guest post: did your dad make that for you? – by jonah’s dad

It’s husband of Julie/father of Jonah, Scott, writing today. Julie asked me to fill you in on Jonah’s Halloween costume this year, and I’m happy to oblige because I’m so freaking proud of this thing, frankly, I’m surprised the Letterman show hasn’t called yet.

So it’s been clear for some time that this would be a Thomas Halloween. It’s been the year of Thomas for us as you know. The books, the stickers, the toys, the constant discussion and analysis of the many moods of the inhabitants of the Island of Sodor. Thomas has been helpful with potty training (“Take a pee, get a sticker!”), discipline (“If you don’t stop that right now I’m taking away a train!”) and art making (we’ve done a whole series of emotionally charged portraits of Thomas trains, most of them crying pitifully because it just feels right to the Junior Art Director).

I was fully prepared to go the store-bought route after I lost confidence in my first concept for a Thomas costume which involved a smokestack hat on a hoodie sweatshirt, with wheels affixed to either his legs or arms. It was clearly going to suck and would probably cost more than a store bought costume with crisply printed graphics straight out of the Allcroft-approved style guide. But calls to several of our local huge corporate chain stores (Toys R US, Target) turned up nothing and looking online I was unimpressed with the Thomas smocks that pass for costumes.

It’s the old problem of mass marketed kid’s costumes. They give you a Darth Vader mask and put you in a smock that has a picture of Darth Vader on it. I like it for the ironic stupidity of it, but it was nagging at me to come up with something better…

Enter the Kate Spade demitasse cups box.

When we registered for our wedding we somehow chose 3 sets of these delightful little cups. We love them, but hardly ever use them. Even if we managed to host a party for 12 people how on earth would I generate that much espresso? I’d be in the kitchen all night grinding and steaming. Anyway… They came in these fantastic round boxes and I’ve been holding onto them ever since waiting for the right project. This was the one. As soon as I spied them in the basement the whole costume designed itself in my mind in an instant.

When I was in illustration school we had to take a class called “Structure and Form” where we learned how to construct things out of matte board and tape. To this day I’m not sure what the point was professionally, but for my hobbies it’s probably been one of the most useful classes I ever took.

So I grabbed a box, cut a hole in it and slipped it over Jonah’s head. “What do you think, kid? Should we make a Thomas train you can wear like this?” Eyes alight and giggling maniacally…”Yeah. Yeah! YEAH!!” Little Beavis was psyched.

I finished it over the course of three days. Jonah was pretty disappointed that it couldn’t be done instantly – it took more planning and shopping than that. But he enjoyed each phase of development. Painting the thing seemed like a bad move. Messy, sloppy, expensive. Colored posterboard and red vinyl tape did the job perfectly. I went to the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use and found an old film canister for a smokestack and a perfectly blue plastic Easter egg for the all-important dome. Painting the face on the lid of the Kate Spade box was great fun. I’m so glad he let me do a happy Thomas face… but come to think of it, for Halloween it could’ve been cool if we’d done his usual sobbing angry engine face… I just didn’t want to have to explain to the neighbors why I dressed the boy in a miserable-train costume.

In the end, it didn’t matter. You can see is how over-the-moon happy he is with this thing. The first night he slept with it next to his bed, naturally.

Checking the safety reflectors!  Safety is our first concern on the Island of Sodor.

I think I was afraid of attempting a home-made costume like this, but I had a blast making it and couldn’t be prouder of it. It’s set a terrific precedent, I don’t know if I can top it. We may be vacu-forming father/son Stormtrooper armor in a few years.

We’ll let you know how the big day goes! We may have to go out and find some costume contests… Hope they have train prizes!