How We Adjusted My Autistic Toddler’s Halloween Costume for His Sensory Needs

Toddlers can be temperamental at the best of times and having sensory challenges on top of toddlerhood makes things extra interesting. We made some adjustments for Calvin that really helped!

Calvin has very specific sensory preferences when it comes to the clothing that he wears. This can make things like Halloween and family pictures a little complicated, but if I can accommodate a giant pregnant belly every other autumn, I can make sure my toddler’s costume is comfortable for him to wear. And I can mentally prepare myself to let it go if he refuses to have anything to do with a costume and just wants to wear his pajamas to go trick or treating. After all, his comfort and enjoyment are the most important part of the holiday, not making sure the other moms think I did a good job with his costume.

Okay, let’s briefly go over some of the preferences I was working around. Long socks, pants, and shirt sleeves are a must. He’s particular about hats and if he wears a jacket it must be zipped up. He also hates having anything even remotely messy on his face and hands, so makeup of any kind was out. Selfishly, I also wanted to coordinate his and Della’s costumes if possible.

I started thinking about Calvin’s favorite clothing items. Things that he is all but guaranteed to be willing to wear. Those things, for Calvin, include stretchy, snug-fitting pajamas and knit beanies. The best idea that I could come up with was to dress Calvin as Peter Pan, Della as Tinker Bell, and myself as Wendy.

THE ORIGINAL COSTUME PLAN

I wanted to make Calvin’s costume as comfortable as possible while also making him look cute. I ordered him a new pair of the pajamas he wears every night in dark green, a light green 4T t-shirt, and a pair of green felt Robin Hood/Peter Pan hats from Amazon.

I braided a belt out of some scrap yarn from my crafting bin and cut the bottom hem and sleeves of the t-shirt into a zig-zag to make the Peter Pan look more convincing.

The plan was for Calvin to wear the dark green pajamas as the base layer, the light green t-shirt on top, yarn belt around his waist and one of the green felt hats on his head. He would also wear his regular tennis shoes and carry a bucket for candy.

THE COSTUME CALVIN WORE

As we were preparing for our local business trick-or-treat, we ran into a couple of issues with the costume. First, it was colder than expected, so Calvin needed an additional layer with his cotton pajamas (either over or under). Second, he flat out refused to entertain the idea of the belt. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised by this. Thirdly, despite that fact that I had ordered the felt hats six weeks early in order to allow Calvin to adjust to the idea of a new hat, he wouldn’t wear it. Not even for a picture (which he hates taking anyway, but that’s another story).

So I adjusted. He wore his merino wool base layers under his cotton pajamas, he didn’t wear the belt, and instead of the felt hat, he wore his baby sister’s army green beanie with a red feather stuck into the brim. It worked! He also wanted to carry a tote bag instead of a bucket for his candy, so he did.

Here’s the thing. I had to choose Calvin in this scenario. I chose Calvin and his comfort and enjoyment over the image I had in my head. I chose him over the Instagram-worthy pictures. I chose him over the few dollars I spent on pieces of his costume. I chose him over my personal preference that he carry a bucket rather than tote bag.

And Calvin had a wonderful Halloween. He was comfortable in his costume, he smiled and happily trekked about a mile and a half for candy and treats, and he took a picture with Della. And I got awesome memories of our last Halloween in the town I grew up in (at least for a few years). All of that was well worth the accommodating and adjusting.