October twenty-eighth, it’s awful late in the Halloween season to be buying costumes for me. Usually it’s good to get the costumes out of the way as early as possible, especially when you have three kids. A trip to the Halloween costume store usually can and will be expensive. These days, with three kids, a trip to the Halloween costume store can put you in the poor house. But it’s so much fun, isn’t it? It might be more fun at the Halloween store for adults than it is for kids to be honest. I mean, sure, the kids faces glow with mischief, their eyes glazing over in anticipation as you near the Halloween store, and they get to keep all the candy, but as a parent, you get to watch them be all the things they ever want to be and it only takes about an hour or so.

We hit the Halloween costume store early, trying to avoid the rush. We went right after school let out. Apparently, everybody hit the Halloween costume store early, trying to beat the rush. I knew it was a bad idea to shop for costumes this late in the game. Hundreds of kids were destroying rack after rack, ripping costumes apart like it was wrapping paper on a Christmas Eve present as dozens of hapless parents watched on with tired saggy eyes. Oh the credit card bills, the poor credit card bills…

I took my perch and let the kids have at it, staying out of the way for safeties sake. They looked like a sea of piranhas’ feasting on a wayward hapless cow. The Halloween costume store never had a chance. I eyed up some skeletons and lights and special effects as the kids got down to work, rolling up their sleeves, surgeons preparing to cut the costume store to pieces.

The six year old boy was rambunctious like a small rabid animal. He went from Spongebob to Star Wars to X-Men to Spongebob. He spun around and around picking through so many costumes that his head began to bounce up and down like a deranged bobble-head doll. He lost his bearings from the dizziness. I really thought he was doing an excellent impression of Katherine Hepburn until I realized that he was six years old and had no idea who Katherine Hepburn was. He was the first to settle on a costume, and off he went to try it on.

Next, it was my ten year old daughter’s turn. She was coy but was obviously excited to be at the Halloween store. Her eyes sparkled as she picked through witch costumes, Barbie costumes, and so forth, until she settled on some glamour costume. Off she went tiara and all.

Finally it was down to me and the teenage daughter who was w-a-y to cool to go trick-or-treating. We sat there, waiting while the children tried on their soon-to-be newfound bounty. I could see her staring to sweat ever so slightly out of the corner of my eye as her eyes fixed on a devil girl costume whose skirt seemed far too short to me. She didn’t say anything, but I could see her lips tremble. I reached in my pockets, fished out the rest of my money and handed it to her. Without saying a word, she took the money, retrieved the suit, and disappeared into the clothes changing room.

Thank God Halloween only comes once a year.