This Year Make Your Own Halloween Costumes and Save Money!

Are you thinking of making a Halloween costume for your child's party this year? I expect you have your own happy memories of wearing Halloween costumes and going round trick or treating in the cold autumn night. Imagine the delight your child will feel when he looks back on his days of trick or treating and remembers not only the fun time that he had, but that his parents took the time and trouble to make his costume for him. He's bound to appreciate the care you took over him and he will certainly enjoy showing off to his friends and saying that instead of buying or hiring his costume his parents went to the trouble of making it for him themselves.

If you are not an accomplished sewer, it may be a good idea to enroll in night school and to take a few lessons. Otherwise, you may feel confident enough from reading thoroughly the instructions that come with your sewing machine and having a little practice with some oddments of fabric. There are sewing classes at local colleges. You don't need anything complicated, just the basics. The best thing to do is to keep it simple if you're only a beginner.

Here are some ideas of costumes which are always appreciated by children. The Wolverine X-Men is a good one as it is not only pleasant to wear, whilst a little rugged it is also a reminder of the superhero. The Transformers Bumble Bee is an update on the pirate costume and boys big or small adore this. The Classic Red Power Ranger costume with its many variations has always been very popular, and let's not forget the Deluxe Harry Potter Robe where you get to wear the cool reading glasses and the cape.

Now for the little girls. They always like to dress up as princesses so why don't you use the theme of a Pretty Princess Witch? This is a friendly rather than a scary witch, but yet she is bright and colourful and ideal for Halloween. The Scar-let Pirate theme also carries though to the girls as a Pirate Girl. This is a little scary, but nice to wear and should be admired by her friends, which is always important. Hannah Montana is possibly more suitable to your younger daughter, whilst the Tooth Fairy or Scooby Doo Daphne is amusing, pretty to look at and suits older girls.

To go on to make these costumes you need to decide exactly what fabric to buy. Cotton, as well as being hygienic is easy to wear and will last for many years. However, there is nothing to stop you from using synthetic fabric. One friend of mine even used a pair of curtains to make an outfit for her child.

Now you need to go out and buy a paper pattern. These are usually made out of paper and marked with the measurements to give you the correct size. Once you got everything together you can start to sort out your Halloween outfits to make many happy times for your kids this Halloween.

What's More Important Than Money?

There are many things that bring a team together and then again, there are certainly things that tear them apart. Money or financial incentive has long been the preferred recruiting tool for those looking to create a well balanced finely tuned highly successful team. Which is great if you have the money or incentive but what about if you don't? What about if money or financial incentive is not the main key in all of this?

Where do you go then?

What is it that your team provides above and beyond money or financial incentive? Are these incentives strong enough to recruit new team members or for that matter are they strong enough to maintain the team members that are already with you?

Plenty of questions aren't there? How about we start looking at some areas that could provide the answers to what you can do to develop, recruit and retain a quality team.

As always this will not be complete list but hopefully one that will get you thinking about your team and where these ideas fit in or what can be done to make the team better.

It is a learning environment

We all want to learn and grow from the experiences and opportunities that life presents. Does your team provide that opportunity.

Hopefully there is an opportunity to learn the specifics associated with why the team has been brought together, but also an opportunity to learn from others in a non specific way.

The utilisation of the experience, skills and abilities from one team members to another. The learning of new ideas and concepts that apply to everyday life.

It should be a goal of every team to create opportunities for team members to learn so that they can realise their full potential.

You work with a standard not just to result

You have heard me say it many times. It is not only what you do that is important but how you do it. The team will be remembered for the result they get but will be respected by the standards they upheld to achieve it.

Develop individual accountability and responsibility

A team that understands its purpose and has a makeup of people that accept their responsibility, both individually and collectively towards that purpose, is a pretty powerful unit.

We all don't mind putting in the hard yards as long as we realise we are not the lone ranger. That those around us are going to fulfill their responsibility to them self, to the other team members and to the purpose of the team.

Preparedness to understand each other

There is an understanding within the team that you are not going to agree on everything. But there is an even stronger understanding of the need to respect and honour other team members point of view.

Before decisions are made, before conclusions are created, there is a collective resolve to understand the point of view of all.

Open communication

Is this a team that communicates what needs to be said when it is needed? Or is it a team that has not yet grown enough to be able to discuss issues openly with each other?

It is not a matter of having meetings where everyone just goes after each other, but a team that has produced and understanding and an environment where team members can discuss issues openly to see issues resolved and goals and targets attained.

Rules by which we live

Is this a team that has developed a set of guidelines on how it will act and interact. Is it a team that recognises the need to have guidelines on how it will operate.

Although a basic concept "Rules by which you live" can and will provide the substance to keep the team together through all the situations and opportunities that it will encounter.

Satisfaction

The direction, the goals, the structure and culture of the team provide satisfaction for the individual, the team and the organisation.

Hard to do? yes! Achievable? Most definitely.

But all out of what has been outlined above, will go a long way to providing the satisfaction that each team member and the team as a unit are looking for.

The responsibility to develop these areas is not necessarily in the hands of the team leader. It is a shared responsibility that members of a team take on so as to see the team grow and prosper.

© 2009 Total Performance Concepts Pty Ltd