Recently, my son Timothy informed me that he had to dress up as an animal for the school’s “Live Zoo” performance. My first thought was, “Live Zoo? Just come to our house for a few hours!” My second thought was, “Oh, no. I’m going to have to make an animal costume!” You betcha.
There is an entire kingdom of animals at the zoo, everything from lions to alligators to elephants. For some reason, my Timothy decided to be… a chipmunk. Not only did he have to dress up as one, he had to learn about chipmunks, make a poster about chipmunks, and recite a paragraph including all his newfound chipmunk facts during the Live Zoo performance.
The teacher suggested I make his costume completely from things we already had lying around the house. I had grand plans of being the next Martha Stewart, but at home I was completely stumped as to what household goods could be transformed into a custom-made chipmunk outfit. Shocking, I know. I decided to give up my Martha Stewart dreams and do things the Mary way.
Step 1: Buy $100 worth of materials.
Step 2: Can’t find a brown sweatshirt or brown sweatpants. Attempt to dye a sweatshirt brown.
Step 3: Sweatshirt comes out more pink than brown. Oops.
Step 4: Ask Timothy if there are any rare breeds of pink chipmunks. There aren’t.
Step 5: Glue all the brown fake fur I can find to the back of the brown sweatshirt, mostly to cover up the pink.
Step 6: Sew ears to the hood of the sweatshirt, which actually look really good.
Step 7: Admire my DIY chipmunk and decide that despite a few mistakes, Martha would be proud.
The night of the Live Zoo performance I sat in the audience, watching my son in the costume I’d managed to create. Who needs lions and alligators and elephants, I thought, when you can have the cutest chipmunk that ever lived? I was practically busting at the seams with pride over Timothy’s performance (and my handiwork). Then Timothy stepped forward to recite his paragraph about chipmunks.
“You may mistake me for a squirrel,” he said, “but I have a stripe down my back.” I was happy that was all Timothy had to say about the costume!
In my next episode of Mary Nicholas Living, I will make chipmunk pie based on the recipes from the Live Zoo. Oh, you didn’t know zoos distribute recipes? Perhaps you don’t live in the South….
What’s the difference between a Northern zoo and a Southern zoo? In a Northern zoo you get the name of the animal and the Latin name underneath. In a Southern zoo you get the name of the animal and a recipe underneath.
Happy Monday,
Mary
