Costume Making for the school is such a Tra-la-la

A comment from one of the hassled moms of a FB craft group I belong to, reminded me of how parents have to sometimes shift all other priorities and get down on the knees and arms, to make their cute kid uncomfortable and ready to throw a tantrum.

Yes, I am talking about all those reasons that schools make you go through the torment of designing, creating  a costume for your screaming, uncooperative devil, all in the name of fancy dress, or Annual day or Earth day, or whatever. Well the problem is that the torment is not limited to oneself. That we hapless moms can still take.

Well torment it still is, even for us moms who like doing anything crafty. Cloth or chartpaper? What material should I use? Some of us can manage sewing stuff, but its usually last minute panic a day before the event, and then we end up cutting, painting and churning out a professional looking costume made entirely of chartpaper. Well, maybe I shouldn't speak for others. But that is so ME!

The torment then extends to fitting, testing it out on the kid. Ok, done that too! Done you think, all set ready?
No, no, hold on! It then continues - how do you send the costume packed in a bag, when the school has a normal working day, and the kid is somehow supposed to dress himself or herself? Ok, detailed instructions to the kid follows. "Tell Akka this string goes here. Wear the shoulder straps first, and then ask Akka to tie this behind. Did you understand? Are you even listening to me, etc.. etc.." Okay packed and sent.

Even if its something like the Annual day, most schools require the child to be ready and behind stage, wearing the costume for hours, so they are ready, waiting for their turn. Parents are usually not allowed to dress their child and drop them off a little before their event. More torture? Absolutely!!

Oh then the other part of keeping the costume intact begins. Kids will be kids, so they run, chase, fight with each other behind the scenes. What better way to pass the time when everyone is stuck up behind their dumb costumes then to tightly hug your favorite friend and try a jump and hop sequence without tripping and tearing. Oh well, seriously, mom, I didn't know that your costume was so flimsy it would tear with one jump with my friend.

Enjoy, my crafty-and-not-so-crafty-costume-making-parent-friends, its all a temporary lapse of reason on the part of the school anyway, one kid at a time, one generation at a time. :-)

Oh BTW, here are two similar costumes, one where darling dotty was a sea-horse, the other a no brainer carrot. Yeah, it gets easier the second time around.