It's August, so naturally I'm thinking of Halloween

1. I've been looking at Halloween costumes for the girls. Mostly just for Tres, because I have no hope of influencing Uno and Dos in their decisions (darn opinionated children!) and Cuatro isn't old enough to get excited about Halloween yet. Tres, at nearly 4yo, is the perfect mix of impressionable and enthusiastic.

2. She doesn't remember her first Halloween (she went as a sack of Idaho potatoes) or the next one (the famous mouse made by my BFF), but she still talks about the puppy costume she wore at 2yo ("I had paws! And a dog nose!"). Her memory of last year has less to do with the costume she wore (a kitty / ballerina combo) and more to do with the fact that I wasn't there (I was still stuck in the hospital with 3-day-old Cuatro). Boo.

3. I want this year to be fabulous. It helps that we'll be visiting my hometown over that holiday, where people get way more into it than they do here. I think we have a significant minority of people in this area who abstain from Halloween for religious reasons, and then also cranky old people who don't want to bother answering their doors. DH is a Halloween grinch (he says he didn't like it even as a kid -- what a weird boy), but it probably ties with Christmas as my favorite holiday of the year. I love the chance to be someone else for a day, and I love seeing what or whom everyone else chose to be. Hooray for chocolate, but I'd love Halloween even without the candy.

4. I wish we had amazing costumes.... Somehow our names ended up on the marketing list for a chichi store called Chasing Fireflies. They sell insanely expensive children's clothing; I've never bought anything from them (DH would have a stroke) (for that matter, I would have a stroke) but I love looking through their catalogs. A couple weeks ago we got their Halloween issue, with costumes such as


The Queen of Hearts, $98

or


Marie Antoinette, "only" $88.

As elaborate as the costumes are, I'm sure they cost a lot to make and their expense is probably justified. But it's not necessary. Not when Walmart costumes can be had for $10! :-P

5. Walmart costumes make me feel terribly depressed, though. They're flimsy and cheap and pitiful. My mom made all our costumes when we were little, and they were beautiful; if I can't sew things for my girls (and believe me, I can't), I'd at least like them to have that kind of quality. Just not for $100/kid. I've been scouring etsy and other places for more reasonably priced costumes (maybe $30 or less?) but so far I'm still unsatisfied.

But I guess I still have time to mull it over.


~RCH~