No longer are the days when my daughter twirls around in a puffy princess costume or as a fairy. It's a shame. It was so easy to pick out a costume off the rack, select the size and know it will fit.
We have now hit the "tween" stage. Avery now fits adult sized clothes. And if you haven't noticed, most adult halloween costumes for women show too much skin, too much leg, and are completely inappropriate for an 11-year-old. It's incredibly frustrating as a mom - I don't want to send my daughter out on the streets looking like a street walker.
I have learned to get creative with the costumes, and turn to Pinterest and online shopping to create a good, age-appropriate look.
Our plan of attack to find the PERFECT tween costume?
1. Decide on a few themes. Because it can be hard to find exactly the right fit, style, etc for my daughter, I don't let her get her heart set on one theme. If she can give me, say 2-3 themes, it helps us keep our eyes peeled during the big search.
2. Take to the Interwebs. I hit Pinterest with the themes in mind and see if others before us have recreated the themes.
This worked particularly well last year when Avery wanted to be "Luna Lovegood" from the Harry Potter series:
We were able to purchase the wig and glasses on Amazon and picked up the skirt and stockings at Forever 21. The jacket happened to be in her closet (crazy - I know).
If that doesn't work, or we are lacking in the creativity department, I take to Google Shopping to search many sites all at once. Pair it with Amazon and you have a pretty deep search engine. I used Amazon to provide quality feedback on any and all costumes I could find. This was incredibly important in terms of fit, wear-ability, fabric (not itchy) and quality.
3. Be patient. Finding the perfect, appropriate costume takes time. Even if you go to Walmart, Target or Amazon to shop, sifting through the numerous costumes takes time. Stick to the themes, and work with your daughter so she'll be happy.
I sent my daughter about 25+ suggestions over the course of several evenings and weekends. We started early September, but didn't decide upon the costume until mid-October. I had to realize that she's a different age. She has opinions and so do I. I want to make sure she will be warm on a cool Colorado evening. She wanted to make sure it hit the "cool" factor that middle schoolers want.
4. Compromise. As parents, we have to understand that what we want isn't always what our children want. This is especially true for Halloween. My daughter originally wanted to be a Greek Goddess. The first thing to cross my mind was TOGA! TOGA! TOGA! Yep, not the best example for sensible costumes. But, I kept an open mind and worked with my daughter to find appropriate options. Unfortunately, what we really liked sold out.
That's ok - at least I was open to compromise.
5. Enjoy. Once you select the right costume that meets your criteria and your daughter's, enjoy. She may not be a princess anymore, but she's still a beautiful sight (even if she chose to be a zombie princess).
This year, I ended up ordering a costume online. The one we chose specifically had comments in the reviews that made both of us happy: the outfit was comfortable, it covered well, I could easily add layers underneath it if it were cold, and it fit well with most.
We just got the costume in this week and did a trial run. We took a few pics and sent them to daddy. He absolutely loved the costume - just as much as we did. Our search for an appropriate costume was a success.
Now we have to wait until October 31st to reveal it!
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