When I was a kid, my mom would go all out for Halloween costumes. She handmade costumes months in advance: Little Miss Muffet dress with matching felt spider; princess dress with wires sewn underneath so it would poof out like Cinderella’s; and when I was 12, she transformed me into The Love Boat™

Yep, I’m not kidding … the ocean liner.

Remember that ‘80s show with Captain Stubing and Charo? Well, my mom convinced me that unlike my friends who chose to dress up as Julie, the bubbly Cruise Director, it would be much more exciting to be the actual “Boat.” So, I hoisted a rounded cardboard creation around me while holding a mini tape recorder that played “The Love Boat”™ theme music. The costume was awkward to walk in, but hands down, it was pretty darn cool.

So here I am with 2 kids for whom I’ve always wanted to hand-create costumes. At least, that was the plan. 

Every summer, I confidently ask Elle what she wants to be for Halloween. I’m ready to craftily transform her into anything she’d like.  In fact, I welcome a challenge. A princess? Well, how about a princess with a handmade crown and scepter? Or a princess with a pet dragon somehow affixed to her gown? 

By September, reality has caught up with me and I’m ready to take a more toned-down approach. A princess? OK, how about we use last year’s holiday dress as a base, and then Mom will go to the craft store and sew on some jewels? 

By October, I’m convincing Elle how, “Actually, your 2010 holiday dress looks sooo princess-like AS IS.”  

By this week, I’m just trying to make it to Target before all the costumes are sold out and she has to dress up with some creepy-looking clown mask.

Fortunately, any holiday where you show up on strangers’ doorsteps and get free candy is going to be pretty forgiving to moms. Any epic costume fails I make will surely be forgotten by the time the M&Ms® and Tootsie Rolls™ are dropped into my kids’ Halloween bags by the fistful. But it doesn’t assuage my twinge of guilt that I didn’t craft the costume with my bare hands like my mom always did.

Q: How are you going to get your kids’ costume this year? Are you the “Chief of Costume Creation” or an “Off-the-Rack Mama”?