Halloween is upon us, my children are all grown up, but my DIY costume shenanigans live on in them and in my grandchildren. The costumes and events of halloween past are popping up again so instead of tucking them away I decided to display some of them. These may not be costumes you’ll find at the thrift store or or at Party City. We usually assemble pieces from around the home for our creations. I wonder what I’ll come up with today for our church’s harvest festival!
DIY
I tread on sacred ground with this DIY acronym. I am surrounded by incredibly talented women who can take an theme and visualize an entire hall beautifully arrayed for a special occasion. Por ejemplo, “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth” The girls, my daughter Daniella and my adopted daughter Cita, and I are working on a baby shower for my daughter-in-law. They have exploded with ideas and DIY creations. Yo? I pictured arrows in certain directions, and a nice clean area to feast in.
The harvest festival is next and the ladies who know me will laugh out loud wondering what kind of chicanada I will come up with and call a costume.
To Halloween or Not to Halloween
Should Christians do the Halloween thing? In those early adult years before having children, Halloween was easy to manage. Our church promoted the gospel on trick or treat day by offering elaborate haunted houses. Lots of preparation and investment went into these presentations. Perhaps a more accurate description would be “reality houses.” A dramatized reality of the consequences that come from our choices. They were exhilarating as we boldly shared what Christ had done for us. My biggest worry was getting myself ready and believing God for a fruitful harvest.
Then came kids… Kids with eyes wide open, excited with expectation of halloween fun. Oh how I felt like my mother! I didn’t want to deal with Halloween like that! Celebrate El Cucuy? Were Christians supposed to do that? Hijole! What a roller coaster ride I got in with the Halloween celebration dilemma. Ya se, my kids just wanted to dress up and get candy, what was the big deal? Que dramática verdad! Well I sat on that ride for several Halloweens. My older kids, sort of, kind of, mas o menos dressed up.They got some candy, nothing like I got when I was little. I was trying to stay neutral. They managed to not miss out on costumes. One October Jonathan was desperate to wear his cowboy boots and vest to school, and the teachers always accommodate their need for the costume parade.
Finally, as my older kids were almost into adulthood I came to some resolution about October 31. Ni modo. It is another day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad. Que facil verdad? I need to take a closer look at them and see if they were scarred by those haunting wishy washy, “Que si, que no” ways.
Resourceful Costumes
So, taking my childhood experiences or habits of “costume making” I encouraged them to figure out a costume and dress up. I wasn’t sold on the idea of outrages expense thrown into a store bought costume, sorri. Look in the closet, look out in the yard for natural resources or dig out of the recycle bin the cardboard and reuse it. Maybe I can take some credit for “encouraging” my kids to be creative and feed their talent? Jonathan stitched together a hot chile pepper costume one year, Another year he was a platano. My middle child Emery, would not, could not think of accepting a costume that wasn’t absolutely perfect! He’s my artist child, ya te imaginas! All of us pitched in to make costumes for Thomas, el baby. Well, honestly, like all things I get an idea and then expect them to create it with my limited resources 😀 One year I thought Thomas could be a peacock. Asi es. In our neighborhood, there was a peacock that strutted around his street, literally, like he owned the pavement. He showed off and carried himself with such confidence. My little Thomas was such a character, he might still be 😀 When it was all said and done, his huge cardboard peacock tail was hard for him to carry around gracefully.
I always enjoy the costumes these young talented moms create for their kids or have someone make for them. One year, my little granddaughter was a football! Carried by the quarterback, mi hijo. Last year, mi nietecito was a cop and his dad, Jonathan, was the jailbird. Now that I think about it, all those years of suppressed costumes are still coming out.
Once I remembered that God created all of the days and decided to chill out about October 31 I have enjoyed them. This year it falls on Sunday, gloria a Dios! With all the changes that have happened because of COVID what are your plans? Today I’ll be working in one of the booths at our church carnival. I haven’t come up with a costume yet, hijole! I will add it below when I figure it out!
If you’ve DIY’d a costume this year, tag me on Instagram! I’d love to see and share.
Mexican-American Girl 