Part of my parental status that I can’t wait for is making Halloween costumes. My mother also did it for me – also very skilled – turned the red cotton cardigan and straw hat into the hull of Captain Hook, using decorative, felt and feathered feathers. I imagined a similar embarrassing feat, I have no price.
Boy, I am wrong.
Knight work: My son Jude cares about his costume for the first year in 2013, he wants to be a ninja turtle – Leonardo, blue. This is not surprising. TMNT is the only show he watched on Nickelodeon.
I accepted the challenge, even though we moved into a new apartment just seven days ago, all my craft items were buried in a box. I used what I had – cardboard from recycling bins and construction paper – and made a flat back panel and a front shell with a plate pattern. He already has a plastic samurai sword and blue eye mask.
This is not a perfect implementation. People mistake him for the medieval knight because his flat shell looks like armor. Of course, I had to buy a long-sleeved green shirt for $5. But, hey, it’s $30 cheaper than the clothes that the store buys.
So, go back to the shell. This time, I asked Pinterest about the idea of making a round shell. Ah! Several Pinners instructed me to buy an aluminum foil baking tray in a dollar store, spray it green, and then use a scaly rubber sheet made of paper to stick to the back. It seems easy. To save an extra $3, I skipped the spray and relied on the acrylic paint I already had.
Blunder. Acrylic paint does not stick to foil.
As soon as it is dried, it will peel off. At that time, I should have gone to the hardware store to buy the paint from Pinterest. But instead, I doubled my acrylic paint.
I put it deep in the crowd, only dry with the help of a hair dryer. I mixed it with other paints I used and Elmer’s glue to increase its viscosity. With pure willpower, it still exists. The shells only last Halloween night, but at least everyone knows that my son is Raphael, not Sir Lancelot.
Total cost: $11 ($1 for foil, $10 for green sweatpants, and many people are frustrated.)
Shelling: By 2015, I am looking forward to trying new outfits. My son’s love for TMNT was squeezed out by other interests such as Lego and Super Mario Bros. I hope to make up for my earlier efforts. I asked my dear son what kind of person he wanted to be.
“A young boy is a variant of a ninja turtle,” he said. Alm, please help me.
Jude Herron, a TMNT garment purchased in stores in 2015, is priced at $11.30.
Jude Herron, a TMNT garment purchased in stores in 2015, is priced at $11.30. (Photo: Janna Herron)
I have not seen Pinterest. I did not consult YouTube. I went directly to Amazon Prime and bought TMNT clothing for $11.30 – or less than the clothing I used to make the same costume two years ago.
I ordered a larger size to hedge my bet next year. That was when he was dressed as Mario.
