasn’t been much need to go out looking for costumes. I save and organize everything, so my plan this year was to buy one costume for my four year old, and have my two year old wear a hand-me-down.

While I was at Costco today for groceries and diapers, and I thought I’d go ahead and buy my daughter her costume before all the good ones were snatched up. I figured it would be simple enough, since she had already told me she wanted to go dressed as Tinkerbell. And since her little sister is only two, I assumed I could get away with dressing her up in the giraffe one that my older daughter wore last year. Ah, I was mistaken.

As soon as we turned our cart into the costume aisle, they were like sharks in a feeding frenzy. The first thing I realized was that my older daughter was changing her mind over and over again, no longer satisfied with Tinkerbell. (Thankfully we narrowed it down easily, and I explained that once she chose a costume, that was the final decision.) The second thing I realized is that my two year old wasn’t going to sit by idly and watch her older sister have all the fun. Before I knew it, I was spreading out several costumes for my kids to survey, as they discussed which ones were their favorites. In the end, my older daughter fell in love with Thumbelina, while my younger daughter was bouncing up and down with the Little Mermaid costume in her hands.

I drove home, wondering if I could have gone about that differently. Thankfully, Costco doesn’t charge much for costumes – but I still hadn’t planned on buying two of them.  I’m may want to come up with some more creative ways to obtain Halloween costumes, or else resign myself to shelling out for the cool costumes in the stores (which I love doing, but I’m curious see if there may be other ways).

Here are 5 ideas I’ve come up with, things I may try in the future.

1. I could hit the clearances after Halloween, and buy two or three costumes in various sizes. In the following years, I could just pull out a bin of Halloween costumes I’ve compiled, and let my kids choose from them.
2. I may try to make their costumes. Even if I can’t sew, I know I could pull something together if I were creative enough. There are plenty of great ideas out there.
3. I could leave the kids at home with my husband next time I go shopping.. Next year, I could buy only one costume for my older daughter in a size we don’t have, but not when the kids are with me.  Before Halloween I could pull out her new costume, as well as a hand-me-down for my younger daughter. If they are both surprised with a costume at the same time, my younger daughter won’t care (or notice) if her sister wore it a year or two earlier.
4. I could swap Halloween costumes with friends. If your friends have kids, suggest swapping costumes from previous years with them. Make it a fun fall play date, and have everyone bring their old Halloween costumes. I know we have a collection of costumes in different sizes. If several moms came together with a bunch of costumes each, there would be plenty to trade around.
   
5. If all else fails, I could raid the dress up bin. We have plenty of princess paraphernalia in our toy room, and I’m sure if I picked up some fairy wings at Target we could put together some pretty cool costumes.

What about you? How do you go about shopping for Halloween costumes? Feel free to share your ideas in the comments section below. I’m eager to hear how you other moms prepare for Halloween!

- Grace

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5. What to Do With Leftover Halloween Candy – Great Ideas