by Shirley J Smith

Created on: August 09, 2010

It was 1975 and I had just left my husband and moved 3 states away to Kentucky with my 3 daughters to start a new life. I had registered my oldest in school and was attempting to find a job.  It suddenly was brought to my attention that Halloween was 2 weeks away and Mary Jo needed a costume for school because there was a contest.

Many things were running through my mind at that point. “Oh good, this will be fun” was not one of them. No job, no income, 3 kids and very little money. This was definitely not going to be fun. 

We definitely could not afford a bought costume, so homemade was what we had to do. I spent several days pondering what would work and was deep in thought when an ad for The Wizard of Oz came on the TV.  That’s it! 

We headed for the store looking for the 2 things I didn’t have, silver makeup or eye shadow and silver hairspray.  We found them both at a really great price and headed home. 

Having just moved, boxes were plentiful and I found the perfect one. I cut holes in it for her head and arms and removed the top so it fit down over her body just fine. We then covered it in aluminum foil.  I had a kitchen funnel which was perfect and spray painted it silver. I then made holes in the rim of it and attached elastic to go under her chin. 

The big day finally arrived and we all got up extra early to prepare the costume. We covered her face and hands with the silver cream makeup, applied silver eye shadow, and sprayed her hair with the silver hairspray. Then we wrapped her arms and legs with aluminum foil.  

We headed for the school, where we would apply the finishing touches. We placed the box down over her head, to cover her upper body, and put the funnel on her head. She was suddenly transformed into the most wonderful “tin man”. 

As she walked onto the lawn amid all the pirates and princesses, everyone stopped to gaze at her costume and she was quickly surrounded by all the kids on the lawn. They then all proceeded to the school, enmasse. 

I was a nervous wreck waiting for her to get out of school, and wondering if she had a good day. She suddenly burst through the door talking a mile a minute. She won first prize for the entire school and the principal walked her from classroom to classroom to show off her costume. 

Yes, she had a very good day.

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