The Princess and the Farmer

I think I've mentioned it before, but Halloween is just not my holiday. We never celebrated growing up, so I have no real traditions or memories associated with the day. But now that I have a child of my own, I'm succumbing to the worldly pressures and deciding to go along with the fun.

That being said, I felt under the gun to get Violet a good Halloween costume without spending too much time or money dealing with the hassle of it all. I went from store to store, unimpressed with the selection or appalled at the prices of the cheap scraps of potentially flammable fabric they were hawking as costumes. So when I spotted a beautiful, sparkly, perfectly pink party dress for the same price as a costume, I figured I had it made. Best of both worlds! A costume, yes, but also a dress that Violet could wear again! And it really was beautiful... so much so that I tiny bit of me wished they had it in my size. And that I had a ball to attend.

I was so excited to show Violet and try it on her. She was, however, unimpressed. Okay, full disclosure, she cried once we had it on her. But I brushed it off, convinced that no daughter of mine would turn down the chance to wear such a fabulous frock when the actual day came. I mean, look at it!

She's not crying because of the terrible color combination, I promise.

Well, the big costume parade at school arrived, and as we attempted to cajole her into the dress that morning, Violet flat-out refused. As in, looked me dead in the eye and said "no," simply but firmly. And nothing would change her mind. Undaunted, I took the costume to school and snuck out the door as one of her teachers tried talking her into it. But when I came to get her that afternoon, about six different employees shook their heads before I could even ask how the costume parade went. So what did Violet end up wearing for her costume? Oh, the overalls I sent her to school in.

Violet and her best friend Emma. How cute are these two? They love each other.

Emma the adorable ghost and Violet. A farmer, apparently.

I knew I needed a plan B, and seeing the precious pictures Emma's mom took at daycare gave me an idea. Violet wanted to wear the overalls? Then overalls it would be! A new costume was born - Farmer Violet! The beautiful, sparkly pink party dress went straight back to the store (sniffle sniffle - even the clerk was sad I brought it back), and in its place I bought the ever more practical overalls (the pair she's wearing in the pictures above are actually way too short but the only ones I could track down were from the boy's department - serves her right), a plaid shirt, a handkerchief for the back pocket and a straw hat. All for about the same price, and most to be worn many more times (more bang for the buck).

It was time to debut the revised costume on Sunday for the neighborhood Halloween festival. Naturally, Violet decided to exercise her willpower and almost refused to put it on. (For a while she was running around the house stripped down to her diaper, dodging any attempt at clothing. Only the promise of "outside" made her sit still long enough to dress. She drew the line at the straw hat, however.)

"Do you want to go outside?" "Yesh." "Then you have to get dressed." "Fine mom, whatever, geez!"

Outside!

So, not too bad, right?! I mean, she's no Pretty Pretty Princess, but it's kind of cute. And once we were safely clothed, we headed down to the neighborhood pool area for the party. There was free food, bouncy castles, face painting, games, but of course Violet was perfectly content to just hang out on the playground.

Happy with Daddy.

First taste of a candy apple - she approved.

The only picture I could capture with the elusive straw hat. It took her 3.7 seconds to realized I'd tied it to her overalls.

Some day, damn it, my daughter will wear a princess costume like this.

It's funny, as I was complaining to other parents about how Violet had balked at her original outfit, the number one response I heard was "hey, if that's the worst thing, you have nothing to worry about." And they're right. We have many more years of costuming ahead of us, so many that I might be sick of princess outfits before I know it. And at least I know Violet was happy on this autumn Sunday. So really, that's all that matters.