Mom of five Allison Rumble gives her twin daughters a pep talk in the car before shopping for Halloween costumes.

What You Need To Know

  • You must wear a mask to buy a mask when you go Halloween costume shopping

  • There are store capacity restrictions

  • You cannot try costumes on in the store, but you can return a costume after taking home and trying it on

“Who knows if Halloween is even going to happen, because you cannot try it on,” Allison tells them.

She's reminding her daughters of the challenges they’re facing costume shopping and celebrating Halloween in a pandemic. But first, the fun part: picking out that perfect Halloween costume.

I ask what the girls are looking for and Avery Rumble laughingly says, “I like a bloody costume.”

Mom thinks differently. She says, “I think she’s not gonna go bloody, and I think she’s gonna go bloody.”

One of the biggest challenges this year is not picking the costume; it’s picking one without trying it on. Mom tries to give advice as the girls shop, reminding, “They always run small.”

Emmy Rumble remembers how she used to shop for a costume.

“Normally I would get like 10 or five and go to the dressing room and try them all on,” explains Emmy.

“I would try on a couple, because if I try it on, it might not look good on me or something,” chimes in her twin, Avery.

Mom agrees this does make shopping a challenge.

“Not trying on costumes is tough for them, because I know if they get them on they might not like it, so we’re going to have to return and then buy another one. And that process can be very long,” said Allison.

While shopping, the harder question comes up: What are they going to be able to do to celebrate Halloween in a pandemic?

“Well, it’s kinda hard because they have a lot of plans. And I hate to make the plans because I don’t even know if we will, unfortunately, have Halloween," Allison worries.

“I wish most of my friends could make it. Because some of them, their parents don’t want them to be around other people. So I wish we could have more friends to go to Halloween,” Avery says.

Emmy is a little more direct, saying, “If we can’t do it this year, I’m going to be upset.”

Despite the challenges, the girls found the winners for their costumes. Avery is going to be a creepy clown. And after walking the aisles and seeing hundreds of costumes Emmy says, “I like this one,” and chooses the classic poodle skirt as her Halloween costume.

Outside of the store, Mom sighs and says, “That was different, but at least we got it done.”

Caught in a moment of reflection, Emmy shares, “I would really like the pandemic to be gone soon, because it’s, like, really hard.”