Buy Nothing (New) Challenge: Halloween

I admit it: I'm one of those moms who kind of likes making her kids costumes. Not that I'm a "seamstress" or even "a passable sewer." I really don't know what comes over me. Any normal person would 1) Ask the child what he/she wants to be for Halloween and 2) Buy it. End of story.

But not me. In years past, I have 1) Seen a clever "easy-to-make" or "no-sew" costume idea in a magazine, 2) Somehow convinced my child that that is what she wants to be (optional), 3) Driven to two or three stores to buy the items needed to make the costume, 4) Puzzled over the directions ("Easy, my ass!") and 5) Stayed up hours to make the costume. The result is something vaguely resembling the picture in the magazine and twice as expensive as what a costume at Target would have cost. But it's handmade. Right.

Halloween 2007: Drake was a pirate, Gracie was the Little Mermaid, and I, because I wanted to be obtuse, was pirated software. That's a hardware key around my neck and a picture of the software pinned to my jeans. I thought I was just so clever...

Both kids have adored this donkey costume. In fact, Drake calls all sweaters & jackets "donkeys" because of this costume.

So here we are: another Halloween. On top of everything, I had this brilliant idea not to buy anything new. Apparently, I just love making my life more difficult. I can't even buy the makings for a costume. But hallelujah! I'm saved! Drake's daycare is having a fundraiser where people donate old costumes and then you get a credit towards buying one. Or, in our case, since we didn't donate a costume, you can just buy one outright. Which is what we did.

One morning, I was dropping him off. He saw the costumes. I found his size. He picked one out. I paid for it. DONE. Even better, it was handmade! Some sort of super hero. I think it's Robin. It made my entire day. Now I just need to work on two costumes: a Nature Fairy (Gracie) and a Black Widow Spider (me).

How about you? Are you "Buy" or "Make" when it comes to costumes? What do your kids prefer?