If you spend as much time at Target as I do, you are intimately familiar with the seasonal corner in the back of the store. Some months, it features an exciting new array of outdoor furniture. Others, it showcases offensively early merchandise (Back to School in July? Christmas in October??) But there’s one time of year when you know you’ve hit the jackpot: HALLOWEEN. Aisle after aisle is filled with
spooky treats and
inventive (if not
slightly distasteful) decor run amok. At what other time of year is it acceptable to
festoon your front lawn with corpses? And of course, there’s the immense costume selection, from
the adorable to
the disturbing. Yet despite my children’s pleas to outfit them as their favorite Star Wars characters, I always seem to avoid the ready-made options and “help” them choose a more sophisticated theme for our family. And by sophisticated, I mean exhausting. Like a week of evenings spent gluing tiny sequins all over three little suits. Let’s just say this year’s choice will be
infamous. Thinking back on assembling
miniature spacesuits or scouring hardware stores for
proton pack components, I realize I should be thanking my own mother for setting a standard with many homemade costumes years ago. When I begged for a
plastic interpretation of Jem, she convinced me we could do better. And by “we,” she meant “me and my sewing machine.” So thank you, Mom, for the Cheshire Cat, Strawberry Shortcake, a beautiful poodle skirt, and many more. You taught me well.
