Cute costumes

Four-month-old Peyton Truslow would be precious no matter what costume she wore for Halloween.

Still, Lauren Truslow put plenty of thought into what her daughter should wear. That’s what moms do. Or at least that’s what moms who love the dress-up aspects of Halloween do.

Truslow vividly remembers dressing as a pumpkin one Halloween as a child, though she must have been much older than four months. That experience was in the back of her mind when she picked out a store-bought costume for Peyton to wear to Halloween parties at her day care, at the Epworth Children’s Home and in the Truslows’ Columbia neighborhood.

“I wanted her to be a pumpkin,” Truslow said. “There’re only a few years where you can pick what they wear.”

A USC graduate and big football fan, she considered a USC cheerleader costume for her daughter, but the pumpkin memory won out. Halloween is “the only time she’s allowed to wear orange,” Truslow said.

Jennifer MacLeod of Columbia has a picture of herself as a witch one Halloween and fondly recalls a Flapper costume. She’s pretty sure her mother or grandmother made many of her childhood costumes, but she’s not to that stage yet for her daughter, 17-month-old Marjorie, who will dress as a flamingo this year. “I was just kind of looking around at catalogues and I liked that one,” MacLeod said. “Last year, she was a penguin, so I guess we’ve got this unintentional bird theme going.”

Peyton and Marjorie don’t have siblings, which makes the costume-selection process less difficult.

Michelle Flanagan of Lexington had to nix the idea of her 10-year-old son Andrew wearing a scary costume. It might have frightened 3-year-old brother Aidan. So Andrew will don a black suit and cool sunglasses to transform into James Bond. Aidan is leaning toward a cowboy motif. Their 7-year-old sister Brennan will have the special Rapunzel costume, created by her grandmother.

“Costume-making grandmas always come in handy for Halloween,” Michelle Flanagan said. “My mom sewed a costume for me every year. It was always a big event.”

Her favorite from her own childhood?: A genie costume that’s hanging in her daughter’s bedroom, waiting for the day when Brennan is big enough to wear it.

Victoria Dozier of Columbia loved a grass-skirt Hawaiian outfit she wore one year as a child, and she was disappointed in a devil mask another year “because it wasn’t pretty.” She doesn’t remember a lot of thought going into her costumes. She’s making up for it now.

“We’re absolutely the craziest family as far as dressing up as a theme,” she said.

She, her husband John Hall Dozier and children Olivia, 11, Evans, 8, and Sophia, 6, are a Halloween team. They’ve gone as characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” “Star Wars” and “The Incredibles.” Last year, they were vampires. This year, they’ll be pirates.

They each take turns picking a theme. Most costumes are bought at the store, but they add touches to make them their own.

The Doziers would like the Jaillettes. This year, 3-year-old Jaillette twins Will and Spence will be Buzz and Woody from the “Toy Story” series. Their 2-month-old sister was supposed to be Jessie, but she’s too tiny for a cowgirl costume. Instead, she’ll wear a cow outfit. Mom and Dad will dress as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.

“I generally put a lot of thought into their costumes,” Ashley Jaillette said. “As twins, I really have wanted to play up that aspect of Halloween. Their first year, they were bees. I was the queen bee, and my husband was the bee-keeper. Last year, they were a chicken and an egg. Get it?”

Ashley isn’t domestic enough to create her own costumes. She usually buys them, but she had to recruit a friend to help with the egg costume. All of the costumes are a big improvement over her childhood costumes.

“I was a ghost a couple of years, sadly,” she said.