Putting a price tag on a tradition
I have made Halloween costumes for my kids every year since they were babies. For 10 years now September and October has found me studying patterns, shopping for fabric, and sewing far into the night. It’s a time of year we all look forward to. At first I was realizing my vision, now I’m realizing theirs. Sewing, and especially costuming, is one of my passions and I love that I can use it to make something magical for my daughters. Amy and Mia start thinking about Halloween costumes as early as May and though their ideas usually change several times, they eventually come up with their perfect costume, complete with sketches and a color palate. I’m glad I have enough skill to take what they’ve drawn and turn it into a living, breathing 3D representation straight from their imagination. But…I am wondering if it’s time to end the tradition and as usual, the reason is money. As my knowledge and skill level has increased, I am no longer satisfied using cheap fabrics and finishes and as they girls have gotten older their ideas have become more elaborate. I started doing this to save money but now it’s become the opposite and it gets more expensive ever year. I have excused the expense in the past because the girls would play dress up a lot and could wear their costumes throughout the year. But that has changed and they’ve worn last year’s costumes only a handful of times since Halloween. It is becoming harder for me to justify spending so much money on something that will get so little use. My birthday was this month and my parents and in-laws always give me money. For the past five years, my birthday money has bought costume supplies. There are other things I want to buy with it but there has never been money for costumes in our budget. So every year I’ve spent my birthday money thinking things will get better soon and I’ll be able to pay myself back. But things never get better and I never get paid back. This year things are more strained than ever and my birthday money should probably go to bills or groceries rather than to fabrics. We could find ready-made costumes that would cost half the price and take none of the time. They would be cheap and flimsy, but if they’re only worn once or twice, they would suffice. But they wouldn’t be what my kids have asked for. They wouldn’t be what they have imagined. But does it matter? Isn’t it only a costume? Am I placing too much value on this? But how do I explain it? When I’ve sewn for them every year, can I just stop? What do I tell them? I don’t want to tell them the truth. I don’t want them to worry about money more than they already do. They’ve heard enough that they are already sensitive about how much things cost. I don’t want them to think that their dreams are too expensive.
2 Responses to “Putting a price tag on a tradition”
Leave a Reply
September 25th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Is there any way that you can reuse parts of past costumes? My mom made my costumes for me through high school when I discovered you could wear scrubs on Halloween and people would think you were dressed up. Now I make my own costumes, for Halloween, for book character day at school, for theater parties. I try to reuse pieces if I can and rework them into new costumes.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:17 am
I would go back to using cheap fabric, not breaking the tradition. I had little or no money when my kids were that age and used mostly stuff from thriftshops for costumes. Curtains, old skirts and blouses. It wasn’t perfect, but they loved it anyway. Sewing with cheap material can be less appealing, but it can also be a challenge. At least that’s the way I see it. Even now, with finances up to a level I would have never imagined fifteen years ago, I never buy the expensive stuff. I like the hunt for beautiful and payable fabrics.
My children never suffered knowing we had little money, by the way, they just accepted it. It helps when you don’t make a problem of it, just state it as a fact (”that’s too expensive for us”). Maybe you can bring them to the fabricstore or market and let them choose themselves out of fabrics that fit your budget? That changes the “make exactly what they want” tradition slowly into a “let’s make costumes together” tradition, which could be just as good a memory for them later.
Oh and spent a little of that birthday money on yourself. You deserve it!