Dressing up for Purim

Do all girls want to dress up as Esther and do all boys want to be Mordechai? Um, no. But what should the kids wear? I've heard a lot of discussion lately about whether classic superheroes are appropriate attire. Does it say that somehow Esther wasn't brave if a girl dresses up like Cinderella instead? No, though certainly no fairy tale hero is free of stereotypes, either. Of course, lots of our favorite superheroes were created by Jews (read Disguised As Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, And the Creation of the Superhero, by Danny Fingeroth for examples). Don't forget about the Jewish Hero Corps, an amusing set of characters with holiday-related powers. (For example, Shabbas Queen's Electro-wand pauses electrical devices for 24 hours - maybe it should be 25 but you get the idea.) I would have worn my Shabbas Queen t-shirt for the megillah reading but, being 7 months pregnant, its superpower is that it can behave like a window blind.

I have always maintained that costumes are better when they are clever than when they are elaborate - hence my son dressing as Harold and the Purple Crayon... and the moon went with him (as it does in most of the stories)... He was thrilled, even if it wasn't Purim-inspired in the least.