Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet

I love corny sayings like that:

Trick or treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat.

Do you remember saying stuff like that as a kid? I think I always fantasized about actually saying it to someone in person but I never did. What I love about it is that I can pass it on to my 3 year old son, Evan, and it’s all brand new to him.

I’m convinced that Evan thinks I’m the funniest person that ever walked the Earth. I have yet to confess to him that none of material is original. It’s all borrowed.

So besides the corny saying, what else am I looking forward to sharing with him this time of year? I guess I have to confess that I love Halloween. I love the cool, fall air. I love the gobs and gobs of candy. But mostly, I like the dress-up part.

Me in my costume finery

Halloween has come a long way since I was a kid. Anyone else remember going to the store and picking out your costume? It was a vinyl slip-on outfit with a tie in the back. It was a plastic mask with an elastic string that always seems to pinch you. I think I can still remember struggling to breathe through those masks that would inevitably end up on top of my head because I just couldn’t take it anymore.

My favorite costumes were Grape Ape and Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons. Yes, I know I’m showing my age. But I am so nostalgic I just can’t deny my age.

The Great Grape Ape

Rosie the Robot

Then there were the homemade costumes. The year I was a Hawaiian hula girl. The year my mom sewed an “S” onto my leotard and made me a matching cape. Supergirl! Or the year we made a costume that was a tomato. Seriously. That one was my idea.

But the one I remember most was my mom helping me with blue posterboard and turning myself into a Crayola crayon, complete with a blue cone on my head. I even won the Halloween parade in my neighborhood for that. Too bad we made the crayon “label” too long and my legs could barely walk. I was a waddling crayon.

Now it’s time for me to start my own traditions with my son. I spent a small fortune his first year to dress him as a Tom Arma skunk. Yes, I know, I did it for me. Not for him. But isn’t he just so adorable?

Yes, I made the “he’s a little stinker” joke

The next year, I picked out the cutest little pirate costume from Old Navy for him (always great prices for the quality).

Argh! Me hearties!

This was the first year he was old enough to “get” Halloween. We walked slowly up the sidewalk to a neighbor’s house. We rang the doorbell. I forced him to hold his pumpkin out and he received his first bath of Halloween candy. Even though he was not quite two years old, the light bulb suddenly went off. He went running for the next house.

The following year, he happened to be obsessed with pirates. So he lit up when he re-discovered his pirate costume from the year before. It still fit, much to my chagrin.

“Honey, don’t you want to look at some other costumes? Wow, look at this dinosaur!”

I so wanted to buy him a new costume. But he would have none of it. So we recycled the pirate costume and I played the part of the Mommy pirate. Daddy played the part of Jon Gosselin.

Love will keep us together. Love and fear.

Now, it’s a new year. I was wondering how Halloween would go this year. I already started the agony by showing him costume catalogs. We poured over each page. I explained who all the Star Wars characters were. We talked about some monsters and Transformers. I tried desperately to steer him towards fireman or policeman. In the end, he made up his mind pretty quickly.

Buzz Lightyear.

And when we bought it and got home, I suggested he try it on. And then he was transformed.

So I love Halloween. It gives me a chance to be a kid again. It gives me a chance to share with my son. And it gives us all a chance to come together and create some fun family memories.

But Moms – please don’t make your kids wear their winter coat under their costume. They’ll remember that too.