Saturday is Vermont Comic Con! So, what did we do on Friday? Took the family to Party City for costumes.

Once upon a time, I sewed gorgeous costumes for myself and my kids, just like my mother did for me when I was a kid. At other times, careful planning and store-bought pieces resulted in some great outfits. We’ve rocked the matching costumes many times, from my tiny dragon and princess, to the characters from Oz, to Alice in Wonderland.

This year is not so organized.

To be honest, although I had a great time at the first ever Vermont Comic Con last year, this year it didn’t show up on my radar until friends started sharing the ads. We thought we’d be in the midst of moving or unpacking now, but instead we’re still waiting for the house to be sold and for my hubby to get a job in Colorado. (He’s still employed here in Vermont, with the same place for more than fifteen years.)

My girls were very disappointed that I did not take them to the Steampunk Festival with me last weekend. To make up for it, we told them we’d do Comic Con as a family and they could have costumes and everything (within reason.)

Early in the week, I started brainstorming our family cosplay. Something fun and creative that could subtly double as shameless self-promo for The Cities of Luna. Last year, my teen donned an astronaut costume and I wore a ‘Mission 42‘ shirt in honor of the upcoming ISS mission.

Then I started asking my girls what they wanted.

For a brief time, they both wanted to be Batman. Last year, we got excited when we finally saw a grown-up one, since most of the Batmen were smaller than my youngest girl.

Other ideas came up, and I decided that, promo be damned, we’re just going to have some fun. We’ll walk into the costume store and let them both pick out what they want.

Mommy says “scary is OK, but no gore” which made zombie costumes difficult, but not impossible. However, my 7yo was frustrated that all the cool masks stunk, and were difficult to breathe in. She did say the line “Are you my mommy?” while wearing the gasmask, even though she doesn’t remember that episode of Doctor Who. I thought the half-mask was pretty neat, but she rejected it.

We then joined her sister in perusing ‘The Wall’. This is a huge catalog of costumes, and all you have to do is tell an employee which one you want and they go get it for you.

Except that most of the items are still in boxes, because we’re still more than a month away from Halloween. My teen asked for four different costumes before they finally found one in stock. My 7yo lucked out when she spotted the Monster High stuff, and picked her favorite character.

I drooled over the various costume pieces in the mix and match area, and hubby found a Viking Beard that suits him well. I found a sexy Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtle corset I could have totally rocked, but eventually declined.

After carefully selecting a reasonable amount of accessories (matching wigs) for the family, we checked out, had a nice dinner out, and headed home. I had both girls try on their costumes, and was unpleasantly surprised that the ‘adult large’ costume for my teen, who usually wears a woman’s small, was much too small for her. I ran back out and exchanged it for a generic corset. Not ideal, but more versatile, and although they promised to wear the same thing for Comic Con and Halloween, I’ll probably add to hers before then. When she moaned ‘but what am I?’ (ironic, since her chosen costume had been rather vague…) I told her “You’re Monster High’s Big Sister.”

So, in just a few hours, we’ll be off. I expect to see a plethora of amazing cosplay, just like last year.

And we’ll have fun.

As a family.