Store Bought Costumes

As a kid, I only had handmade costumes, as I couldn’t afford to go pick out something from the local pop-up Halloween store, or Toys ‘R Us (RIP). While I deeply love my care bear costume my grandmother once sewed me, as I grew older I remember always being a bit embarrassed as my handmade costumes and wanted store-bought ones. It obviously wasn’t about the love from those helping me make costumes, but it was about the money story I had.

It’s interesting to see how, now that I’m older and time-strapped I often find myself jealous about people who invest in making their own costumes for themselves and their children.  I now value the hand-crafted skills involved, the time, and the creativity of doing interesting things with materials or items I hadn’t thought about before.

It’s a reminder to me of how much value is subjective, and how much the stories we have about money and value shape our opinions of things. It also reminds me that so often, innovation and creativity need constraints to push back against – after all, if there are no constraints, what’s going to force you to innovate?

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