Growing up, I always envied the kids in our annual Halloween parade who had the pretty Dorothy or Disney Princess costumes from Party City. They always looked so pretty, and their costumes looked exactly like they did in their movies. My costumes, however, were never like that. I never understood why at the time, but my mom had a vendetta against store bought costumes. Instead of going to Party City like everyone else, my mom took my siblings and me to Goodwill or our grandmother’s house to raid her closet or the playroom for costumes. One costume that I particularly remember was my sixth-grade costume where I was a gypsy. I begged and begged my mom to buy this super pretty costume from the catalogue that came in the mail, but she held strong. I was going to have to make my costume myself. We took the annual trip to Goodwill, and I went to work. By the end of our shopping trip, I was able to find a skirt, shirt, and a headband for about $20 cheaper than the catalogue costume would have been. I was then able to find a shawl at my grandmother’s house. By the time I went trick or treating, I was so proud of the costume I had made all by myself and kept getting compliments from all of my neighbors. It was after this that I realized my mom was onto something when having us make our own costumes. Through doing this myself, I learned how to search for deals in stores rather than buying what was most convenient (and ultimately more expensive). I also could be proud of my hard work. I did it all by myself, and everything I used for my costume I could reuse again instead of the store-bought costume that gets thrown away after one use. Looking back, I am so happy my mom had us make our own costumes, and even when I got old enough to buy my own, I still found myself missing the “good old days” where my imagination and craftiness could go wild.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Scranton chapter.