I'm generally considered a pretty darn creative mom. I make everything from scratch, I have tons of art supplies on hand, and I just finished knitting my son's annual winter sweater. So why do I get a little hesitant when it comes to Halloween costumes?

Maybe it's because my own experience with the homemade costume was so hit and missed. My birth coincided with my aunt learning to sew--which was awesome. I was her guinea pig for all sorts of costumes--even won prizes for them. But when we moved cross country, I couldn't take my aunt with me and costumes started to go downhill fast. I had been just about every character from Wizard of Oz under my aunt's watch but hadn't had a chance to be Glinda. My mom responded with a blue sheeth of material with silver zig zag trim and and a cardboard crown. It wasn't pink. It wasn't pretty. And had homemade written all over it. Instead of enjoying Halloween, I cried myself to sleep at looking so lame.

This must be hidden somewhere in me because I'm way too sensitive to my own kids about costumes. I made my son's first couple of costumes: A Mexican wrestler with purple knitted wrestling boots before he could walk, a cowboy, a samurai based on Samurai Jack. My daughter has always been a princess and just hits her dress up box with little or no complaint for the most part. Last year she asked for a Fiona from Shrek costume and we added it to her toybox and she wore it all year.

This year I asked---so, what do you want to be?

Snow White.

Bumblebee Transformer.

Now I'm a bit perplexed. For most of the year they've been talking about how we'll all be characters from Star Wars. In fact, Star Wars was starting to have some sort of metaphorical meaning in our house. Diego: "If I'm Han Solo, you're a Wookie." I'd taken a good look at us in the mirror. I thought perhaps we could be a mixed family of wookies and ewoks.

But no. After months of Star Wars, they want to be Snow White and a Bumblebee Transformer. I don't even know what a bumblebee transformer is. I Google it. Ah, I see.

"Okay Diego," I say, "We need some black thermals, yellow paint, and some cardboard and tin foil." I start making a list and my son runs over and grabs my hand.

"No Mommy. Don't make it."

"What? This won't be hard. We can do this." I look at his face. Crestfallen, it is. "Well, what should we do then?"

Without skipping a beat, Diego looks at me, kind of annoyed at my stupidity.

"Google it, Mommy. Google it, find it. Get your card out and buy one. Have it come in the mailbox, please! But don't make it."

"Mine too!" Adds my daughter, "don't make it , mommy!"

I still think I could probably do a kick ass transformer, but when it comes right down to it? By the time I collect and purchase the material, and begin assembing, it will probably be Halloween. And I don't want anyone suffering through being the blue non-union third world equivalent of Glinda the Good Witch either. I found both costumes under $30 online. That might seem like a lot for a costume but my kids tend to wear their costumes year round when they are playing dress up. And it would take me at least $100 worth of time to get those costumes made. I once knitted a dress for my daughter and she refused to wear it on the grounds that it was not 'made right." Her cousin had no problem wearing it.

So off we go to gather in this cozy October by the mailbox down the street, to wait for our fast food costumes to come to us. Diego tells me, Transformers are where it's at.

"It'll be great mom, you'll see." Ah, more than meets the eye.