Aside from all the candy, what makes Halloween exciting is getting the chance to dress up however we like. And although we can’t celebrate the holiday like we used to, that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with our costumes, too.
This 8-year-old boy from Rhode Island had a simple request for Halloween this year: to transform into his favorite character, Stinky the garbage truck, from “The Stinky & Dirty Show.”
Max has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair to move around. Given the situation, creating an entire ensemble for the kid will be a challenge. Thankfully, a worker from the Magic Wheelchair—a nonprofit organization that builds epic costumes for children in wheelchairs for free—took it upon herself to make him the costume.
“Our mission is to bring communities together to create unforgettable moments for children around the world by transforming their wheelchairs into magic,” according to a statement on Magic Wheelchair’s website.
They make all these costumes at no cost to the kids’ families.
Bonnie Regan used real headlights and acrylic eyes to create the Stinky costume. Over the weekend, she presented the finished product to Max and his family, and the costume fit perfectly in the boy’s wheelchair!
Ryan Weimer, the founder of Magic Wheelchair, launched the nonprofit in 2015 after receiving praise for the wheelchair costumes he built for his two sons born with spinal muscular atrophy.
Since “The Stinky & Dirty Show” is shown on Prime Video, the folks at Magic Wheelchair reached out to Amazon and told them all about Max’s Halloween request. Amazon then helped them create the costume and even gave the boy his very own “Stinky & Dirty & MAX Show” artwork.
“As an organization that promotes inclusion and self-expression for children with disabilities, we were thrilled to have Amazon Prime help us bring to life Max’s Magic Wheelchair idea from his favorite show,” Weimer told “Good Morning America.” “We’re so grateful to Bonnie, Max’s Magic Wheelchair Builder, and Amazon Prime for helping make these unforgettable memories.”
Magic Wheelchair has served over 220 kids with disabilities in the last five years. Their list of requests from families is nearing 400 children—which is a lot! So if you would like to support the organization in their mission of creating costumes and magical memories for kids, you may visit their website to donate. You can make a contribution online or via mail.
We’re happy to know that Max is celebrating Halloween with the most epic costume ever!
And speaking of epic Halloween costumes, this Iowan dad named Greg Dietzenbach might just be the king of them. This man creates the most ingenious Halloween ensembles ever, and his most recent one is both timely and brilliant.
Since the pandemic began, most of us have been forced to move our activities and meetings online—usually via Zoom. So, with the help of his naturally imaginative mind, Greg made the “Zoom and Gloom Meeting” costume—a costume mimicking the interface of a Zoom call! Its wearer is his 12-year-old daughter, Ada.
“Due to COVID-19 we didn’t even know if our town would have trick-or-treating this year. Social distancing has made my kids Zoom experts, it’s how they attended school and see family and friends. It felt like it was a costume idea worth exploring,” Greg explained. “2020 has been tough, it’s nice to know we’ll be giving some joy to others (at a safe distance of course).”
While Zoom meetings have definitely helped us communicate better during these odd times, having them almost every day can sometimes make it feel a bit tedious, right? We just can’t wait to go back to the traditional way of meeting people in person. And that “dread” we feel before starting our Zoom meetings is what makes this Halloween costume so clever!
How about you? Have you decided on a Halloween costume yet, or are you skipping it this year?