THIS MASQUERADE

Charlie went on a play date last summer with a friend from school and when they dropped him off at home, he was wearing a mermaid costume! Apparently, they'd spent the afternoon dressing up in various costumes and Charlie was allowed to borrow the mermaid outfit over the weekend (much to Neil's dismay!).

My homophobic hubby doesn't mind when Charlie dresses as Superman or a cowboy or a pirate, but he's not too thrilled when Charlie dons a chartreuse shirt of mine, which he calls his dress. It seems Neil thinks I could be pushing Charlie down a flowery path that might lead to a career in hairdressing or interior design! (Not to mention the fact that Charlie takes ballet at school!) But I've never coached Charlie in lisping or bending his wrist, I simply encourage him to use his imagination.

I'm usually not bothered by his public displays either. We went with Neil to Brighton when he was covering a race there and Charlie decided to wear the complementary shower cap on a shopping trip. While on vacation in Cornwall, he insisted on wearing his terry cloth shark poncho to dinner. When England was playing in the World Cup, he bought a curly wig with a St. George's flag on it (in other words, it was white with a red cross) and wore that through town.
His desire to dress up has led us to acquire a variety of costumes — some left over from Halloween, and others we've purchased at Woolworth's or Toys R Us. At first, it was difficult to find costumes for boys. Why retailers cater to girls dressing up and not to boys is beyond me. His first outfit was a Peter Pan costume we bought at The Disney Store for Halloween when he was three. He was still wearing it well after the holiday and it's doubled as an elf outfit at Christmas and the Pied Piper (after watching the Charlie Brown video version).

Since then, we've bought a wonderful cowboy outfit, complete with chaps; a fireman's costume; and a wizard's robe and pointy hat. He also has a knight's helmet he sent his dad out to get while he was in York; a bejeweled king's crown; and a raccoon hat that I bought on ebay when he was on his "Christmas Story" kick. Once he decided he wanted to be Cruella de Ville so we bought a yard of Dalmatian-like fur at the fabric store and made a poncho out of it that suited him nicely.

If the particular costume he requires can't be had right away, then we're forced to dust off our own imaginations to address his wardrobe needs. After watching "WIlly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" a few dozen times, he desperately wanted to be a blueberry like Violet. I dressed him in blue clothes, put blue face paint on him and he wore his curly blue wig. Later, I put an old blue shirt of mine on him and stuffed it with old clothes to plump him up!
I've had to make a chef's hat, a mermaid's tail and a kilt from paper. And even my mom had to get in on the act and rummage through her jammie drawer to find a suitable substitute for the green "dress" we'd left at home on a recent visit back to the States. (Fortunately his cousin, Jordan, came over with some gowns later in the week and he was in heaven!)

If you can't come up with what he needs, why he'll make it himself. He once made a costume from paper so he would look like Johnny Torch of the Fantastic Four. He made and colored a firey mask and arm bands and wore them for days.
Of course, accessories and props are a must. There are earrings (one fashioned by Grandma; magnetic ones from Claire's) and other jewelry; hats (from bonnets to helmets); magic wands; swords, hatchets, guns; eyeglasses, eye patches and shades; teeth, noses, moustaches and wigs; and wings, robes and masks.
When we took him to Toys R Us for his birthday last week, he bought a Spiderman outfit (see Shrove Tuesday post) and a pirate's scarf with a skull and crossbones on it (should go nicely with his hook hand, eye patch and skull earring!). He wanted a Viking hat with horns but I haven't been able to find one for kids online. Maybe on our next trip to York...