I was at Target, looking at the empty Halloween costume aisle. I was trying not to cry because all the good costumes were gone or cost sixty dollars. My eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, looked at me and said, “Mom, maybe we could just make something?”
The divorce was final three months ago, and I’m still learning how to make every dollar last. Halloween used to be her dad, Jeremy’s, job. He’d take Sophie to a fancy costume store and let her pick whatever she wanted. This year, it’s just me. I only have a twenty-dollar budget and no idea how to be a crafty mom.
Sophie wanted to be a rain cloud. That seemed impossible, until I remembered I had some fluffy stuffing (polyester batting) from an old project. We found a yellow raincoat at Goodwill for eight dollars. Then we got blue felt and ribbon at the dollar store. The total cost was twelve dollars.
That night, we spread everything out on the kitchen table. Sophie helped me glue the stuffing to an old party hat while I cut raindrops out of the felt. She was so focused. I realized this was the first time since the separation that we’d worked together without her asking when Daddy was coming home.
I posted a picture of the finished costume in a parenting group on the Tedooo app and asked if it looked okay. Dozens of moms shared their own money-saving ideas. Three people actually asked if I would make costumes for their kids. It looks like there’s a big market for handmade Halloween stuff on that app. I ended up selling two more cloud costumes that week.
On Halloween night, Sophie was smiling so big as our neighbors told her how “creative” her costume was. She kept telling everyone, “My mom made it!” with so much pride that I almost cried.
Sometimes the best things happen when you can’t afford to just buy your way out of a problem. Jeremy can keep his credit cards—we’ve got imagination.
#Halloween