Family Halloween Costumes

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Halloween. So, I can’t quite make the claim that we opted into Family coordinating Halloween costumes specifically for the benefit of my autistic boys with sensory issues. But what I can say is over these past years we have definitely found some perks (mainly on the sensory side) to not having all the kids in stand alone costumes. I know, I know… Sounds like a bit of an excuse for this momma that just loves Halloween, but at least hear me out on the perks:

1. More Community Engagement

I’ll be honest that when you have kids on the spectrum, knowing your neighbors and the people in your community is always a good thing. Trick or Treat is a great night to make some quick introductions and having a family costume seems to get everyone talking to you a little bit more. So, we take the compliments, introduce the kids, and have a community who knows us (even if they only remember us for being those whacky people that do family costumes every year).

2. Semi-Regular Clothing Options

One really big perk of the family costumes: You can get away with dressing your kids in almost everyday clothes if need be and they still look like they are in costume. I tend to think of it as doing some of the heavy lifting for my boys. We wear some of the hard costume stuff, like big masks and wigs, so they don’t have to. If you are choosy about your costumes, then you can find a group idea that will allow your child to be in everyday clothes. Clothes that by themselves would not look like a costume per say but do once you are in part of a bigger costume set. My boys have never been able to stand wearing a mask or having anything on their face. They have gotten better with things like hats, but there were some years when even those were a no-go.

3. Learn from Seeing

The truth is, the more you put into something, the more you will generally get in return. The kids have fun seeing Mom and Dad dressed up along side them. We don’t collect candy, but they see us wearing the costumes, walking up with them, saying hi to the neighbors, and it all helps them learn the routine of it all themselves. And over the years they have really come to love Halloween (or at least the trick or treat and candy part) almost as much as I do. They have already been asking the whole month when we are trick or treating.

So, you see, sometimes things just fall together. Autism may not have been the reason in the beginning for family costumes but seeing how it has helped us through the experience in little ways has made it another nice reason to keep the tradition going. I’m sure some day my kids will have no interest in coordinating costumes, but for right now they seem to enjoy it all too. Even if you aren’t rocking the family costumes like us this year, I hope you all have a wonderful and happy Halloween.