From the Backseat #8 Party Clothes

After a fun weekend with family in town, Monday came with all of its normal stuff. Just to add a different flavor to the first day of the week, there were preparations to be made for a “Space Party” at the kid’s school the next day. The teacher had assured me that the kids were to “come up with their own costumes and do it all by themselves.” I had smiled and said something like, “What a great idea!” while I secretly rolled my eyes. “All by themselves”. When does THAT truly start? Did she really mean it? Will all the parents really let their kids do it “all by themselves”? Standing there, I remembered hearing about a traumatic experience of one Mom sending her child to “Western Day” in a cowboy vest crafted from a paper trash bag while other kids rode their ponies to school in full rodeo get up. As I turned to walk away from the classroom I was already hopelessly pulling things out of the dress up box in my brain and then I heard the teacher say, “All YOU have to do is send a ‘space snack’ for each class”. A "space snack"? The ease and lightness in her tone suggested there was a “Scrumptious Space Snacks” cookbook on every Mom’s book shelf. Space snack, space schmack. Oh boy.
After I decided I was willing to chance the “traumatic”, I let the kids do what they wanted to do for space costumes. At first, Brighton wanted to draw rockets and “tape” them all over his clothes, but overnight, rockets morphed into stars. He wanted to be the night sky. Julia decided to wear all black disguising herself as a black hole. Fine. Easy enough. I found a star template online and he went to work. I safety pinned his carefully cut stars to his black t-shirt. Done. Check. Just before bedtime, we located Julia’s black long sleeve t-shirt and leggings making sure there wasn’t a need for yet another load of laundry. Found. Check, check.
Once dressed on Tuesday, Brighton’s grin said it all. He was thrilled with his creation. His bright yellow stars suited him perfectly. On the way to school, the seat belt became his worst enemy threatening to rip (and bend) his stars right out of the sky, but somehow, we made it to school with all stars intact. When I left Juila in Spanish class with her fellow space friends, she looked more like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face than a black hole. Can I just say, she was a pretty cute black hole? After school, they were full of “space snacks” and not of the lunch that I sent, of course. With no thought of leaving the leftovers for the next class’s party, Brighton had stashed the plate of rice krispy stars (of Bethlehem) and round brownie planets in his backpack. You can imagine how well they stored sideways with no wrap. His backpack will never be the same.

As I heard about shoe box jet packs, space ice cream, and space rocks, we drove to Hobby Lobby where I had one return to make. As Brighton was standing to get out of the backseat, he looked down and saw his now very crumpled stars which were barely hanging on. Just short of panicky, he yelled, “Momma, I need to get my shirt off!” “C’mon, B. I’ll get it when we get back to the car,” not wanting to unpin each star at the moment or send him in donning a white t-shirt 2 sizes too small. Not happy with my answer, he started pulling at his shirt, trying to get it off. I walked over to his side of the car and said, “What’s the matter? I thought you liked your costume?” His head found its way out of a hole and with much anxiety and a smidgen of panic, he said, “I doooooooo, but Momma, there is NOT a party in Hobby Lobby!”