Not a simple costume- a giant leap for our family.

As Jordan entered grade school he became self-conscious.  By the time he was in 3rd grade his Halloween costumes consisted of simple costumes; train engineer and baseball player- as he was ill at ease to dress up as anything that would draw attention to him.  It did not take long before he was content to stay home and hand out candy.  As Chance has come along I have embraced any inkling he has to dress-up.  This year he wanted to be Lucario- a pokemon.   We could not find a costume and I also knew that he has pretty much outgrown the kids costume sizes... we learned that when he wanted to be a fireman in kindergarten, I had to cut his fireman costume from the year before and add duct tape to alter it.   So we started the quest to make our own Lucario costume.  Chance and I headed to the local fabric shop armed with a picture of Lucario and raided the clearance rack.  We purchased some great finds and Chance had fun picking out just the right colors.   I was going to have the middle area yellow-- he said,  "No it needs to be skin color."

Chance designed and sewed the ears.  We used plastic canvas mesh and we cut it to the shape of the ears, sewed it together with yarn and stuffed it with batting to have to give it dimension.  Chance loved being a part of the creation.  Here he is showered and ready for bed- he was quick this night because he wanted to help.  

I spent the week putting  his mask together.  It was required by Chance that no one be able to see him, so I had to create a mascot type mask.  He needed to be able to see and breath, all while no one could see him.  I ended up using a bicycle helmet to hold the frame I had made out of the canvas.  I was not really pleased with the end result... but I had to keep reminding myself that is was okay and the more I worked on it and added details it did not look so bad.

By Thursday evening the mask was done.  We spent all day Saturday making the rest of the costume.   As we got nearer completion I reminded Chance that he could not wear his mask in the church when he went to the trunk-or-treat.   He started to ask questions like "So do people laugh when you wear a costume that does not look very good?"  "How about I wear my Ninja costume (last years) to the trunk-or-treat and wear Lucario on Halloween?"   Luckily we had lots of time to talk as he worked on his 13 days of Halloween book for school and I sewed stopping to measure him and have him try on bits and pieces for fit.   I did make it very clear that he was going to wear this costume... he wanted it, he will wear it.    As the trunk-or-treat hour drew nearer, his tension increased; his heart was pounding and he was sweating.  I knew because I was still finishing up and he was trying on this piece and that.  I was giving him lots of encouragement because I was worried he was going to revolt and not wear it.  He refused to let his dad see it on him and Scott was pretty sure that Chance was not going to make it to trunk-or-treat  as Lucario.    I am happy to say he did, he was very brave!   As we got out to the Tahoe, he said, " I'm a really nervous."  I held his paw, well actually his arm- the paw was too big and we entered.

He was quiet and sweet and went to a line to try his paw at hitting the cans.  The kid in front of us, a middle school aged,  turned around and looked at Chance.    The moment of wondering what he will say has me anxious... he speaks, "Are you Lucario?"  Relief... the costume is recognizable even without the mask.  I could hug the kid- thank his parents for not keeping him from Pokemon cards.   Two other teenagers identify him also... one gives him an extra piece of candy because Pokemon are cool!  He likes that and his confidence soars.

Chance plays a few games on the side, he is happy.   I feel claustrophobic, it is so crowded.  It is cumbersome for him to move with the tail and paws for hands and feet.  Lucario- is like a wolf, you know.

We made sure we had a stop at the portraits.  Mark is our Webelos leader and a few years ago we had him take our family pictures.  We have a nice 16 x 20 in the living room.  We really like it.   For the website for Mark's Portrait's, click here.

As the portraits cycle through on his website you will see the picture of our family. 

Mark donates his time and supplies every year-- he would really like to do photography full time-- it is what he loves.  In the meantime he works at his job because it pays the bills. 

This picture of Chance is not as good as the original-- that would be because I do not scan, I just take a picture with my digital camera.  Much easier since my laptop and printer are wireless-- scanning needs a direct hook-up, my computer technician has not taken care of that for me.

So the costume turned out to be just what he wanted and as we walked back to the Tahoe after having our fill of games, hotdogs, nachos and trunk-or-treat-- He said,  "That was not so bad!"  I am glad he faced his fear-- not about things that go bump in the night- but the fear of self-consciousness.  I was glad he was brave, he is a good example for me.

Lucario Costume Total Cost

$16.00 + all those batting scraps I saved from quilting

3 days of labor

Seeing his happy face- made it all worth it!