The best Halloween costume ever

This story was originally titled "Empire of Dreams" in the November 2007 issue. Subscribe to Canadian Living today and never miss an issue!

My son Michael is not known to rush into things. So the year he was eight, on the day before Halloween, it was no surprise that he was still mulling over his costume options.

“You’d better make up your mind if you expect to have your costume made before the Big Day,” I warned. He gaped at me like I was an alien.

“People don’t make costumes,” he pronounced. “They buy them.”

His comment shocked me. Sure, I had bought costumes in the past. But certainly Michael didn’t think all of them were store bought? Wasn’t making your own costume one of the best parts of Halloween?

A homemade experience
When I was nine, I decided to trick-or-treat as a robot. I spent all October taping silver foil onto an egg carton to create my “body.” A foiled shoe box became my “head.” I couldn’t move much, but I was so proud of that costume I didn’t care. I wanted Michael to have an experience like that – a proud, handmade Halloween – and determined right then and there I’d make it happen.

“In my day…” I began, finger wagging. Michael moaned and deflated right before my eyes. I soldiered on. I lectured how Halloween had become too commercial. I insisted we reclaim the holiday by rolling up our sleeves, raiding the rag bag and making his costume.

“So what do you want to be?” I asked.

“Nothing. Now,” he grumbled.

“C’mon. There must be something.”

I could see a naughty gleam flicker in his eye. If he suggested something impossible to make maybe I’d give in and buy him that grotesque Grim Reaper outfit.

“All right, how about The Empire State Building, then?” he challenged.

“Great!” I shouted. “Let’s get started!”

I scooted around the house gathering supplies. Michael trooped behind me, his body language a study in despair.

“Think! What can you use?” I prodded.

He shrugged.

“C’mon, rev up that imagination!”

“A cardboard box?” he offered morosely.

“Perfect! How can we make it look more like a building?”

“Draw windows?” he mumbled.

“And what about the top – what can you use for the roof?”

His eyes brightened.

“What about that piece from my construction set, the one that lights up? If we can make that into a hat.…”

The finished product
We got down to work. With only a little help from me, Michael constructed a sandwich board from cardboard and shoelaces. He laboriously drew about 4,000 windows, front and back. He duct-taped the light-up roof to an old fedora. But something was still missing.…

“You know,” said Michael, eyes alight, “it would be really funny if we had a King Kong….”

We raced each other up the stairs. Down from the toy shelf came the stuffed monkey with the Velcro hands. My old Tootie doll became a knockout Fay Wray.

At twilight on Halloween, Michael donned the sandwich board. He fastened on the monkey and doll. We turned on the hat. Michael was transformed. His face literally glowed.

The lights of New York may have been blinding, but Michael saw a new vista open that night. He discovered that when you make something yourself, you’re also making memories. (And as an added bonus the outfit also netted him more candy than ever.)

Michael, at 15, doesn’t dress up for Halloween anymore. But if you ask him which was his best Halloween, he’ll say, wistfully, “Remember the year I was The Empire State Building?”

Yes, my darling, yes, we do.

Learn how to make the perfect Halloween costume – for less.
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Helaine Becker is the author of Mother Goose Unplucked and the Looney Bay All-Stars series. She still dresses up for Halloween, even if her children no longer do.