I have to laugh though – years ago my brother and I were looking through pictures and found one where he and I were dressed up for trick or treating and he had on a white sheet and a Jaws mask (it was the mid-70’s). I asked, “What were you? The ghost of Jaws?” His reply, “Mom SUCKED at costumes.” So I come by it honestly.

It takes a real creative mind to come up with those.

That being said, I have always purchased my daughter’s costume, though it has never been one of those “coveralls and a mask” type.

We encountered one smug mother, when my daughter was in Kindergarten that was like the people you describe. A snarky, “all women belong in the home and not working” type that extolled to my wife and I how she was able to make her daughter’s costume because she was home and able to tend to her needs. I simply responded, that I was quite happy that we could afford to buy our daughter the costume she wanted, and it didn’t look like it came from a second hand store.

End of problem since she now no longer speaks to us (well me anyway).

Of course, you know that means my daughter [and initial evidence indicates, even my 2yo son] LOVES dressing up.

When she was two, I made her a red horse, at her request. The pink elephant I made her at three was quite the sewing masterpiece, if I say so myself.

The 2yo is wearing his sister’s horse costume this year, assuming I can find the dang thing.

But after the pink elephant [trunk and everything...it was awesome], she went store-bought on me. It’s not all bad — I do work full time and so I was staying up into the wee hours for days ahead of time to make these masterpieces. But store-bought costumes feel unoriginal to me. Oh well. At least _I_ don’t have to wear them.