Hello! A mum I know has just shared an after-school Halloween activity in her neighborhood and I thought I could pop in with my 4yo tomorrow evening.
I mentioned to my child I may have time to buy a costume before we go. My husband was really annoyed by this, as he thinks (and I mostly agree) it's wasteful and terrible for the environment to buy single-use outfits of polyester. We normally buy second hand clothes for children and often for ourselves too and don't buy many, if any, plastic decorations for Christmas, Easter, Diwali etc and I don't mind, in fact I really like this about our family.
However, it's too late to organize a borrowed costume, and I also know that sometimes it just feels nice to have a proper superhero or pumpkin outfit from a shop. I usually did not like the cardboard creations my mum always came up with at last minute when I was a child, and don't want my kid to be disappointed. We also have another event next week, and a younger child who could use the costume at least a couple of times before we pass it on so it will not be SO bad to have a costume at home.
Now, Halloween is not something we ever celebrated as children and it is something we associate with American culture, but I know the origins of the celebrations are not American, and as my kids are British I think it's part of their heritage in a way now. Apart from being annoyed about the costume, my husband also didn't like the idea of sweets - and this whole thing just makes me want to just give up and not even try as it will either end up in my child being disappointed by lack of costume (maybe I'm projecting onto him though and he won't care?), or endure silent treatment from husband for daring to buy a tacky outfit and joining in on the fun.
Deep inside I think the idea of Halloween appeals to me as it offers a different perspective on death and passing than the one I grew up in, and in a way it could offer my youngster a different perspective to think about death later on when he's a bit older.
What are your thoughts on finding compromise in a situation like this? Atm I feel like my husband is just sapping out all joy out of my idea for a nice afternoon.