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Ladybug
By Turner Varady

Growing up my mom made the best Halloween costumes for my sister and I, so I knew when I had kids one day, I would try to do the same. On Emerson’s first Halloween she was only a month old so I skipped out, but last year I wanted to make a homemade costume for her. She loves all things garden, so I decided on a cute ladybug. I thought it wouldn’t be too difficult and I’d be able to combine some craft materials with some clothes we already had. The finished product was something I was proud of, and Emerson had so much fun trick or treating in it around the neighborhood. She has even worn the wings and tutu again for playtime which makes me so happy. I definitely put in way too much time sewing it, but the pictures and memories will last a lifetime!

Leopard
By Celeste Ezell

Back when my oldest was three, she wanted to be a leopard for Halloween. I found millions of black cat costumes and tiger costumes but couldn’t find a leopard anywhere. So, I went to JOANN and found faux fur with just the right spots, determined to make it myself. I didn’t have a sewing machine yet, so I stitched it by hand: a fur dress using a nightgown as a pattern with a hood with holes for a cat ear headband to poke through, wrist cuffs and ankle cuffs. The tail was the trickiest. I sewed it wrong-side-out, turned it right-side-out and pushed stuffing into it with a pencil. Unfortunately, I didn’t include a zipper, and she eventually outgrew it. But 12 years later, my youngest is still dressing up in the tattered and repaired homemade leopard costume.

Family Costumes
By Erin Roth

Throughout my childhood, Halloween was a very big deal in our house. My mom adorned our home with cotton cobwebs and plastic spiders, hosted elaborate Halloween parties, and hand-made each and every one of my costumes, from Wonder Woman to Cleopatra to Elvira. Now as a parent myself, I’ve tried to re-create that magic for my kids, ages 2 and 4. 

So far, we’ve been big on family costumes, but as the kids get older (and more opinionated!), I know my years of getting to choose what everyone dresses as are numbered. It’s been a fun family-costume-run while it lasted. 

For my daughter’s 1st birthday, just shy of Halloween, we went all-out with a circus-themed party. She was a lion while my husband and I were the lion tamers—complete with hand-made epaulets on our jackets (aka ornamental fringed shoulder pads). We pulled her around to trick-or-treat in a red Radio Flyer wagon-turned "lion cage.” She even had a “ring of fire” hula-hoop to crawl through. The dog joined in as a lion, too.

For her second Halloween, she was an octopus (which she pronounced “opp-oh-toos”), while my pregnant belly served as a fishbowl. My husband was a fisherman and carried a fishing pole and net. 

On her third Halloween, she was Tinkerbell with fairy wings, satin green slippers and gold glitter "fairy dust" to scatter around. Her new baby brother was Peter Pan. I was Wendy (who wouldn’t want to wear a comfy nightgown for the evening?!) and my husband was Captain Hook—long curly black wig, hook for a hand, and all. 

Last year was my favorite (albeit most challenging) yet. My daughter wanted to be a fire TRUCK. Not a firefighter, but an actual truck. My husband thought I was crazy for attempting to appease her, but as the costume took shape (we humbly started with a Pamper’s diaper box), he became even more invested than I was. It was his idea to add working lights (battery-operated and attached with velcro) and #95 to the back, a nod to Lightening McQueen (our daughter’s other favorite thing). She wore a firefighter costume underneath so she could take off the truck (attached with suspenders) and stay in character. Her little brother was a Dalmatian in white sweatsuit that I (painstakingly) hand-printed with spots. My husband and I were also firefighters in the family brigade. We got lots of compliments on her costume, even from the real firefighters we visited at the station in downtown San Anselmo on Halloween.

This year is going to be trickier (pun intended?!) and I think I have to bid farewell to my family costume streak. My daughter is insistent on being a “beautiful princess" (hello unoriginal almost-5-year-old), and her garbage-truck-obsessed brother wants to be a TRASH CAN (?!?!), so my creativity is sure to be exercised once again. Happy Halloween!