Costumes Facepaint Masks Hats Child Care Small Children Toddlers Samhain Halloween Fun
Everybody loves to share their favourite holidays with their family, from the oldest, to the youngest and even the animal family members. It's only natural to want to include everybody that matters in our special times, to show them how much we love them and want to share what's important and want to be with them.
Halloween, or Samhain (say: Sow-ain - 'Sow' rhymes with 'how' and 'ain' rhymes with 'pain') is no exception. Traditionally, this is the time when the veil that separates the world of the physical and the world of spirit is thinnest. The dead and the living inter-mix for a brief while and at the end of this period, we must all return to our appointed places. However, tradition says that as the dead miss us and would like us to stay with them, we obscure our identities with masks and costumes so that we can mix with them, but our loved ones who went before aren't ever quite sure enough of our identities to take us with them when they return to the World beyond.
Just like many other important holidays of various cultures, Samhain has become so commercialised that many people don't even know the background or reasons for the traditions they practice and enjoy every year. Still, whether your celebration is commercial and secular, or cultural and religious, costume is a HUGE part of Samhain/Halloween.However, many of the commercially available costuming choices, are particularly unsuitable for very small children. - Of course, we didn't ought to be surprised on this - the way advertising works is to entrap the adults in the situation - to pull on the "aww cute" factor of the parent or other family member, to get them to part with the cash that they control to put the child in their product over a competitors. The well-being and quality of experience for the child, is just not good for the bottom line in the case of most companies.
So how DO you as the parent or carer of a toddler during this holiday come up with a great costume to enable them to join in the fun with everybody else?Well, some things are very, very obvious, others are a little more subtle.
A good toddler's costume for Samhain/Halloween:
- Should not have any sharp edges. - It seems simple doesn't it? - Yet many costumes do have inadvertent sharp and scratchy edges - ruffles would be a prime example. If you ARE going to dress your child as a clown, ballerina, or similar, do thoroughly check all the edges and take steps to protect your child's skin and well-being if necessary.
Likewise masks and hats (assuming your child can cope with a mask or a hat - many can't at this age) - if not a perfect fit, the edges of masks and hats can shift and scratch or dig in causing discomfort and (in a worse case scenario) injury.
- Should potentially not involve a mask or hat. - So many kids find things over their face and on their heads distressing that it's just not worth trying to force the issue. Go with something that looks great without these items.
- Facepaint can be a good alternative to a mask, but again, only if the child is comfortable. Some very small children quite enjoy facepaint, others hate it. Also, you should be careful to use a hypo-allergenic brand, such as Snazaroo and if the make-up involves glitter, be sure to use cosmetic grade glitter which, unlike craft glitter, is not metal-based.
- Should be easy to clean and maintain. - Worrying about dirtying clothes prevents both child and adult from having as much they should, so make sure that you remember that children are inherent dirt and mess magnets and just save yourself time and worry by making sure that you can clean and maintain the costume easily.
- Should allow easy access for nappy/diaper changes. - For a child still in nappies, the whole event will pass by much more comfortably for you both if you don't have to battle through costume to get a change done.Similarly, for a child recently out of nappies, remember they often still receive bathroom need signals on short notice and to avoid accidents, not to mention avoiding the potential for damaging their bathroom confidence in the event of an accident, the newly potty-trained child should be able to undo their clothing easily enough to take themselves to the bathroom.Consider a separate top and trousers or top and skirt over a one-piece.
- Should not have any long cords or other trap and strangle hazards. - Bear in mind that children will wrap things in places and directions that most adults never think of. - Take a good long view at the costume and do a mental risk assessment on bits that dangle or loop.
- It must be comfortable to sit, stand and move about in. Bear in mind the weight also, as well as the fact that small bodies become more tired, more quickly.
- MUST be warm enough, but not too warm. Consider the tog-rating of what you're dressing the child in and set that against the outdoor and indoor environments that the celebrations will happen. Consider using layers and make sure that all the adults in the equation understand that the child's comfort and well-being are the absolute priority (you would not believe how often this simple fact gets forgotten by otherwise completely attentive and doting adults when it comes to holidays)
So what ARE some good choices for toddlers costumes for Samhain/Halloween?- Anything that incorporates "normal" clothing. - Farmer, Lumberjack, Construction worker, Business Person, School teacher, Librarian, Waiter/ess, Pirate are some good options. - If you have children of similar ages/sizes or multiples, you could try dressing them up as each other. - With identical multiple, you might want to include name badges so that others 'get it'.- Animals - Put the child in block colour clothes appropriately, (green/brown/black/yellow etc) use facepaints and safety-pin on paper shapes for tails, stripes etc. Good choices include Cat, Dog, Monkey, Tiger, Dragon, Giraffe, Zebra
- Imaginary animals and items - as nobody knows what these things are MEANT to look like, you have a lot of leeway.
Above all, involve your toddler as much as possible at every step of the process. - Consult them, and try to incorporate any strong preferences and avoid any major dislikes.
