Buying Halloween Costumes in July....

Why am I posting about Halloween already? Ok, be honest with yourself...Have you had a pumpkin latte yet? That's what I thought. It's inherent in American culture to get started buying and celebrating holidays early. Back to school shopping over? Move right on to Halloween. I feel slightly bad for Thanksgiving. We go from jack-o-lanterns to Christmas trees in the blink of an eye. While shopping for turkey, stuffing, and cranberries we are humming along to "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" over the grocery store speakers. By the time we get to Thanksgiving dessert, we're all so pumpkin'ed out from pumpkin coffee, muffins, donuts, soap, etc. that 98%* of us just pass on the pie.

 

* This year I'm bound and determined to be part of the 2% enjoying pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving. I'm currently one month into a pumpkin-ban, and I'm going to attempt to resist any and all pumpkin related treats so that when that cold pumpkin pie (with a ridiculous amount of whipped cream) is served, I can enjoy every bite. 

 

Anyways, back to Halloween - here I go trying to skip over Holidays again. I'm a planner.  You know the type.  Extreme Type-A, daily to-do lists.  So, it was completely logical that when Colin was born, prior to even going back to work I had planned out his Halloween costume and the theme for his 1st Birthday party. For the record, it gets worse with two kids.  Jack's first birthday theme was decided as soon as I found out his due date!

 

Pat - mid-80's

 

 

Growing up, Pat's most loved Halloween costume was a dinosaur.  And since we all know how much the Beirne's like tradition, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to dress Colin in a dinosaur costume.  I bought it on July 23.  Yep, July.  It was a 103 degree day, and I was on the Pottery Barn Kids website buying a Halloween costume (and of course the coordinating personalized trick-or-treat bag).  Before you go thinking that I have the memory of an elephant, July 23 was the day Pat's brother got married, and I remember receiving the email confirmation that the costume would arrive in 7-10 business days just as I left our tiny 4-month old with his very first baby-sitter. 

 

Colin - October 2010

 

 My plan was for Jack to also be a dinosaur for Halloween.  Unfortunately, the costume is a 6-12 month size, and there was no way that if I waited another month that Jack's 24 lbs of pudge would fit into the tiny openings. 

Yesterday was the first official day of Fall, and it sure felt like it.  Temperatures were cool, crisp, and you could just feel a shift in the seasons.  Colin and I went to the "garden shoppe" (everything is a shoppe to Colin, ("donut shoppe", "ice cream shoppe") to buy mums, fall planters, pumpkins, and a housewarming present for "Adam and Winzee".  When we got home, I figured I might as well squeeze Jack into the dinosaur costume and snap a few pictures while still humanly possible.  Squeeze is no exaggeration.  Frankly I'm surprised he was even able to breath in that thing, or his little arms didn't lose circulation!  Maybe they did.  I've never seen a baby so happy to be undressed! He was smiling and clapping like crazy when I pulled that costume off!

I do have to admit  - he made one cute dinosaur.  And yes.  Those are baby argyle leggings (much to Pat's horror). 

Jack, September 2012

 

This year, I didn't buy the boys costumes in July....I slacked, and they were ordered the first week of September.  Jack's costume is an instant classic. It's right up there with Colin's shark costume -  that I bought because he was in a biting phase at day-care ( see related blog post: Don't bite friends, bite food) I'll keep the costume a surprise for now, but trust me, it's a doozy! Happy Halloween!