Purim Planning 2011

Thanks to Adar Bet, I have been able to procrastinate in my Purim planning this year. In fact, I had kind of skipped over it in my head, skipping happily over costumes and graggers and mishloach manot and moving straight to Pesach stressing. However, once I got recruited to help plan the shul's annual Purim fundraiser, I realized it was time to stop dragging my heels and start preparing!

Even though I'm sure I could put my creative thinking cap on and make a costume from scratch, I honestly just don't have the time, energy, or desire right now. Maybe another year. Maybe. So instead, I will be relying on costumes made by someone else, preferably ones that will be able to withstand multiple uses. I'm already anticipating that YS will need to wear his at school, at shul Saturday night, to shul Sunday morning, and to the seuda Sunday afternoon. That requires a lot of endurance, and a made-by-me costume just isn't going to do.

I've gotten lucky the past few Purims. Thanks to recycled costumes from cousins, I haven't actually had to buy a costume until this year. I tried hitting the stores post-Halloween to get some good deals, but as soon as the clock struck midnight and the calendar changed to November, the costumes were off of the shelves and put away until next year. So, I am actually sucking it up and spending money on store-bought costumes, because sometimes I'm allowed to be lazy and do it the easy way.

Did I say easy way? In my head, this is how my planned conversation with YS was going to go:

Me: Do you want to be a dinosaur for Purim?
YS: Yes! I do! I will happily wear my costume to all events and won't complain a bit.

In reality, the conversations (yes, there were several) went like this:

Me: What do you want to be for Purim?
YS: A moon! And you will be night. And AM will be the stars. And Abba will be the sun.

Will a moon costume be easy to buy online? No? VETO! Try again.

Me: Since "Dinosaur Train" is your new favorite show, do you want to be a dinosaur for Purim?
YS: No. I want to be a window.

VETO! A window? Seriously? While I was happy that he wasn't begging to be a super hero like most boys in his class, I was a bit perplexed at his choice of costumes. Try again.




I sat at the computer for a LONG time and looked through my options on the Toys R Us website. I decided on a cute scarecrow for AM. I figured he'll look adorable even if he refuses to wear the hat.





For YS, I narrowed it down to a few good options and revisited the subject with him.

Me: Do you want to be a dinosaur or a blue crayon for Purim? Blue is your favorite color!
YS: A blue crayon!
Me: Ok, great! You'll be a blue crayon and AM will be a scarecrow.
YS: I want to be a scarecrow! I'll be a blue crayon next year.

So we sat together at the computer and looked for a 4T scarecrow costume, but alas, there was nothing in a reasonable price range. Finally, I pulled up the list of 4T boys costumes and let him scroll through. In the end, this is what we ordered:

Thank you Toysrus.com for making my life easier. Now I just have to pray that they fit and he doesn't change his mind in the next three weeks. Hahahaha. Yeah right. Let's just say I won't be cutting off any tags until Purim night!