Captain Wombat is...a Weaponless Viking?!?

As a crew that dresses up multiple times a year, for various themed parties, our costume bins - yes, plural - overfloweth with good stuff. From horned Viking hats to fluffy feather boas and from pirate eye patches to Smurf hats, we have it all. But, still, choosing a Halloween costume is always torturous, complicated by the restrictions that the School places on the day: no masks, no weapons, and only facepaints that the kids can apply themselves. Can you say "disaster"?

Dylan, dubbed Captain Wombat by his teacher, decided that he wanted to be the dingo from the book Wombat Stew. He planned to carry his stuffed wombat in a soup pot; we glued some white fur onto an orange t-shirt and an orange tail made with a kitchen towel onto a pair of old sweatpants. He found a fuzzy little half mask in the costume bins. Maybe it's a lion. Who knows? But it's the right color and he likes it. Revisit the school rules: no mask.

Tears, lots of tears. Riley suggested we make a headband with orange ears. I told Dylan that he could paint whiskers on his face. No, he wailed, I need my dingo mask to make the costume be correct. Oh, brother!

So, he's abadoning the dingo costume for school altogether, but will be sporting the whole outfit - with mask! - at our Halloween camping trip this weekend.

But for his school celebration, he decided to be a Viking. Then I reminded him that he couldn't bring a sword. Remember the no weapons rule. More tears. He concluded that "if a Viking lost his sword, he would just stab his enemy with his horns." So, now he's okay being a resourceful, weaponless Viking. Fantastic!