Ben is going to be a policeman for Halloween. Grandma Barbara kindly offered to be the Halloween superstore and let the kids pick their costumes from the Lillian Vernon catalogue. They have the best costumes! They are a bit pricey in my book--if I had one child, maybe even two, I'd think about it--but four? That's a LOT of cash! Anyway, thanks to Grandma B., Ben chose the policeman outfit, which I was very happy about. No stupid characters that everyone else will dress up as, and this costume is great because it has accessories. Something that Ben absolutely lives for, and aside from Halloween, he will play with it for a very long time to come.
The girls' costumes are backordered, so I won't go into them. But Ben's costume came on Friday. It has a vest with a mesh front. The back says POLICE. It also has a big blue hat like they wear. But it's the bag that's cool. It came with a duffel bag (also says POLICE) that contains: a whistle with a clip for your belt loops (something Ben can't get enough of!), a badge, an ID holder that you fill out with name, rank, ID #, badge number and even a photo--so we made Ben a Detective. It also has a flashlight (another thing near and dear to his heart), a ticket pad in a leather-like holder with a pencil--and the tickets are quite realistic--AND handcuffs! With keys. This boy is in heaven!
OK, the keys don't actually work. You snap the handcuffs on and the key fits into a hole, but doesn't turn. You actually push a button on the handcuffs that releases them while you pretend to use the key. This made Ben mad for a moment--what do you mean the keys don't work?!--but he got over it. Another thing--no gun. I was happy about that. For parents who don't want guns in the house, we have a surprising number of them. They kind of creep up on you. So it's nice that this costume, which would have been natural for a gun, didn't include one.
He has been playing very involved games in the yard with the costume and accessories. It makes me happy to see him. Another thing I like about the costume is the fact that the dress-up part is just the vest and hat. So no matter what the weather is on Halloween, he will be warm enough. And if for some reason it's actually cold (rarely happens here, but it could) he could even wear the vest over a coat, because it's roomy.
Almost makes me want Halloween to arrive....
Jen
2 comments:
Cool costume! Collin has yet to completely commit to anyone thing. For awhile he wanted to be a pirate again, which was fine with me as I spent so much time sewing it last year and it still fits. Plus no one here ever saw it.
But then there is that draw to be Darth Vadar. And I'm of course thinking, "But I have to BUY all that. There's nothing on it to sew." Which for me at the moment has both it's good side and it's bad! I think we'll be borrowing a DV mask and RED light saber (must be red, can't just hand the kid any old color apparently!) and I'll make a cape and figure something out.
On one hand I'm just feel kind of gypped. I've always made his costumes. Last year I made 5 different costumes for him and friends kids. I like making costumes. But on the other hand, I sort of don't want to drag the machine out. And find a fabric store and all that goes with it. I don't know. I'll guess we'll see!
Either way, I just love Halloween! The kids look so cute, and it's just so much fun. For both them playing dress up and me designing costumes. Plus, after living in the south for the last 10 years, it does really make it start to feel like fall. Wonder if that will hold true now that we are this far south!
Kelly
This reminded me of a rap about how great it is in England (don't ask...) where they mention the fact that British police don't carry guns. I liked the line after, which basically was, "as a result, no one gets killed."
Maybe you had to be there. And hear it in a British accent...
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