When choosing her costume this year, Emmalynn decided to be Ariel again.  Any other parent would simply let their child wear the same costume again two years in a row, but not this Kodak capturing moment  slightly OCD momma.  Besides, last year the poor thing kept tripping on her fins and shredded the bottom, which is a perfectly good reason excuse to buy my little princess a new costume anyway.

Given that my Emmalynn is the messiest mermaid in the sea, I suppose it wouldn’t matter if she wore a torn costume because she would just stain it and rip it regardless.  However, this fashion savvy momma simply couldn’t allow her child to repeat the same costume, despite how funny it would be years from now.  So, a trip to the Disney store to purchase the 2008 Ariel would be inevitable.

Last Halloween, Emmalynn wore an Ariel costume from Target because it was much cheaper, I knew she would destroy it and I didn’t like the look of the Disney Store’s 2007 Ariel costume.  Ariel costumes should have pretty sparkly fins not tied-dyed hippie trim.  Besides, Emmalynn loves Ariel, therefore a mermaid costume that resembles Ariel was a must and the costume selection was winner with Emmalynn.  She continually displayed her affection for it as she jumped about pretending to be Ariel breaking the ocean’s surface and saying “Splash!  Splash!”

Each year on Halloween morning, Allana’s school hosts a literacy parade.  The idea is to have the children dress as storybook characters and carry a book which matches their costume.  Since Allana loves fairies, I tried to encourage her to dress as a fairy from one of her favorite Rainbow Magic books.  I explained to Allana that she could simply pick one color, like red, and pretend to be Ruby the Red Fairy.  It would be a lot cheaper, easy to do and demonstrate some real creativity, but alas, she wasn’t enthused by my ingenious idea.  With that, we searched catalogs and strolled through the costume aisle at Target, but nothing seemed to catch Allana’s interest until our little trip to the Disney store.

All the glitzy merchandise of the Disney Store enticed my oldest daughter on our visit to purchase Emmlaynn’s 2008 Ariel costume.  Although I tried to only purchase one costume that day, we left the store with two: one Ariel and one Tinkerbell costume complete with battery operated twinkling wings, of course.  Fortunately, with the release of Tinkerbell’s new movie, there are plenty of books on the shelf to pair with her costume for the literacy parade.

A couple weeks later, as Halloween (and Allana’s Scooby Doo Birthday Party) drew nearer, Allana changed her mind and decided she wanted to dress as Daphne for Halloween and her birthday. 

“But what about your Tinkerbell costume?”

“I”ll be Daphne for the Moms on the Go Halloweeen party and the school parade, because I have lots of Scooby Doo books.  Then, I’ll be Tinkerbell for Halloween night and I’ll be Daphne for my birthday.”

“Um…no.  I don’t think so, dear.  Pick one costume.  It’s either Daphne or Tinkerbell.”

“I want to be Daphne.”

So, I returned the $40 Tinkerbell get-up and bought her a $20 Daphne costume from Target.  Both girls looked adorable for the party.

After Halloween, I buy Halloween costumes 50-75% off as Christmas presents to add to my girl’s dress-up boxes.  Last year, I bought Emmalynn a Scooby Doo costume for $3, which she never played with until last week.  A few days before Halloween, Emmalynn pulled out the Scooby Doo costume and demanded to be Scooby Doo for Halloween.  Though it was too late to return her Ariel costume to the Disney Store, it’s never too late for eBay. 

Luckily, the weather cooled down in time for Halloween and Emmalynn’s Scooby costume fit her like a pair of cozy pajamas.  Seeing Emmalynn in that snuggly Scooby Doo costume materialized images of me wearing a plastic Scooby Doo mask and costume as a young child. 

Years from now, when my girls are flipping through our photo albums, Emmalynn will ask why she was forced to dress as Scooby Doo when her sister dressed as Daphne.  At least the money I save on Halloween costumes can be used for therapy.