32 days...

October 2006 Calendar
Originally uploaded by buggs.

so, we got the newest issue of lilly's kids.... it's their "halloween hauntquarters" issue with costumes, decor and more (oh my!)

and as always, the paloma just HAD to thumb through it. i usually ask her to circle the stuff she likes and tell her that we'll look it all over later and decide on a costume... in the end, we don't buy a costume.

the thing is she will usually get a hand-me-down unisex costume from an older cousin and she's usually fine with it. her first year, she was an oblivious bunny. her second year, she was a pissed off sunflower. her third year, she was a purple dragon with wings. and btw - if i got a dollar every time i had to say, "BARNEY DOES NOT HAVE WINGS" - i'd be... i'd have a LOT of dollars.

the reality is she's frickin' three and a half years old now. as long as she goes to bed with a bellyfull of candy on oct 31, she won't care if she wore a brown paper bag on her head to score it all. but, she really does seem to care this year. she really wants her own costume that she's picked out.

the weird thing is as we're perusing each page i'm getting more and more bummed out about the whole costume thing...

first of all, in the catalog, there was ONE asian girl model and she was the "sweet and sassy ladybug". neither the fracking "exotic empress barbie costume" nor the "pink dragon ninja" nor the "red dragon lady costume" were modeled by asian girls. i mean, if you can't put the lone asian model in more than one costume - can you, at the very least, stick her in the costumes that the general public will ASSUME an asian girl will be wearing on halloween!? (just kidding... sorta...)

second of all, who can explain the totally uninventive and unimpressive state of costume design and production on the market today? there is no reason why costumes should be as expensive as they are. trust me - having overseen the entire production of THOUSANDS of garments (from design to sourcing to manufacture) overseas - i know of what i speak. and with the countless number of animated and sci fi fantasy films, you'd think there'd be more of a selection for kids and teens. last year, either EVERYONE was wearing the scream mask & hooded cape or the same pimpled pre-teen rang my doorbell from 4 pm until 9 pm.

anyway, there's this part of me that wants to dress the paloma in anything she wants... see her want list below (sorry, i don't have time to link 'em all):

captain jack sparrow (ok, w/ me)
elizabeth swan, pearl of the caribbean (wtf? NO way...)
darth vader (ok)
yoda (FULL ON!)
batgirl (ka-POW!)
deedee doodle (F*CK NO)
magical genie (maybe, she thinks it's a jasmine (as in aladdin, not american idol) costume)
pterodactyl (not my favorite)
t-rex (RAWR!!!)
palomino pony (LOVE it!)
robbie the robot (danger, danger, mamazilla!)
bumble bee fairy (uh, let me think about it... no.)
stephanie from lazy town (see deedee doodle)
soda shop sweetie (possible)
pet shop poodles (also, possible)
spider web ghost (this would scar me for life)
wicked witch of the west (why!!??)

but there's this other part of me that's wondering if i should take this opportunity to educate the paloma (as well as our neighbors, i guess) and dress her up in something out of the ordinary, maybe something that actually reflects her asian/pacific islander side (since the thin man is a grumpy ol' mope who doesn't give a rat's *ss about halloween. even though, halloween originated in ireland - ye olde land o' half his ancestors).

but i don't necessarily want her to be a hula girl ("a super fun costume - in light weight padding to give our sexy hawaiian girl the curves that make her super sexy") or a geisha ("taking a break from the massage parlor...") from a geisha house (i don't think i EVER want to eat there even IF ashton kutcher and wilmer valderrama claim their goal is to make me climax.)

...or mulan, or jasmine (from aladdin or american idol), or cho chang, or lea salonga (circa les mis' or miss saigon), or michele wie (although that would be kinda easy)....

i mean would it be so wrong of me to dress her up in a maria clara dress?



we could compromise and i could get one that's pink and frilly or something and she could tell everyone that she's a filipino cinderella (known in some filipino folktales as "abedeha"). or i could also dress her up like one of the philippines native tribal people like the ibaloi or the igorot. filipinos also have a bevy of mythological creatures, good and bad, that she could choose from, as well as our own comic book heros and heroines. i could go political and dress her up like cory aquino or give her a wagon full of shoes and say she's imelda (but that would be all kinds of wrong. funny but wrong...).

and what if i gave out filipino candy, like polvoron and sampalok, instead of bite sized snickers, milkyways and kit kats? i found this awesome online store call pilipinomart.com where i could easily get filpino groceries delivered to my door!

i know what you're thinking - "ok, if you're prepared to do all that work, only to get your house and your child, mercilessly egged and tp'd and lathered up with shaving cream, go and get yo'self on the 10 o'clock news..."

i figure if i'm going to go thru all that trouble anyway, why not do it with a little inspiration, a little thought, a little passion.... i dunno... maybe i'm doing this more for me than her - as a child, we didn't really have money to buy store bought costumes. and it was always so cold by october, that i was always wearing a winter coat and boots over my homemade ghost costume. by the time, i had money to buy/rent a halloween costume, i was skilled enough to go ahead and make one (and there's NO way that the paloma's walkin' out of this house in one of my old costumes until she can spell "burlesque" and perform a routine legally.)

in the philippines, we could be celebrating a little differently - much like monkeysteez did in her post here. i mean they do the costume/trick or treat thing there too but, we could chuck the costume ideas altogether and just party down with some ancestors. but, that would just break the paloma's heart.

oh, we'll see... the countdown and the costume search continues...

omg. i just realized, i'm going to go thru this all over again with the porkchop aren't i.

f*ck.