Like this:

I’m pretty sure that when my mom gave birth to me, she kept all the crafty, artsy genes for herself and left me with zilch. Yes, I’m a first grade teacher. Yes, first grade teachers are supposed to be crafty. Yes, I’m a woman. Yes, women are supposed to love all things crafty. But not this woman. Not this first grade teacher. I break the mold. I cringe at those cutesy crafts that are an inevitable part of women’s retreats and the like. (Why can’t we just have a meaningful conversation and… I don’t know, eat some snacks or something? Why do we have to make useless doilies that we know we’ll never use?) And I walk into Hobby Lobby and try very hard not to roll my eyes and groan the whole time, out of respect for all of the fanatic idol-worshippers shopping around me, oohing and aahing over all of the cute buttons and ribbons. (Did you know there are multiple aisles for ribbon? Just for ribbon!)

But the reality is, I happened to sign up for a job that requires occasional craftiness, whether I like it or not. The problem is, not only am I completely uncrafty; I am also Miss Frugal, remember? And I also thrive on being efficient. Which makes me dread those occasional calls for craftiness even more, because I know that they will force me to either compromise on my thriftiness or on my efficiency, or most likely, on both. (Sigh.)

So when my first grade team came up with the idea to do a “Science at Sunrise” party where we’d invite all of the parents to bring their kids a half an hour early to school to eat donuts and show off their interactive science journals we’ve been working on all year, I was all over it. Parent-teacher-student interaction, exhibiting the students’ hard work, and donuts? Sign me up! But then they came up with the brilliant idea of making it a “Bug Ball”- we’d all… students and teachers… come dressed up as our favorite bug. (Breathe deep, breathe deep…)

I thought about it, talked about it, researched it, all week. This week was particularly busy, and I was particularly tired. Not only did I have no desire whatsoever to come up with an elaborate costume, I also had no time or energy to do so. So I thought and thought and thought… and got nowhere. To add to my problems, I am also very stubborn and independent about things like this, so that meant absolutely no common costumes. No ladybugs, no butterflies, no bumblebees. So what? I thought a walking stick, or a praying mantis, but those were too hard, too expensive, too time-consuming.

I finally relented on my need for uniqueness, and I typed in “worm costume” in google images. Voila! The easiest, most creative, cheapest costume I could possibly find.

(Are you ready for this?)

• Two red pieces of poster board. One dollar each.
• Two pieces of string, green and brown construction paper. Free.
• One red ski hat. 98 cents at the first and only thrift store I went to.
• A stuffed animal worm. Free on loan from a fellow teacher.

Literally fifteen minutes later, I had an awesome costume that got me dozens and dozens of compliments all day.

The kids were happy, I was happy, my co-teachers (who probably feared I’d forgo the costume altogether) were happy.

And at the end of the day, I was still my frugal, efficient, stubborn, unique self.

It’s okay to break the mold sometimes.

And our classroom cardboard horse also broke some mold of his own.

Advertisement