The Halloween costume they can actually walk in
A costume has one job that nobody prints on the package: a small person has to wear it outdoors, in the dark, for an hour, while walking. Here is how to choose one, from the top down.
I have zipped, pinned and safety-pinned a great many costumes by now — my own two girls first, and these days the grandchildren — and I can tell you how nearly every one of them ended. Not with the costume. With a child in a sweatshirt carrying half a dinosaur, or a princess in a parka, or a very small lion asleep on a shoulder with his mane in somebody's pocket. The costumes that made it to the last house all had one thing in common: they were clothes first and costumes second. So that is how I shop for them now, starting at the head and working down.
On the headNothing over the face
Skip the mask. A small child cannot see well out of one, least of all down and to the sides, which is exactly where the curbs and porch steps are. They also come off within a block and become one more thing you are carrying.
A hood does the same job better. If the ears are on the hood and the hood is sewn to the costume, nothing can be lost, and it doubles as a hat when the wind picks up. A little face paint is fine if they will sit still for it — a nose and whiskers, not a full face. Try a dab on the inside of the arm the day before, so you find out about a rash at home.
For babies the rule is simpler still: nothing tied snugly under the chin, and nothing near the nose and mouth.
On the bodyBuy it a size up, on purpose
Halloween is cold in a good part of the country and merely chilly in most of the rest. The costume has to fit over real clothes — long sleeves, leggings, sometimes a whole coat — so buy it a size bigger than they wear. A costume that only fits over bare arms will end up under a parka, and then what was it for.
Look at how it opens before you look at anything else. A zipper down the front is what you want. A toddler who is newly out of diapers and sewn into a one-piece that fastens up the back is an emergency waiting for the fourth house.
Two more things, quickly. Check the label for the words flame resistant; it takes ten seconds. And hold the hem up against them — anything that reaches past the ankle is going to be stepped on going up somebody's stairs.
On the feetTheir own shoes. Always.
The little fabric shoe covers that come in the bag are the first thing to fail. They slide on a wet sidewalk, they twist around backward, and they hide the one thing a small walker needs most, which is a sole with some grip on it.
Put them in the sneakers or boots they already wear every day. Nobody has ever looked at a photograph of a three-year-old dressed as a bumblebee and remarked on the shoes.
The ones being carried have it easier. Warm socks and a pair of soft booties that actually stay on are all a baby needs.
Clothes first, costume second. The ones that make it to the last house always are.
In the handA bag they can carry themselves
The plastic pumpkin pail is charming for about three houses. Then it starts knocking against their knees, the handle digs in, and it becomes yours. A small canvas tote with a soft handle is easier on little hands and holds plenty.
Choose a small one on purpose. A small bag fills up quickly, which a three-year-old finds enormously satisfying, and a full bag is the most natural reason in the world to turn around and go home.
As for swords, wands, brooms and pitchforks: short and soft, or left on the porch. You will be the one holding it by the corner anyway.
After darkMake them easy to see
Most costumes for small children are dark, and so is the street. Put a strip of reflective tape on the back of the costume and on the bag, and a glow bracelet on each wrist. They will think the bracelets are the best part of the night, and you can count them from the sidewalk.
Give them a flashlight of their own, too. It is half the fun and it keeps their eyes on the ground in front of them.
And go early. For anyone under five, the best hour is the one before it is fully dark: the porches are lit, the big kids are not out yet, and everybody you meet has time to admire a lamb.
What stays on the rack
The mask, for anyone under five. The cape that drags. The one-piece that takes two adults to get out of. The costume shoes, the hard plastic props, and anything with scratchy tulle against bare skin. And the hardest one: the costume you chose, when they have their heart set on another. Let them be the fire truck again. It is their night, and a happy fire truck walks a great deal farther than a reluctant swan.
- Masks on the under-fives
- Hems and capes that drag
- Anything that fastens up the back
- Costume shoes and shoe covers
- Hard props
- The costume that was your idea
Warm, walkable, and their idea.
A good costume does not have to come out of a plastic bag. The nicest ones I have seen came from a children's boutique or a dress-up trunk — a proper fleece lamb suit gets worn for two winters of pretending after the candy is gone. You can find a shop near you in our boutique directory.
If this is the very first one, read how I run a baby's first Halloween, which is a much shorter evening than you think. And if you are the house giving things out this year, there is a list of treats that are not candy.
Children's boutiques near you
Independent children's boutiques and toy stores across the country, city by city — the places that will let you feel the fleece before you buy the lamb.
