The Trash Can Costume

We had a pleasant Halloween experience this weekend. Well, pleasant except for the last-minute costume making, but who can I blame for that but myself?

Jacob decided several weeks ago that he wanted to be a trash can for Halloween. I'm really not sure where this idea originated from, but once he decided, he was set on it. I think part of the motivation was that he wanted to hide in the trash can and then jump out and scare people when they came up to it. Or perhaps he was hoping for a trashcan full of candy, but either way, he was determined that this the only thing he wanted.

Of course, I worked on his costume the way I work on most projects, which means I waited until the day before the event to even start thinking about it. A quick Internet search came up with some ideas, and the day before I sent Jason out for a plastic Rubbermaid can. The morning of I took out my trusty heavy duty scissors, a utility knife, some duct tape, and some odd nuts and bolts. A few hours later we had this finished product:

The person beside Jacob is his friend Josh, and I'm kind of glad that he's incognito here, since I certainly didn't ask his parents if I could put his picture on the blog.

The truth is that Jacob wore the lid/hat for about 10 seconds longer after this picture was taken. For some reason he just didn't like the tight elastic under his chin choking him.

The costume was very well-received and received many comments during the evening, but I think that's because it just stood out from the Walmart costume crowd. A stranger even asked to take his picture as we were trick-or-treating later in the evening. Jacob did say that there were some disadvantages to it, though, as people (that we knew) kept throwing trash at him. Plus one person suggested that he might be dressed as white trash, and others were guessing Oscar the Grouch, which of course was not correct.

In the end, Jacob didn't meet either of his costume goals, or at least the ones I imagine he might have had. We had to cut a hole in the bottom of the can for him be able to wear it, so any candy (or trash) thrown in there fell right through. Plus, he found that he was unable to scrunch down and hide in the trash can without getting his legs stuck, severely inhibited his ability to jump out and scare people. At best he could just topple over and lie on the ground calling for help, body wedged in tight, and feet waving out the bottom. Scary, no. Funny, yes