It's Halloween!!
10/30/2020
I love celebrating Halloween and dressing up. I love the cold crisp air and the eerie sort of wonderful that occurs when there’s a bitter cold breeze on Halloween night. I’ve come to accept Michigan’s Halloween weather and in doing so I just tailor my costume around whatever the evening brings us. Easy for me to do as an adult but kids obviously have a harder time being practical in their costumes choices. Costume picking has been much different since Holden was born. For one thing, we never get to experience the joy and anticipation of seeing what he will pick out, because he can’t tell us what he wants and he can’t see or reach to show us either. So we pick it out for him, which isn’t a terrible thing but I do feel like we have to be pretty practical when picking out what he will wear.
Stores have come a long way in recognizing the need for “wheelchair” costumes. In the beginning it seemed to basically be a cardboard type decoration to go on the wheels of the wheelchair or around it. I’ve never bought one because I think they look a little cheesy for what you are paying. They are about $50 on average with most upwards to $100. Then you also have to add the price of an actual costume on top of that. The industry has come a long way, but we still have a long way to go to bring those prices down to better serve the handicap population. Most of the families that could benefit from these types of costumes are already on a tight budget.
This year I noticed that Spirit Halloween came out with a wheelchair costume that is more tailored to the child in the wheelchair rather than the wheelchair itself. There are only two options, boy or girl, but I think they are super cute. It is more of a decorative blanket that pulls over the foot rest of the wheelchair to give it a more streamlined look. They are only available to purchase online but they appear to be of good quality and fairly priced at $40. You can view them by clicking on this link for boy or this link for girl. I think they are pretty awesome and could be used as a cute blanket year round since they appear to be very simple to put on. Definitely a very competitive option to the other type of wheelchair costumes out there.
There will always be a part of me that is sad about how practical we have to be when choosing a costume for Holden. What is the material made of? Is it itchy? Can it breath or will he get too hot in it? It is warm enough? Is it too thick? Does it have a tag, if so is it in a position that won’t bother him? Does it have accessories that he cannot tolerate? Will the costume make sense if he doesn’t wear the accessories? If it doesn’t make sense to others, does it really matter? Can we access his G-tube easily? Is it easy to clean if he has an accident while wearing it? These are the literal thoughts that I have when picking out a costume. This year I went super basic, a one-piece pajama type zip up of Harry Potter. A nice thin material that will be easy to layer if we do take him out and the zipper gives us easy access to that G-tube. And since it is basically just a pajama, he can sleep in it as well. I can’t wait to dress him up in it and enjoy his complete cuteness because he is just so darn handsome!
From our family to yours,
Happy Halloween!
