Trick-or-Treating (7)

Subtitle: "Recycling Halloween Costumes."

I was always a fan of recycling Halloween costumes from year to year amongst my boys.  It was one of the ways I tried to be green, long before being green was as laudable and politically correct as it is today.  I didn't see the point in purchasing new plastic swords or new silly hats from the party store, or coming home with yards of new fabric from JoAnn's, if I had perfectly good leftover costume-makings in the attic that could be reused instead.

If you are a regular reader (bless you, by the way), you might recognize this recycled costume that my baby wore for Halloween 1995, when he was almost 3:

Yes, it's a costume I'd made way back in 1989, when my four oldest sons dressed up as tigers and leopards--long before this little guy was even born; it's the very same costume, in fact, that son #3 was sporting in last Thursday's post.  As I noted in that post, I think it's pretty much an indisputable fact that little ones look positively adorable in Halloween costumes that involve animal ears, and I think this photo bears that out.  I just don't know why my baby looks so glum here.  Hasn't he been briefed that before the night is over, that plastic basket of his is going to be filled with candy?

I just have to pause here to say this.  I'm so happy that my daughter-in-law and son #3's sweetheart both requested that I keep showing these old Halloween costume pictures until October 31, because every morning I wake up and one of my first thoughts is, "I've got to look through my photo albums!"  And what a fun way to start my day!  What a great activity for this mom whose nest is much too empty nowadays!

Okay, moving on.  I can't even remember the last time I looked at this picture--also from 1995--of sons #3 (9) and #4 (almost 8):

These two boys, like their mom, had no trouble recycling costumes.  You might recognize son #4's glorious ninja costume, which he's wearing in the picture from last Wednesday's post.  That boy never got tired of dressing up like a ninja.  Getting a store-bought costume, which was something I avoided whenever possible, turned out to be a very good investment in this case.  He got at least one more Halloween out of it, and then his younger brother resurrected it about five years after this picture was taken.

When I first looked at this photo, I couldn't figure out what son #3 (that cute kid!) was supposed to be.  The party store bowler-derby hat was used the following year for his hobo costume (again, see last Wednesday's post), but he didn't exactly look like a hobo here. Then suddenly, my memory was jogged: that year, he'd told me he wanted to dress up as A MAN.  So I found his dad's 1970's-era polyester three-piece suit in the attic, got him the hat, and painted on a mustache. My husband and I laughed when we broke this picture out. The man costume is just too funny.  "Now that's original," my husband said.  "It would have been easier if he'd just wanted to go as a boy," I joked.  But all I can say is, at least he didn't want to be a woman and dress up in drag.  I would have had to put the kibosh on that one!  And while this costume was very simple in concept, I just love it--and I'll take it over a Freddy Kruger costume any day of the week!

I really must thank you for putting up with this trip down memory lane, which has been highly entertaining for me.  Just two more days of costume pictures to go.  Stay tuned!