Halloween!? Zoinks, Jinkies, Ruh-roh!

As you may have guessed from the title, we went treating this year as characters from the new movie: The Avengers.

No, wait. That was the cool mom with the gym membership (or else how was she going to look like Scarlett Johansson?) and the matching store bought costumes. I was the mom who subjected my children to my belated attempts at creativity and sewing. My plan for some time was to make Charlie into Scooby Doo, Abe into Shaggy, and myself into Velma. For one thing, I figured I could swing it like the hip 1950s moms used to, with stuff found around the house, and for another, it gave me an excuse not to cut Abe's hair for about the last three months. If you need an explanation as to why I would want such an excuse, you have clearly never tried to cut the hair of a not-quite-four-year-old boy.

So we went treating as the abbreviated Scooby gang. We could've had a complete set, but I couldn't find a purple dress big enough for my husband, or a blonde wig for my dog. When people asked where Daphne and Fred were, I just said they must've sneaked off somewhere to make out. Don't think too hard about that, or it might get frightening.

Here's the thing: people knew perfectly well what we were supposed to be. And someday, my kids will think I am somewhat gauche with my home-crafted, matchy-matchy ideas... but for now, I like being a set. And as I looked around us, I saw lots of adorable little lions, bumble bees, fairies, and ninjas... but not much innovation. I don't mean to criticize other parents. They may not have the time that I have, and it is definitely easier to buy a cool looking costume than to try to fabricate one at a moment's notice. And in all probability, most moms would likely rather not let little details like cooking meals for an entire day fall by the wayside in order to turn a fuzzy brown warm-up suit into a spotted, blue collared dog. You've gotta have priorities, is all I'm saying.