I love Halloween.
When I was a kid it was always fun and as a mom I loved collaborating with my husband to make costumes for our children.
Even as an adult I’ve enjoyed dressing up, although it doesn’t work out every year. In 2010 I showed up for work at the Prince Rupert Daily News as Miss Fish Farmed 2030. I was a combination of a lobster and a salmon.
Last year I was a woman warrior and the year before I grabbed a black wig and came to work as “Black Pressed.”
Peeling back the layers of my memories, the first costume I remember wearing was a fox.
My mom had a fox tail so when our kindergarten teacher helped us make our own masks, I knew exactly what I wanted to be.
While I was out trick-or-treating with my dad, that darn tail kept falling off.
Mom had bobby-pinned it to the back of my jacket, but it wasn’t working.
Every few houses I’d realize my tail was gone so dad would walk back and find it for me.
One year a local organization hosted a Halloween dance party for youngsters and my neighbourhood friend and I attended.
I was in ballet and got a brilliant idea we should wear black leotards and body suits and go as salt and pepper. I fashioned hats that looked like salt shaker tops.
By the time Halloween arrived we were always already so full of candy. My elementary school held a Penny Carnival with lots of treats. Each grade had its contributions, ranging from bingo and the white elephant table to a haunted house or in my Grade 7 year, a seance.
Our classmate Shauna dressed up and as younger children timidly approached she said: “Eenie Meenie Jelly Beanie the Spirits are about to appear.”
We all giggled behind the curtains.
My husband is more crafty and creative than I am when it comes to making costumes.
When our eldest was in kindergarten the two of them sat at a table, cuting out and colouring hundreds of feathers for a bird costume.
Later when Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter were favourite bedtime reading material, we created Legolas, Malfoy, Ginny and Harry Potter costumes.
We didn’t own a sewing machine in those days so I’d start looking in the thrift store a few weeks in advance to see what could be transformed easily.
For several days we’d be working with scissors, a thread and needle to complete costumes in time.
There were standbys like a super warm dragon costume that every little boy wore. I made a long cloak out of a sheet with a fur-trimmed hood, that was recycled throughout the years.
Today our youngest is 15 and said Thursday his gang is going in themed costumes to school Friday because a friend’s grandma made them outfits.
That’s great, I told him, and then sighed, realizing those days of making costumes for our children have vanished.
Monica Lamb-Yorski is a staff writer with the Williams Lake Tribune/Weekend Advisor.