Thanksgiving Spirit
People think that Halloween is the only time of year when it’s appropriate to dress up in costume. I beg to differ.
After many years of joking that “next year I’m dressing as a pilgrim for Thanksgiving,” I finally pulled the trigger in 2013. I cobbled together a costume made of a black long-sleeved dress, my mom’s wide-brimmed hat with a belt buckle around the crown and a white glove tucked into my collar for the signature pilgrim ruffle. The reception was overwhelmingly positive (despite my aunt’s aka the host’s disapproval) and I knew I had just signed myself up for a lifetime of cheeky, harvest-themed outfits.
In 2014 I decided to step it up a notch and spring for a store-bought turkey costume. While my Uncle David loved seeing me dressed as the dinner centerpiece, I felt I had lost some of the creative integrity of my pilgrim get up from the year before. I realized that the art was not only in having the idea, but also in the physical execution of it.
2015 ushered in the era of homemade costumes. Every year between the months of August and November, I spend one day a week crafting my Thanksgiving creations. Come the fourth Thursday of November, I have burned all of my fingertips on my hot glue gun, but I also have an epic costume to show for it. Every year I take on a new challenge, with headpieces that defy gravity or teaching myself how to sew straps to a hula hoop adhered with felt. All of my costumes are made with every-day materials, lots of love, and even more super glue. And with some luck and a lot of convincing, I’ve gotten my family in on the joke, too.
