Handmade costumes- are they a thing of the past?

by Cristina of Cristiny Hurley Jewelry Design

I make my daughter's halloween costume every year. It is something that gives both my daughter and I a tremendous amount of joy. This year, she wanted to be a giraffe, and she wanted to go to the Halloween festivities at the Bronx Zoo.

Of course, once we got there, we HAD to go see her brothers and sisters:

As we walked around enjoying the day, we began to get a huge response from everyone there. Many people were amazed and impressed by her costume. What we also began to realize was that we were the ONLY ones there with a homemade, handmade costume.

My daughter walked around the zoo, pretending to be an exhibit escapee, and hamming it up with all the kids and adults. Many took pictures of themselves along with her in her costume. She was very happy and proud of all the attention she was getting.
We both began to wonder, and she flat out asked me why there weren't more homemade costumes. I was kind of surprised myself that there weren't more, or ANY for that matter. Are homemade costumes becoming a thing of the past? I ALWAYS made my costume when I was a kid. Store bought costumes seem so expensive to me too, for what they are. Of course, I understand the reasons behind it, we as parents in this day and age are so super busy. I can see how a costume would be a low priority on the list of important things to get done.

But you know what? My daughter was so ecstatic, it was worth every minute I spent fighting with the felt and my glue gun. It was worth it to stop working on my bills and my problems for an hour here and there, to see the look on her face when she put it on for the first time. When the day was over, she made me promise to never buy her a costume, to always make it with her. I urge more people out there to give it a try, you won't regret it. It may not come out as good as you want it to, or look kind of silly, but it won't beat the happy feeling you get out of it!

We had a wonderful time.
:)