For this post, Twin Cities Moms Blog has partnered with Savers, a thrift store company whose mission is to provide the best shopping experience and selection for it’s customers. Our writer, Maureen, has enjoyed shopping at Savers for years and we know you’ll love the ideas she has for you below.
My childhood was pretty idyllic. We were a happy family with predictable routines and birthday presents and Saint Nicholas and spring break trips and pumpkin carvings each October. My dad worked and my mom stayed home with us while managing to cook meals, help us with homework and sew all of our clothes so she could dress us alike for family portraits. In my young mind those seemed to be the basics of what made life good. And then there was Halloween. Of course my mom never store bought our Halloween costumes. Those also were made with love, by my mother, for each of us four kids.
I don’t know how she did it.
Seriously. Single mom does not factor into this one for me. You could give me a husband or even two to help with the kids and I still wouldn’t know how to sit down and make a Halloween costume for my child like she did! And I’m crafty and resourceful and creative! One of the surprisingly intimidating parts of being a mom has been thinking back to all my own mom did for us and realizing I might not be able to live up to that. It makes me worry that my son may not have all that I did. It makes me want to toss out the idea of Halloween and birthday cakes and all those other things that remind me that I’m not as much like my mother as I’d like to be. {yes, I just said I’d like to be like my mother!}
But then I remember- I’m thrifty and resourceful. I live in a great city where I have excellent thrift stores and garage sales and access to all sorts of creativity inducing people and ideas. And I have a mom and sister who I consider to be the Queens of Pinterest. There is hope for me after all!
My son is three and this is the first year when a Halloween costume makes some sort of sense to him and he has an inkling of an opinion. Now is the time to show him that even his Mommy has it in her to make his costume! So far he’s wanted to be an alligator, Spider-Man and a spider. Easy enough, right? At least it’s not an alligator-spider, although I can’t promise it won’t end up looking like one.
I settled on the spider. This required a little online research and I found an excellent tutorial here which I followed loosely.
Knowing I am not quite ready to tackle costume making from scratch in the same way that my mother did, I grabbed my boy and headed to Savers. Some may call me a thrift store snob. Well, at least I call myself one. There are a few things I feel that I can convince others of and proper thrift store shopping is one. Seriously, about 95% of my family’s clothing is second hand among many other household items and pretty much all of our toys and books. I think I can consider myself an expert! Apparently, I’m not the only one though, seeing as over 80% of our Twin Cities neighbors admit to thrift shopping as well! Why do it any other way?
In the case of the Halloween costume challenge, I decided to go to Savers because a) their stores are huge and filled with Halloween costume ideas, b) there is one right around the corner from where I live and c) if I fail at making something from scratch I know I can find a costume already made! Really, there was no way I’d fail here. Another factor I take into consideration is the way the the stores I shop at give back to the community. This is an important factor for me and I’d prefer a store that benefits local nonprofits. In the Twin Cities, our Savers partners with the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota and the Disabled American Veterans of Minnesota. Plus they have tons of costume ideas online with helpful tips on how to make your own costume. Choosing the store I’d go to was the easy part. Now let’s see if this momma can deliver on at least one of the costumes my sweet, finicky toddler requested!
My son is just as good at shopping at thrift stores as I am. Of course he is, he’s my child. So, our typical routine involves directly heading to the toy aisle to appease his interests before heading on to where I’d like to go. After cleaning up the toy aisle of the construction scene he set up on the floor, we headed straight to the costume area, then the kids’ clothing. Toy in hand, boy in cart- this trip would be a cinch! I figured for this costume I could find most of what I was looking for in the children’s clothing area. Black pants, black shirt, 2 pairs of black socks, black hat and mittens and then off to the Halloween decor area for pretend spider web: check. Price tag under $10: check again. All that was left was a quick stop at the dollar store for some wiggly eyes and thread and we were set.
For some reason I’m always intimidated by needle and thread projects, so I had my hot glue gun and mom on hand for support. And guess what? I did it! Well, with my dear mother’s help, but still in the end I made my son a spider costume and it was actually cute enough to wear to a Halloween party the next morning!
For all those momma’s out there that think they don’t have the time or creativity in them to make their child’s costume- remember me and my brave attempt at making my son the first costume that ever meant anything to him. Granted, he asked for Spider-Man and I made him a Spider-Boy, but still, I think we succeeded. If you have Pinterest, a hot glue gun, and a Savers close by, I know you can do it too! After all, it wasn’t ever about perfection that made me feel loved by own Mom, it was her time and effort and that’s all I really ever remember.
Well, except for that year she made me wear my sister’s hand-me-down Care Bear costume. That was not a happy Halloween!
Here are a couple of other last minute, easy ‘Savers Friendly’ costumes from previous years:
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