Let's say your little boy is obsessed with the color purple. "Ur-ul! Ur-ul!" he says approximately every 4.5 minutes, because that's his way of saying "purple." And let's say you are in Bed, Bath & Beyond on a Saturday and a salesperson walks by carrying this extremely large plastic bag. And it is purple. Gloriously, stunningly purple.
"Where's that from?" you hypothetically ask.
"It's from the bridal registry," she hypothetically answers. "You want one?"
You get excited. You're not sure you felt this giddy when you registered for china. Because the wheels are spinning in your head and you are thinking, "Wow, that could make for one cool Halloween costume." You nod enthusiastically and she hands you the bag. You have absolutely no idea what you are going to do with it, but hey, it is big. And it is PURPLE.
Would that be so wrong? Wouldn't your child be purple-tastic, the very thing that would make him happy? Wouldn't it be so recessionista fab of you to make a costume instead of shelling out money for a getup your child will wear for one day? Or would it be denying your child some quintessential child right to an amazing Halloween outfit—one that's not fabricated from a free plastic bag from a housewares store? Would it be Bed, Bath & Beyond Awful?
And, out of curiosity, what sort of costume could one make with a giant purple plastic bag, anyway? Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Hypothetically one could be an eggplant. Or perhaps a very ripe blueberry? Or a purple people-eater?
ReplyDeleteA crayon, a plum-dandy, Barney, monster, a Barbapapa??
ReplyDeleteOr if you were 6, you could cut a head hole in the bottom. You could guild your lily, get him knock off purple crocs and consider purple cosmetics, if you dare - eyeshadow, even lipstick or nail polish. Top it off with a multi colored (or purple) wig from Walgreens/Walmart. The two of you could have fun . Pair it with a boa perhaps,or a lei, costume jewelry... He could be the movie The Color Purple perhaps.
ReplyDeleteI love the color too, you may have noticed. If the bag has the store name you could even attach items bought from such a store - a cute bath puppet, a pretty face cloth kitchen implements... one is only little and infatuated, could it be so bad? But, remember, I would like a picture. You two, HAVE FUN.
P.S.
ReplyDeletePardon my ignorance- What is a Barbapapa?
isn't the grimace from MCdonald's purple? Or the shake thing- i forget what they're called. One of them is a big purple blob. THough arguably it is a lot worse to glorify mcdonald's then it is to make a costume. I ALWAYS had homemade costumes and I dont think it' s about the recession its about love and effort and the fun of the process.
ReplyDeleteHypothetically one could be a dinosaur, or a spider, or an aubergine (yes, I saw that already mentioned). And yes, totally, Barbapapa.
ReplyDeleteMy kids old preschool/school didn't allow shop bought costumes in the Purim constume contest, so all their costumes were handmade. They still are. And they are not traumatized, so Max should be fine, too!
You could wrap that plastic bag around a tube with armholes and a cone hat, write CRAYOLA on the side, and he could go as a purple crayon!
ReplyDeleteI found me a three dollar fat girl's prom dress at the Goodwill--I'm gonna be Glenda the Good Witch of the North!!! I'll be escorting Spiderman (a recycled store-bought costume) and Dracula!
I'm all for cheap! Addison was a marshmallow one year, and last year's costume was borrowed. I bought her a kitty costume this year because she preferred it over the monkey we already had.
ReplyDeleteI'd do a purple crayon. Not sure how, so no help there. ;)
I'm reporting you to CPS. I think the new jumpsuits in the women's prison are purple so perhaps you could take that bag and wear that - save the taxpayers some money.
ReplyDelete*just kidding*...maybe.
As for Max - how about you put a vine on his head and he could be a grape!! :-)
They have that little creature on PBS. I don't remember their names but they look like drops of rain, there are red, yellow, blue and purple ones I know. My little girls loves to make them dance on the website. She is going as a skunk. Recycled hand me down dance costume.
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope it's okay. My two sons are going to be robots. This is due to a few facts: 1) I have a bunch of boxes in the garage 2) Kam's in a wheelchair and they are kinda hard to disguise and 3) Kobi (the other son) thinks being a robot would be cool.
ReplyDeleteThere you go.
I'm all for it!
I would cut leg holes in the bottom, put his arms through the handles(obviously have clothes underneath) and "fill" with items like he went shopping. He would be a shoppin bag:) Have fun with whatever you do!
ReplyDeleteohh he could be "galatic goo" or a poisonous jelly fish.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, I filled a dark colored garbage bag w/ balloons, wore white gloves and went as one of the california raisin guys.... He could totally go as a blob of grape jelly... in search of some peanut butter and bread (or you could try to make those part of the costume...). Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent idea.. we were just talking about (at work here) how all kids costumes these days are so "fabricated." We we're all reminising about how our costumes as kids were made from pillow cases etc. etc. He could be a bunch of grapes... pair his purple bag outfit with pinned on (carefully of course) purple balloons!!! and voila he's a bunch of lovely grapes :) orrrr if you want something less produce like haha he could be a purple transformer!! I think you would have to use some creartivity for that one.. like hockey gloves and pads or something..? ?? Can;t wait to see the posted pictures after halloween!! :)
ReplyDeleteI vote for California Raisin, all you need is some white gloves and giant silly sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking a wizard--that looks a lot like a wizard's cape to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm all about doing it on the cheap--Charlie is wearing the same costume he did last year because he was only in it for about half an hour last year.
What about just being purple, like a brush stoke? Or a jelly bean.
ReplyDeletePurple is as purple does.
ReplyDeleteAll Max probably wants to be is purple. So, let him be the thing that excites him the most!
(or be the crayon, since he does love Harold's purple crayon.)
What's wrong with just being a "concept" and letting him go as purple?
ReplyDeleteAnd how do you know he isn't asking you to link a tweet to him; he might be saying "url"
xx
Wow, great ideas! Particularly just letting him BE the color purple, because costumes don't get much easier (or cheaper) than that. But I'm thinking Max might prefer another idea here, so I'll just leave y'all in suspense till Friday (the day of our town's Halloween parade). Hammie, your tweet comment made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of being purple as well. It's so representative of being a kid. Sometimes you want to be a fire truck when you grow up, sometimes you want to be purple for Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI also think Harold and the Purple crayon might be fun. The bag already has squiggle-like crayon markings. You could wear the purple bag and just be Harold. Tape a few purple crayons to the front...maybe purple yarn to make a 3-d crayon line coming away from it. I loved that book when I was young.
One purple polka dot :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is Joyce. I just wrote a little post that you will want to check out.
ReplyDeleteOh. I love it!
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was a flying purple people eater....
But after reading through the suggestions, I love the idea of a crayon.
How about a One-eyed, One-horned, Flying Purple People Eater like the song from the 50s? Lots of fun things you could do, and a song too!
ReplyDeleteHow about cutting the sides down and making a cape from it. He could wear a purple shirt and sweatpants. Put a yellow P on his chest and he's The Purple Avenger! or some other purple super hero
ReplyDeleteYes! Max could be a "one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater." He'd love it, and so would everybody else. Now, about those wings...
ReplyDeleteI love all of the creative ideas! If he tolerates ballons, you could add a bunch of them to the outside of the bag and have him go as a bunch of grapes. My sister did that one year and it was very cute!
ReplyDeleteI love the frugal ideas!
I'm with Sheryl...I'm totally picturing Grimace from McDonalds. Get him some purple leggings, a purple long sleeve shirt....stuff the pejeebies outta the bag...and away he'd go!
ReplyDeleteOr slit it open and just let him be Captain Purple in his Purple Plastic Cape!