WorkingMums.co.uk | Faking it: the working mum´s guide to making school costumes

Faking it: the working mum´s guide to making school costumes

Date: 6:26pm, 14 Feb 2008

It's the moment you've dreaded. They've come home with the inevitable note that their class is holding a special let's all be Romans week or a medieval pageant. Your child has been selected to be chief spear carrier [actually this would be fairly easy to cater for - what about a children's tv characters day with your child due to be Spongebob Squarepants...]. As the school anticipates that you have hours on your hands, as always, they have given you a couple of days max to get this ensemble together. What do you do? Don't panic. WorkingMums is here to help you:

1. Breathe deeply. Sit quietly for a few minutes/hours.

2. Have a stiff drink or at the very least a hot chocolate.

3. Consult friends. They may have a spare Spongebob outfit from last year. Especially consult friends with children in the year above - teachers, like everyone else, often recycle the same ideas. Do a round robin email at work. Someone somewhere must have some expertise in this area surely.

4. Consult magazines/books/the internet. Ditto above. If you haven't heard of Spongebob, you will need a crash course. It is important to know your subject. Small people get VERY upset if you get it wrong. Research is all. If you get the research right, you can scrimp on the actual execution.

5. If you can't come up with a fantastic costume made of natural sponge with attached gadgets and you can't afford to hire one, think creatively. Go for a whimsical take on Spongebob. Get a bathroom sponge and cut it into small pieces and glue it onto a pair of swimming trunks. If you don't have a sponge, use anything that even remotely ressembles one [kitchen utensils are handy here. Raid that box of old broken toys that you've always been meaning to clean out]. Paint child's face with lipstick freckles. Give them a snorkle. Glue pictures of Spongebob onto their old clothes.

6. Involve the kids. They will like the costume more if they had a hand in it and will be less inclined to think it was thrown together at the last minute in the small hours of the night.

7. Don't involve the kids in the design. They will want all kinds of high-fallutin stuff. Say your design is extra special. Do a big sell on it. It's quicker than having to do a proper costume.

8. Try to ensure the glue is sufficiently strong that the whole costume does not disintegrate before they get through the classroom door. You know it'll only mean tears.

9. Make sure they can move in it and it is not a health hazard either to your child or others.

10. Smother them in face paint - if possible something gory like fake blood. I know Spongebob isn't violent, but kids love fake blood and it can make a talking point for the costume. Make-up can detract tremendously from a clapped out costume. Take photos before they leave the house and humiliate them by placing them prominently all over the house when they are teenagers.