Halloween Costumes

Yesterday I took my kids shopping for Halloween costumes. My oldest daughter is 10 and this is her favorite holiday. She starts thinking about what she will dress up like for the next year before she is even done trick or treating. She's a tomboy. She is anti- girl as she puts it. Gotta love her for it.... Shopping is certainly cheaper. But I've noticed that as she gets older, the costumes keep getting more and more inappropriate. She went in looking to be a pirate. Her idea was to be a girl pirate like Keira Knightly on "Pirates of the Caribbean". But what we found instead were "sexy pirates". Tummy showing, short skirted, fishnet stocking pirates. My daughter is a tall thin child, so it's difficult to find things that fit her that are long enough, but these costumes had built in breast cups for a size 7/8 costume and they barely covered her bottom!!!! Now, a good mom might be able to make her daughter a costume to fit, but not me.... I own a sewing machine purely for sewing straight line stitches that always unravel. So we search and search. We try on the boy version of the costume, but it too shows the stomach.
I give up temporarily to help my 7 year old son find his costume. It's a little better, but still...... Most of the costumes have built in padding to make them look more muscular. I realize women aren't the only ones who are bombarded with messages about their bodies.
So, finally after surviving the two oldest I move onto my youngest. My 5 year old daughter who is the opposite of my oldest is in search of the latest "Barbie" costumes. She picks out butterfly barbie. Other than the fact that it cost entirely too much for a piece of pink netting with Velcro wings it seems appropriate.
All and all, we survived another year of costume shopping, but it was definitely a journey in the exaggerated land of gender identity.