Creative concoctions perfect for family fun

A mime can easily be made at a moment's notice, one mother says.
By SARAH A. CART
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
October finds families engaged in a revealing ritual. The practice helps parents and children learn more about one another. About how different they are from one another.
Their tastes. Their values. Their senses of humor.
What is this touchstone experience?
The annual choice and acquisition of a Halloween costume.
Homemade wonders: Although some families refuse to engage in the experience until the last possible moment, others, particularly those with sewing talents, face it head-on long before Oct. 31.
"Once the fabric's been bought, the decision's final," declared Struthers resident Nesha Kovalick of her daughters' choices.
And in the spirited discussions over the various costumes that preceded this year's trek to the fabric store, Ms. Kovalick reminded the girls of a few ground rules.
Those rules, she explained, can be evidenced in this year's most luxurious item, to be worn by the middle daughter. It's a velveteen cape for the storybook character Hermione Granger, the girl who counts as one of Harry Potter's best friends.
Family doctrine demanded that the fabric be washable and that everyone accept that the resulting cape "will be subjected to multiple interpretations in the years to come."
Meanwhile, the youngest daughter will be going as a Chinese child with parasol (borrowed) and socks or slippers, the details of which were still being negotiated.
The family's oldest daughter, now in high school, declared two years ago that she'd outgrown Halloween and the need for a costume. But twice now at the last minute she has changed her mind, dressed all in black and headed out trick-or-treating.
No limits: For 9-year-old Elena Cvetkovich of Youngstown and her mother, Karres, the choice of costume is a celebration of creative possibilities.
"I was a fairy last year," Elena confided.
This year? "I'm going to be a mouse." Pause. "Or a wizard." Long pause. The glint in her eye seems to say, "Or a fairy."
The indecision is no problem for her mother. "She always comes up with something special," Mrs. Cvetkovich said. She observed that Elena loves to dress up year-round. As the basis of most of her costumes, she wears a leotard. Then, like a painter with a canvas, she accessorizes.
Often, families with multiple children lose track of the calendar. Mere hours before trick-or-treating is to begin, costumes from previous years emerge from where they have been haunting the underside of beds or the backs of closets.
Or Mom's favorite white sheets are whipped out of the pile of clean laundry and eye holes for a ghost are snipped before Mom has a clue.
Improvised mime: One household often enveloped in a last-minute flurry of activity is the Hays family in Boardman.
A few years ago, the annual costume panic resulted in a miniature mime, dressed in black beret, white shirt and black pants, with the child's face painted white on one side and black on the other.
"It worked so well," recalled the mother, Priscilla, "one daughter did the same thing three years in a row."
For some people, creating a child's costume can be one of life's greatest challenges. Former Vindicator columnist Jane Tims used to tell a story of sitting at the sewing machine wrestling with a thick, wool-like fabric. The phrase "Scram, damn lamb!" comes to mind.
And others have to wait till nearly the last minute before inspiration strikes -- this writer, in her first experience as a mother at Halloween, for example.
Creative spark: One costume had already been bought for the 13-month-old, but on the morning of Oct. 31 a second trip to the store was made, this time for two pieces of 18-by-12-inch posterboard, markers and a bit of ribbon. Next, one card from a deck of cards was sacrificed to the cause. The card, front and back, was penciled with grid marks, then each piece of posterboard was similarly lined.
Many hours later his father arrived home to find a sandwich-boarded Jack of Hearts.
As a finishing touch, the young mother lipsticked a heart on each of the boy's cheeks. That resulted in her first lesson regarding Halloween. Buy cold cream beforehand and then use it; that's a lot easier than having to employ industrial-strength detergents to get face paint off pillowcases.
What about dressing appropriately for the weather? That's a whole other opportunity for parent and child to learn more about one another. About how different they are. Their personal thermostats. Their ability to tolerate discomfort. Their common sense.