The Hilarious Quest for Father-Son Halloween Costumes
A Tale of Homemade Costume Woes
As a dad at 65, now 75 (but looking 35, right?), I've been around the Halloween block a few times. Every year, I try to convince my 10-year-old son Aaron to ditch his ninja costume obsession. You see, since he was a wee lad of 3, he's been all about those stealthy, silent warriors. And here's the kicker: he doesn't even like ninjas! Go figure, right?
But hey, we've got a tradition going, and who am I to crush a perfectly good Halloween tradition? That is until you outgrow the outfit and really need to find something new. So I proposed we try to create our own father-son duo costumes this year. Can we actually get it done in time? Can we have a consensus about the costumes?
The Search for the Ultimate Father-Son Costume
From what I’ve read, the quest for the perfect father-son Halloween costume can be a wild ride. You scour the internet for inspiration, only to find Pinterest boards that look like they belong in a modern art museum. I mean, have you seen those intricate DIY tutorials? They made me feel woefully untalented.
So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Armed with glue, scissors, and a whole lot of optimism (thank you, Javier, for giving me some advice) I embarked on the "DIY Costume Adventure of a Lifetime." But let me tell you, folks, it's not all smooth sailing in Costume-land.
The Perils of Homemade Costumes
1. Glue Mishaps: Ever tried gluing sequins onto a costume at 2 AM? We have, (well, my wife Monika, actually) and it's like trying to perform brain surgery with a butter knife. Aaron ended up with a sparkly dinosaur for the school’s talent show.
2. Sewing Scares: Sewing machines are a breed of their own. I’ve tried - my friend Ana lent me her Singer - but two attempts and I accidentally sew my thumb to the costume. Let's just say I’m opting for duct tape from now on.
3. Pinterest Fails: Those Pinterest tutorials? Yeah, they're secretly created by aliens with three extra thumbs. I tried to follow one for a mummy and found out toilet paper is NOT as strong as it claims to be.
4. The Time Crunch: Homemade costumes take time, and procrastination is the real monster of Halloween. Suddenly, you're hot-gluing (or duct-taping) cat ears to a cardboard box 30 minutes before the show starts.
Embrace the Chaos, Embrace the Fun?
After careful consideration and minor cuts, I gave up on the homemade costume idea. It seems to me that in the end, homemade costumes are not supposed to be the end goal, they’re memory-making events that bring a lot of laughter, and embarrassment and require a cleaning crew to deal with the aftermath. I’m sure they make for legendary Halloween stories.
Aaron decided to play along and come up with his own DYI Halloween costume.
So, whether your kid insists on being a reluctant ninja for the seventh year in a row or you embark on a DIY adventure that turns your concept for T-Rex into something that looks more like a misunderstood broccoli, remember this: Halloween is all about embracing the wacky, the wild, and the wonderfully messy.
As for Aaron and me, we’re not discarding making up our own costumes yet. We’ve been to every Halloween costume store here in Las Vegas and still cannot find anything we like. One thing's for sure – if we do craft our own father-son costume duet it's bound to be an obnoxious adventure, filled with more dad jokes and Aaron’s sarcasm than you can shake a candy-filled pumpkin at!
Happy Halloween, you brave costume creators! May your glue guns stay hot, your sewing needles stay unattached to thumbs, and your Halloween memories be unforgettable.
And yes, remember to take a lot of pictures!