Tween Halloween — Finding a Costume for a Teenager

So, I suggested an idea that I saw in Real Simple about an old-fashioned jewel thief costume, where you wear a striped shirt, mask and lots of sparkly necklaces. Being a punny sort of girl, I also like their idea of going as a gold digger, where you wear lots of gold — shoes, top and jewelry, and carry a lightweight shovel. However, I know that there are those, like my daughter, who would not dream of going out in something so mundane, so I’ve been haunting (get it, haunting?) sites that have a good variety of store-bought costumes, like MrCostumes, which runs the gamut from Midnight Vampiress to a Glowing Goddess complete with fiber optics. I love their Morphman outfit, which transforms you into a Blue Man Group look-alike. And once I sent the Lite Up Fairy costume to my niece, she promptly put it on, lit it up, and has been the Sparkle Fairy Princess ever since.

Sighing and rolling her eyes as only a teenager can, my daughter told me vampires were so last year, and then declared she didn’t want to sparkle. Alas, she is no longer six. So I suggested our traditional fall-back costume, which requires nothing more than a long black wig, dress, boots and broom.  

Apparently, according to National Geographic, there have been people rocking this look for quite some time. Needless to say, I was then accused of being too old-fashioned. I replied that Danielle at GreebleMonkey looks modern and amazing as a good witch/bad witch. I would steal her ideas in heartbeat. But green is not my daughter's color.