Last year, we brought the world’s attention to a “Naughty Leopard” costume for toddler girls at Walmart, and the product was eventually pulled from shelves. (To be honest, we were more concerned that it didn’t look like a leopard at all than the costume sexualizing young girls.) Reader Corrie has an 11-year-old daughter who wants to dress up as Oscar the Grouch, though, and she disapproves of the ready-made options.

“My daughter wants to be Oscar the Grouch this year,” she wrote. “Here are her choices.” These happen to be the choices available online from Party City, but the same costumes are available from other online and brick-and-mortar retailers, too.

“A mens’ costume that looks a lot like Oscar, but which will not fit my 11 year old…
or the girls’ costume that looks like… well, you be the judge,” Corrie wrote in her e-mail. Hmm. That costume is cute, and would probably fit her daughter, but also probably isn’t what her daughter had in mind when she said she wanted to dress up as Oscar.

The obvious solution, of course, is to make her own costume: to do that, she really only needs a garbage can and some green fabric. You could always go exceptionally low-tech, yet still be effective and include a real garbage can. It’s disappointing to try to draw inspiration from commercial costumes and see that the only version available for a costume is a “girly” version that doesn’t look much like Oscar at all. The girls’ costume isn’t indecent, but it’s not on-theme either. (Of course, it is grossly inappropriate if you live in a place where it could be snowing on Halloween and you need to plan costumes accordingly.)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.