Shannon Ford’s Tired Mom Costume Wins Halloween on ‘Probably a Podcast’

Halloween usually brings out costumes, candy, and chaos. But on Probably a Podcast, Shannon Ford reminds listeners that sometimes the scariest thing you can show up as is yourself—and in her case, that was as a new mom.

Ford, who gave birth just six weeks ago, turned her reality into the most relatable costume of all. Because while witches and vampires can be scary, there’s nothing quite as haunting as being six weeks postpartum with a baby costume disaster courtesy of Amazon.

Halloween hits differently as a new mom

Ford admits right away that she didn’t have a costume planned for herself this year, other than showing up as a “tired mom.” As she texted a friend, she realized immediately that the words coming out of her fingers made her cringe. “As the text message left my fingers, I was like, ‘You are so stupid,’” she says. “But, yeah, I don’t have a costume. My costume is just…mom.”

Her daughter Daisy, however, was supposed to be dressed in a simple ghost onesie. Unfortunately, what arrived in the package was more trick than treat. “The onesie that was sent to me had food dried onto it— crunchy, wet baby food smeared in the bottom of it,” Ford explains. “Things that I don’t want my six-week-old in—a used Halloween costume with dried food on it from Amazon.”

The solution? A last-minute Etsy pumpkin costume that might not even arrive until Thanksgiving. “All babies should be pumpkins on Halloween,” Ford insists.

Finding humor in the scary parts of postpartum

Halloween may have been the episode’s theme. Still, Ford didn’t shy away from sharing the reality of being cleared at her six-week postpartum appointment. From workout approval she had zero interest in, to navigating intimacy again with a “horny husband,” she tries to keep things as normal as possible while admitting there’s nothing normal about any of it. “Cool, doc. Thanks for the advice,” she laughs. “But I’m not interested in doing either of those things right now.”

Cementing Halloween memories

For Ford and her family, Halloween doesn’t just bring costumes—it also brings construction noise. While recording, Ford explained that workers were redoing her driveway with jackhammers outside, turning her home into something that sounded like a horror set. But out of that chaos came a sweet Halloween memory.

Her neighbor suggested that she press Daisy’s tiny foot into the wet cement, and after confirming it was safe, she did. “Now we have a cute little footprint,” Ford shares. She even added Daisy’s initials next to it, though in her words, the letters looked more like “om” than “DM.” It wasn’t perfect, but it was theirs.

Why tired mom energy is a forever mood

If Halloween is about transformation, Ford made it clear that her current costume is about embracing reality rather than escaping it. Between the endless breastfeeding, exhaustion, and the occasional snap at her husband, she found a way to laugh at herself and bring listeners in on the joke. “I’m really snappy right now,” she admits. “I sense myself being snappy, and then I’m like, why do I want to do that? I don’t know. I just want to snap.”

No fake blood, no plastic mask, just the truth about life after giving birth. And this year, “tired mom” just might be the most iconic Halloween look of all.

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