Costume Drama

Another Halloween has passed. Let’s put this one in the ‘underwhelming’ category. Alice and her friends came to that consensus about the party they attended last night, and I’d say it’s a fitting description for this year’s holiday over all. Yes, Halloween happened at our house – we decorated, gave out candy, carved a pumpkin and watched something appropriate for the occasion. But the decorations just came out yesterday, we were left with lots of candy due to meager traffic, the pumpkin is now in the sole possession of the neighborhood squirrels and I had to sit through a truly horrible film (Coppola’s Dracula). It was, just OK.

But leading up to Halloween things felt pretty familiar around Alice’s costume choice. Every year she agonizes over what to wear. She did this as a kid though I’d try to set a decision deadline of September 30 to give me time to find or make her costume. It’s gotten a bit easier since she’s taken over nearly all aspects of pulling the costume together. And this year she had a truly great idea: Vampire Barbie. Trendy, ironic, and she looks the part. Alice even made a t-shirt with the Barbie name and found a light pink tight fitting mini skirt. She’d experimented with make-up to be appropriately ghoulish and had the fangs.

And then…

She decided against it  – no, she felt compelled not to wear it because of the thing that every teenager fears: being associated with a former boyfriend when you are “so over him.” Alice learned that the Ex had a costume selected for him by his friends and that he was going to the party as Malibu Barbie. Cute idea, if she wasn’t also going as Barbie. For them both to show up a la the Plastic Princess of Abnormal Body Proportions would seal the idea that they were still going out. And Alice would have none of that.

She was back to square one. And spent two days back in agony trying to figure out what to be, and what to where. And believe me, nothing that I could say would shake this resolve.

But her friends did. There were six of them buzzing around the house yesterday in preparation for the party. They were loud and chatty and happy and quite fun to listen to. One of them marched into the kitchen and informed me that Alice WOULD go to the party in what they wanted her to wear. Five friends clearly trumps one mother. And when they left, Alice was, in fact, Vampire Barbie.

And the Ex didn’t even show up.

~ by modelmom on November 1, 2009.