... and present

We're big on mermaids in this house. Or at least we are trying to be as an antidote to the whole Disney princesses cabal. And so it came to be that little miss bear's Hallowe'en costume this year was to be a mermaid. I took her ratty Ariel costume that I purchased at the Japanese Baptist Church rummage sale for a couple of dollars and bedecked it with beaded and sequinned fabric cut from a 1980s disco outfit (that's what the tag claimed it be at the recycled clothing store).

It was absolutely serendipitous that the lines on the blouse perfectly echoed the shape of a mermaid's tail. I used some quilted fabric that I had lurking in my stash from a thrift store purchase many moon's ago as reinforcement and also as a lining to make the outfit warmer to wear. And I sewed all of this by hand.

Then at about six o'clock yesterday evening, little miss bear decided to wear her fairy wings and be a fairy, just like last year. There was much effort at coercion but no, she had made up her mind. So we went to the nearby (fabulously outrageous) trick-or-treat locale, had a wonderful time and all lived happily ever after.

ps. Some weeks ago at the playground I overheard a couple of girls negotiating how to play vampire mermaids; how cool would that be?

pps. I'm hoping that the costume will still fit her next year. Maybe by that time she'll be into vampires as well ...