by Jo RobertsonHalloween isn’t really an official “holiday,” but you wouldn’t know that by the antics of high school and elementary students during the week of the big event. They come to school dressed in all kinds of getups and engage in all sorts of antics as they prepare for the Big Day.
I always got a kick out of my seniors getting in the spirit. Since they were high on some kind of pre-Halloween candy anyway, I figured I’d try to turn the holiday into a learning lesson.
Orson Welles’ classic radio broadcast of HG Wells' “War of the Worlds” went over like a lead balloon.
Tron-Gen Kids don't believe that people actually committed suicide or took to the hills with their cars loaded with emergenc
y supplies because they believed aliens from another world had landed on earth. I mean, listen to those special effects sounds. Pretty hokey compared to what today’s whiz masters can produce.I tried using Alfred Hitchcock’s film “The Birds” based on a Daphne du Maurier short story as a writing springboard. The movie terrified me as a college student. Probably because someone let loose a frightened bird into the dome-ceilinged old theater and scared us all nearly to death. Talk about crying "fire" in a crowded room! I passed birds very gingerly for a long time after that.
What worked fairly well happened during the years I taught drama in addition to English and had a stand-alone classroom that literally had no windows. I could close the doors and create utter darkness. Mawhahaha, so conducive to Halloween antics!
I held a flashlight under my chin to give my face an eerie cast in the pitch black room. Then I read Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” all the while fingering several squishy, wet, seeping items on a covered plate on the desk in front of me.
At the end, with the narrator’s words, “'Tis the beating of his hideous heart!” I flung off the cover and lifted several pounds of raw liver into the air.
Oh yeah, that should’ve gotten me fired.
But my favorite part of Halloween is the costumes!
One of the most interesting costumes I’ve seen was when my daughter and her husband dressed as golf balls (right). How clever!
Children are cute no matter what costumes their parents put them in.
Power Rangers Sydney and Max rule! They jumped off a balcony and pretended they died!
One year, Annie was a butterfly and Max was Ash from Pokemon. Tweenie Corinna decided rhinestone cowgirls are fun. Or maybe she's Brittany Spears!
Cutest cheerleader ever!
Cutest cheerleader ever!
Of course, Darth Vader (Jake) is popular any time. 
This year's most popular Halloween costumes, according to those in the know, are dead celebrities, kinda macabre, but I'll bet we'll see a lot of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett costumes.
The spike (pun intended) in interest in vampires with Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries should give us a lot of child and adult vampire costumes this year.
It's always so much fun to wear those pointy incisors, you know!
What about you? What's the most interesting or favorite costume you've ever worn? Or favorite Halloween trick or experience?
A $15 Border's gift certificate goes to the person with the most original sounding costume, scariest or funniest Halloween experience, or best Halloween trick.
What about you? What's the most interesting or favorite costume you've ever worn? Or favorite Halloween trick or experience?
A $15 Border's gift certificate goes to the person with the most original sounding costume, scariest or funniest Halloween experience, or best Halloween trick.
Mwahhhhhhhaaaaaa, and let the games begin!
72 comments:
The golf balls are *so cute!* Very clever. Er :X Good thing I've got the GR since I've got nothing for Halloween. I dunno - other than carving a pumpkin my family never really got into it.
The best costume I had? O_o well, not for Halloween - but I call it my "Morticia" costume. My friend made me an Arachne costume - all black with gold ribbon, and a spiderweb cape. We did my hair (black) all up, and my nails were long and I painted them gold. We were at a state competition/convention... and our unofficial [school] "mascot" happened to be a baby doll head. (Long story - named Caput.) And I carried it around with me. (It was kinda mounted... O_o) :D Pretty sure I freaked some people out.
As for cute costumes... well I'm going to steal friends' since I have none. Lots of college girls go as slutty/skanky whatever - not fun. But a friend once went as a bag of jelly beans. So cute - we were younger - so she wore a giant clear trash bag, and filled it with small balloons.)
I once saw a great Duffman walking down High Street at college. Er... oh. >.< And some friends of a friend... went as a penis last year. *sigh* boys. Each were a testicle, and they had a penis which apparently ejaculated. Walked around in public - close to a university campus... and didn't get arrested.
Anyway, those are some Halloween hi-jinks I have to share.
What a FUN post, Jo-Mama! And as usual, your pics are adorable!
Here's my most memorable Halloween costume story: Back when I had the DDJ, one of my co-workers was famous for throwing fabulous Halloween costume parties. People pulled out all the stops to dress up, doing things like full Klingon dress complete with prosthetic forehead ridges, colored contacts to make eyes different colors, full theatrical make-up from the musical Cats... you name it!
The DH and I really got in the spirit one year and went as "The
Rejected Spice Girls." I was Hawaiian Spice and wore a moo-moo with my hair in piggy-tails all over my head and dark blue eye-shadow up to my eyebrows. The DH was Hairy Spice and wore a sun-dress with the elastic top stuffed so that he looked like he had cleavage, but with his moustache and hairy legs very much in evidence.
Of course, my co-worker had moved since the previous Halloween and... YOU GUESSED IT! We got lost trying to get to the party. We finally stopped at a convenience store to ask for directions. And wouldn't you know it, another
co-worker was moonlighting as a clerk at that very store. She rolled on the floor laughing when I walked in. Then when I told her the DH was out in the car IN DRAG, she and every customer in the store rushed outside to see what he looked like!
Yes, we finally did make it to the party, but we didn't win the prize for best costumes. :-(
AC
Congrats limecello have fun with him
Jo
Your posts are always great and you have such great photos. We don't really celebrate Halloween here in Australia not when I was a kid or even when my kids were young but it seems to be taking off a bit at the moment ther are Halloween lollies and plastic jack o lanterns and decorations for sale in the shops at the moment. My grandson Jayden is going to pre school next year for one day a week and he had to go there today while his Mum filled in some forms and we minded Hayley while they went and when he got home he told me that all the kids were dressed up in Halloween costumes he was so excited and he talked about candy so it is growing here in Oz.
I have never really dressed up for a costume party but have used different things here at home to dress the kids up in when they were younger most common things were convicts and ghosts I don't have much of an imagination I am afraid.
It is going to be great reading everyones posts.
Have Fun
Helen
Hi Jo! Congrats, Lime!
I love, love, love the golf ball costumes! So wonderfully creative! And the pic of the little cheerleader is the cutest.
I think it was my junior year in college...I was a Hershey's Kiss. My roommates stuffed two Hefty bags with styrofoam peanuts and fashioned it into a "kiss" shape. Then, they glued aluminum foil all over it and we made a little cone hat covered with foil with a tissue paper streamer with the Hershey's label on it. I wore it with a dark brown turtleneck and tights.
We went to my roommate's boyfriend's apartment for a Halloween party. Typical college party...kegs and cheap eats, the punch bowl was the veg bin from the fridge. Yuck. I guess I had too much punch. Woke up on the floor between one of my roommates (Catholic School Girl) and a guy who was dressed as the Jolly Green Giant. It was very difficult to roll over or sit up in my costume, but somehow, I managed to stumble to the bathroom. I couldn't sit down on the toilet with the costume on and I couldn't get it off. So I ended up tearing open the front and releasing the styro peanuts so I could squirm out of it. The next day, I went over and cleaned up all the styrofoam peanuts which had been tracked all over the apartment. What a mess!
Hee! Great pictures!
My favourite costume was one I threw together the day before, a couple of years ago. I was an autumn faery. I had this gauzy top with poofy-ish sleeves and I paired it with a tube top, tights and an asymmetrical short skirt I made out of a piece of lining fabric and a handful of safety pins tacking it together on the inside. There were wings I made out of wire, pantyhose and ribbon. Then I took some fake autumn leaves and acorns, clipped a few in my hair, strung some on various long lengths of black thread and clipped the threads to my hair so that they'd sort of waft around me as I moved.
Scariest experience was the Halloween I helped a friend man the door at my college pub. Soooooooooo much PVC, skin and drunk people staggering to the bathroom(which was sort of right across from us). The smell that was emanating from inside the pub? *shudder* A whole room packed full of alcohol, PVC, sweat and hormones do not a pretty fragrance make.
Well, no Halloween or Hlloween costumes, here. But those of us who went high school got to dress up the day before we left high school and started reading for our final exam. I dressed up as cowgirl, thanks to that cowboy stuff my brother had bought from Disneyland years before -and never actually used.
Dolly Parton - 9 to 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpKAA2VxWY8
Rowan Atkinson in Hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UbqZ_oN5do&feature=related
What great pictures. I love the golf balls! Halloween is very big in my family. My late dh and I dressed in costume every year to greet the trick-or-treaters who came to our house. We always made our costumes and everyone in our various neighborhoods came by to see what our imaginations had conjured up.
Over the years we've been spiders, teenage mutant ninja turtles, football player and cheerleader (dh was a lovely cheerleader), The Hulk, Frankenstein and his bride, a chef and dinner (dh was dinner w/ only his head on a platter showing above the table) and many more "interesting" characters. In the years since he passed away, I've been a M&M, gypsy fortune teller, Scooby Doo, Melificent, Fairy Godmother, a cow, a clown, a cowgirl and more.
Hi, Lime! Did you capture the rooster this morning??
Sorry I'm late (or early depending on where you are LOL), but I got a touch of food poisoning, I think, and went to bed right after I posted the blog. Couldn't even look at a computer screen without going all whoozy!
Aren't the golf balls clever? They're styrofoam cups hooked together somehow, but I don't remember what they're attached to.
At least the rooster is a great consolation prize!
Ugh, I hate carving pumpkins. Most people like it, I think, but mine always look so . . . well ordinary. I'd rather group several large ones together and make an arrangement on my front porch landing.
Your Morticia costume sounds very fancy, Lime.
Okay, the baby doll head is too gruesome not to be explained! Reminds me of Sid in Toy Story who kept decapitating the dolls!
The jelly bean idea is terrific and a sure contender. Wish we could see piccies.
Uh, why are some college guys still cloaked in that junior high veneer? Don't want a pix of that!
Hilarious, AC. Rejected Spice Girls is one I haven't heard before. And your DH sounds perfect as Hairy Spice. Takes a lotta chutzpah to troll around in public in costumes like that!
Another serious contender!
I can't believe Jayden's old enough for preschool, Helen. Where has the time gone?
When we were younger, there weren't all the fabulous costumes you could buy available, so we had to rely on stuff we found at home. Sheets played a major role, lotsa ghosts.
I don't know why Halloween is so big in the States, but I read that sales are down a little this year because of the economy.
Hey, Pink, the Hershey Kiss costume sounds clever! But, yeah, you gotta create an opening if drinking beer is involved LOL!
Gosh, we did some crazy things in college, probably too many kinds of illegal to mention on a public site :-D.
Pissenlit, tres artistic on the Autumn Fairy. Wire and panty hose make great wings! I'd pay good money to see that costume. Sounds lover-ly!
Shuddering at the college experience. As we used to say, "Gag a maggot!"
Cowgirls are good, Minna! I remember when my younger brother was a cowboy, with the hat, holster and gun, chaps, the whole bit -- for like four years in a row!
That's so much fun, PJ. When I took my kiddies around, I used to love when the people giving out candy dressed in costume. It's so much fun to see the little kids' eyes!
Love the chef and dinner on a plate! That's a great one! Sounds like you had a lotta fun.
Such a fun post, Jo! I love the golf ball costume. How did they do it? And the pictures of the kids are great too.
One year my brother dressed up like a mummy. He kept losing his torn sheets as he walked. I was a pink troll one year. Had the costume and the mask (with pink hair sticking up from the mask). My husband laughs every time he hears me talking about that costume.
My youngest son is wearnig a gilly suit this year. I had no idea what this was until he showed me online. It's used for hunting or paintball but it's a camo suit with strips of fabric hanging off it. It covers his head too. Personally, I think he looks like a swamp monster with it on.
Happy Halloween everyone!
When I grew up, buying costumes was unheard of! And it was such an exciting night; we lived on a farm, so my folks drove in town and stopped at each block; the parents stood and visited while the kids worked their way up and down each block. Small town at its very best!
My youngest is now in 5th grade, which is the last "dress up" grade in school, and in our house. Anyone older who wants to trick or treat must do so for Unicef. Of course, the wonderful neighbors give them candy as well. :) But she got to order an amazing blue and white velvet Renaissance gown this year. It's so pretty, and warm as well, thank heavens. The end of grade school for us. (sigh)
Last year she and I were walking down the block behind ours and all of a sudden we realized there was no one else around. I mean NO ONE. And it was dark...and the wild started howling. You have never seen a mother and daughter run so fast to the end of the block and home! We still laugh thinking about it.
Happy, safe, warm holidays, everyone.
The funny thing was, that there was always some costume that was worn by 2 people. Everybody else had different costumes, but for some weird reason one year there were 2 Leningrad Cowboys, another year 2 Moomin and one year there were 2 Zorros...
1 - Leningrad Cowboys & Russian Red Army Choir - " It's Only Rock'n'Roll" / "Let's Work Together"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAxcETeUiu8&feature=PlayList&p=2223AA6C9D1D584D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=32
Benny Törnroos -I Mumindalen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVG4VmminzI&feature=related
Zorro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T8hLdiO8Ro&feature=fvst
The most INTERESTING one I ever wore was my Eve costume. Long blonde wig, a dress made of leaves, a stuff python purple snake draped like a, forgive me, BOA, and an apple in hand. For some reason I got hit on a lot as a blonde. Weird.
But my most recognizable costume was me dressed as Harry Potter. That was my most POPULAR costume.
When I was growing up we didn't have costumes, we just used old clothes and such. I know when I was about 12 my girlfriend and I went out as babies with bottles and all, we also dressed as hobo's quite often with a bag and stick across our backs. We lived near the railroad and back then there was a lot of hobo's around.
Hey Jo!
Great blog. I was a vampire a few times. I was the long-haired chick from the Addams family (no, not Jeanne's family--the one with Lurch) cuz I had the hair for it. Dang, I can't think of her name right now. Need more coffee. I used to use hairspray and flour to try to make the white stripe in my hair, and I used baby powder on my face, which never made me pale enough. NOW they have cool paint for that--wash-out paint. Then? No.
My fav costume was always a stereotypical Wicked Witch of the West costume (You know, the black hat, etc), but I haven't done that in years. The thing that gets me is that NOW there are so many AWESOME witch hats out there. And striped stockings, and awesome shoes that go perfectly with the costume. There are even lace-patterned fabrics in the fabric store, complete wih lace cobwebs and spiders and such.
They didn't have ANY of that when I was a kid, wanting desperately to dress like a decent Wicked Witch.
Nowadays I cringe a little when I get the urge to dress as a witch, cuz yaknow..I know some actual witches, and they're nothing like that. Just regular folks.
But still...that costume...the appeal lingers.
I dunno what it is. I still want the cool hat.
Around here nobody dresses up--not adults. It's aggravating because dressing up is fun. Nobody wants to bother. Very frustrating. Especially since there are lots of options available these days.
I've never heard of a gilly suit, Christie, so I googled it. Apparently you buy them at Army Surplus stores and the pic of a snow ghillie suit looks like the Abominable Snowman.
Yep, and the regular one says swamp monster to me!
Some sites write it "gilly" and some "ghillie," but whichever, sounds like a guy thing to me!
I asked my daughter about the golf ball costume. Her husband and a friend were fooling around once in junior high (you know those jr. high boys have way too much time on their hands). Anyway, they started taping styrofoam cups together and figured out you ended up with a helmet.
So all you need is small styrofoam cups. Cut all the bottoms out. Begin taping them together, side by side, with the tops outward. They'll eventually make a natural circle.
For the next row, tape the first cup between two cups on the bottom row and then go on from there. The circle gradually gets smaller and you end up with the helmet that looks like a golf ball.
Personally, I'd add all-white clothing so you look like a golf ball on a tee!
Ah, Gillian, what sweet memories! A blue and white velvet Renaissance dress. Your daughter will remember that for years. Wouldn't it be great to keep it for HER daughter?
I love passing down traditions.
Minna, what's a Moomin? Showing my ignorance here!
Ah, Eve, MsHellion. They say that gentlemen prefer blondes (although being a brunette, I can't say why, sniff!)
I thought you were going to say you wore the blonde wig, the apple, and that's it! :-D
Is your hair short for the Harry Potter costume or did you have to wear a wig?
Yes, Virginia, back in the day, that was what you did. We liked to dress up in our mom's clothes and I remember there was a time when my brother liked wearing my Dad's old WWII jacket and cap.
Moomin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomin
I think that was Morticia, Cassondra, and you definitely have the hair to play her, although you a wee bit short, m'dear!
Ah, nobody wants to play with you, huh? Dressing up is a lot of fun. I'm babysitting tonight while my girls are going to an adult dress-up party.
And Leningrad Cowboys:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leningrad_Cowboys
Lime! They are SO gonna talk about you and that bird! Grins.
Hey Jo! Great post. I love, love, love Halloween as everyone knows.
Great fun!
Now back to the cave...
Hey, ya'll, go back and look at the white ghillie suit at the top of the page. I just added it.
Christie says her son is going as a gilly suit (not the snow kind, but the swamp kind), but isn't that just too cool???
Great post, Jo! Love the pics!
I can't even remember the Halloween costumes I wore, as it was so long ago! It was when we lived in VA (I was 9, I think). I got to experience Halloween American-style for a couple of years before being sent off to boarding school in England.
Moomins are my favourite! They're a series of children's stories about these adorable creatures by a Finnish author called Tove Janssen. One of the few things I can actually draw is a Moomin! I even have a set of beanbag Moomins in my office *g*.
For those of you too lazy (like me) to look up Minna's link on Moomins:
The Moomins are the characters in a series of books and a comic strip by a Finnish illustrator. They're a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses.
Thanks, Vrai Anna, for the explanation of the Moomins!
So, don't they celebrate Halloween very much in the U.K.?
Hi, Jeanne! Everyone be sure to tune in tomorrow for Jeanne's Halloween post. I have it on good authority that it's fabulo!
You know how our Jeanne loves all these ghostly and ghoully!
In case you are not too lazy to watch those YouTube videos, there's a Moomin song in Swedish and of course Leningrad Cowboys and the Russian military band Alexandrov ensemble. They showed the Total Balalaika Show on tv today. It was fun to watch again.
Anna, Moomins are also Finnish-Japanese animation. Among other things.
Lime, you just can't leave that bird alone. He is ALWAYS in costume, Mr. Smooth Moves himself!
Halloween has always been a big deal in my family. When we were teenagers our house was THE place to trick or treat as my brothers and I hooked up with my cousins who live a block away to decorate our house and yard to the max. Every year it got bigger, badder and scarier. The house is a split level so there are windows at ground level. We blacked them out and had HUGE speakers at each one playing recordings of great haunted house sounds. The entire front yard was a cemetery complete with all sorts of ghouls coming out of the graves. We all dressed in costumes - ghouls, zombies, vampires, witches. We scared those trick or treaters to death and had a ball doing it. Once the last of us went off to college it ended, but now that the grandchildren are teens they are taking up the tradition. My Dad always got such a kick out of it and now my Mom presides over the mayhem.
I have been lucky to have kept several of my opera costumes (don't ask if the company costumer knows I kept them. Don't ask. Don't tell.)
I went to a work costume party as Lucia di Lammermoor complete with bloody dagger and blood-stained nightgown.
The work costume that everyone is STILL talking about is the one I wore the first year I worked at Wal-Mart. I worked in maintenance. (yes, I cleaned toilets for a living. Don't knock it. There is a Zen to it.) Anyway, I dressed up as a Wal-Mart toilet. Bought a toilet seat and wore it around my neck. Dressed in white the rest of the way. Had a holster with a plunger on one side and windex on the other. Had a toilet paper holder down my back. Had a hand-sewn banner that scrolled down my front. It had a list of the then things a Wal-Mart maintenance worker does NOT want to hear. I can't remember all of them but I do remember -
(1) The associate potluck lunch today will be chili !
(2)Maintenance to the front men's room. AND HURRY!
(3)Hey, Maintenance, you're not going to believe this one.
(4)Maintenance to the front ladies room and bring a ladder. (You do NOT want to know!)
Needless to say the costume was a big hit!
Jo - Pissenlit, tres artistic on the Autumn Fairy. Wire and panty hose make great wings! I'd pay good money to see that costume. Sounds lover-ly!
Sorry, no pictures exist of the Autumn Faery getup that I know of. As a kid, it was purely the store-bought kinds like a Care Bear, Glo Worm, a witch, a bride(my teacher took one look and made flowers to be my bridesmaid :P), Poison Ivy from the Charmkins(loneliest day at school EVER), etc. so nowadays, I'm all about putting my own costumes together. The faery was an anomaly, usually I'm lazy and just grab my eyeliner and raid my wardrobe for some more interesting items and go Goth. No planning necessary and I like how it's not obvious to strangers whether it's a costume or not.
This year, I'm torn between going Goth again(tres fun and easy) and repurposing my blue shop coat as a blue lab coat to dress up as a squint from the Jeffersonian Institute(ya okay, I'm a Bones fan).
"Gag a maggot!" Ewwww, gross! :D
My best costume was one I wore as a child. I'm in a wheelchair and one year we dressed me up like an ambulance. We had the shape of an ambulance cut out in cardboard and attached the pieces to each side of my chair. I wore a red light on my head and had a siren sound coming from the tape recorder I strapped to my chair. I even had a toy medical kit I carried in case there were any emergencies. I loved that costume! I've never come up with anything better.
Yes Jo Jayden will be 4 in January time does go fast Corey and Jake will be 1 in December and Hayley will be 3 in July and the lastest news is that Brooke is having a girl so Corey will have a little sister in March.
Some of these costumes are fantastic aren't they Halloween must really be lots of fun I am sure Jayden and Hayley would really love dressing up.
Have Fun
Helen
Hi Jo! Loved the post--great pictures, too! We don't really do Halloween much in Oz but I can see that slowly changing. I remembered to buy some lollies in case someone comes around to the house this year but we've never had anyone knock on the door before. I did see some whole pumpkins in the supermarket for the first time this year, so I wouldn't be surprised if we're heading down that path.
Hey, Jo! What a great post. By the way, where is that last black and white image from? Seriously creepy!
Actually Halloween wasn't ever big in Australia although these days I think kids might do a bit more with it. I had one trick or treater last year I think - reminder to self, make sure there's some chocolate in the cupboard in case anyone turns up today. Yeah, today's the 31st in Oz!
Yeah, right, like there's ever NO chocolate in the cupboard ;-)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!
LOL, Anna, I just googled Christie's comment about "gilly suit" and came up with a site that sells them. Apparently they're some kind of camo, but her son's wearing one for Halloween.
This does seem to be something the Yanks relish more than other countries. Don't know why, but Halloween is big business over here. Less now than in the past. Parents are more cautious about sending their little ones out. But we usually have to buy 4-5 large bags of candy.
Don't want to have ANY of that stuff left over to tempt me!
No one's knocked on your door before for Halloween, Christine?
Part of the fun is seeing the little ones in their darling costumes, walk carefully up to the door while their parents watch equally carefully from the sidewalk. We live in a nice neighborhood, but you can never be too careful.
Around 8:30 or 9:00 the older kids come. They're not nearly as much fun and can be quite obnoxious. I usually got a few of my students, who always seemed surprised I lived in an actual house LOL.
Hi, Jo--The most fun experience was trick-or-treat with the boy when he was little. A woman in our neighborhood came to the door in a Wonder Woman costume (which she wore quite well). As the boy was leaving, she said, "Watch out for my invisible robot plane on the lawn." You gotta be a serious WW fan to know that one!
And just in general, watching little ones in their costumes getting so into the holiday.
Limecello, congrats on taking home the rooster! The Morticia outfit sounds great.
Right, Helen, I remember that Jake is about my Emma's age. She'll be one in December too. I don't know what her parents are dressing her up as for Halloween, but I'm sure she'll be dahling!
My favorite costume I ever wore was improvised Joan of Arc for an informal gathering a few years back. I had tights, sword, and a fleur de lys tabard--not period, but I called it Joan and was happy.
I'd love to have a Restoration gown. I can't rent costumes (aside from things like tabards) because I'm too tall. The gowns are all about 3 inches too short, and that just ruins the look.
Joder, what a clever idea! With the wheelchair, you'd really be like an ambulance and the red light and siren add to the whole picture.
This is a great contender for the prize.
Hey, folks, I need more examples or there'll be no contest on who wins the prize.
Yeah, my hair is short anyway. So I put stuff in it so it looks rumpled, like I've been in a fight with a Malfoy, and draw a scar on my forehead. People usually figure out who I am pretty quickly.
I'm a brunette--though I do wash in a darker color of brunette for the Potter stuff--and I've noticed men seem to hit on blondes more. I think they can spot them better in the dark or something.
Nancy, Joan of Arc is a great one and it sounds like you got the details authentic enough.
Yes, watching the little ones is the best part. They seem rather clueless but their parents have a hoot.
Nancy said, "A woman in our neighborhood came to the door in a Wonder Woman costume (which she wore quite well)."
Uh, like she filled it out nicely, huh? And she must've been a serious fan to know the invisible robot plane. I didn't know that one!
Love the Squint from BONES idea, but the Goth look is always popular and you can tweak it to fit your personal taste.
Go Goth, Pissenlit!
That "gag a maggot" phrase is truly yucky and dates me I'm afraid.
Ever heard of the gross song,
"Did you ever dream as the hearse goes by/that you might be the next one to die?
They'll wrap you up in a big white sheet/and lower you down about six feet deep."
It ends with
"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out/they turn your guts into sauerkraut
"Your body turns a slimy green/and pus comes out just like whipping cream.
And me without a spoon!"
I'll bet Jeanne knows that one!
Lime's having a torrid affair with the rooster, Louisa!
Wow, what energy you had as a teenager! No wonder your place was the go-to house to crash at.
Hey, hey, no shame in cleaning toilets. When I was a girl my dad had an extra job (he was in the military), cleaning the base movie theatre. My brother and I always helped him on the weekends and my job was the toilets. Now this was back when there weren't as many sanitary precautions, but I never thought it was anything but good, hard, earnest work.
LOVE, LOVE the toilet costume. How clever of you!
Hi Jo -
LOL on the golf ball costumes. Those were great. I love handing out candy on Halloween and watching the little kids with their costumes. This year though, my daughter will have to man the candy bowl as dh and I have tickets to Young Frankenstein - the Musical. Just so happened that they gave us tickets on Halloween night - it seems so apropos!
ALthough I'm going to miss the costumes tomorrow night, I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of pig noses on kids dressed as the swine flu. I'll expect a full report from my daughter when we get home.
Jo wrote: Uh, like she filled it out nicely, huh? And she must've been a serious fan to know the invisible robot plane. I didn't know that one!
Filled it out nicely but had the legs and arms to go with it, too. And yeah, the robot plane has been out of vogue for some decades in WW now.
What fab costumes, Jo :-) I wish I'd had you for a teacher when I was in school, it would have been so much more fun!!
I tend to go the witch route for Halloween, but I've also been a gypsy (cross my palm with silver and I'll read your future) or one fun year, right after I was married, I dressed up in my bathrobe and slippers (clothes under-natch), hair rollers, green face paint to resemble a moisturizing mask and I carried a frying pan. My husband was both amused and disturbed. I did mention it was our first married Halloween, right? *g*
How funny, Tawny. And the marriage lasted after that!
The witch is always a good choice and I'd love to see you as a gypsy. I think you have the perfect look for it.
Nancy, I used to love Wonder Woman, even when I was older. I thought that wrist-defense move was so cool! Even thinking about it makes me want to do it!
OMG, Donna, I never thought of a costume based on the swine flu!
Have fun at Young Frankenstein. That's a perfect Halloween treat.
I remember one year my brother and I went trick or treating and we went next door to our neighbors house, an eccentric older lady. The kids were all afraid to go their because she was rather odd. We were on speaking terms with her so we went. She gave me a stopper to a thermos bottle and my brother the lid. She wasn't tricking either, she was serious. I always joked that if we had went back the next year she might have given us the rest of the thermos.
OMG, Linda, that's poignantly funny. A stopper and lid, you definitely needed the rest of the thermos. Poor old lady!
Jo,
Ahhhhh! Can't decide! I wonder if I can fit in both this year. Goth by day, forensic anthropologist by night. *snarf*
Ewwwwwwww! No, I've never heard of that one! Icky! Especially that line about the worms crawling in and out!
Jo wrote: Nancy, I used to love Wonder Woman, even when I was older. I thought that wrist-defense move was so cool! Even thinking about it makes me want to do it!
Cuff bracelets like that are back in style, y'know.
lol Jo - it was at the state JCL competition/convention. My costume actually was ... an entry to be judged. (Like art projects etc.)
The baby doll head... one day the teacher/adviser saw some students kicking it around, and he rescued it. Like, in the 70s. Anyway, the baby doll has/was the mascot since. It's name was Caput because that's "head" in Latin.
Caput was the team mascot, but especially for Certamen - which I was on... and he was lucky. :D I just so happened to have to go to my round right after my costume judging, and couldn't change. ;) I think it worked to psych out the other teams. And we were just that good. :P
My daughter was Ginny Weasley this year. You know from Harry Potter. We actually recycled the cape, from when our son was Harry Potter several years ago. He's a redhead, so I sprayed his hair black, mussed it up, we had the glasses and wand too and he was so cute. She's also a redhead, so it worked out perfectly for her to be Ginny.
Deidre
Deidre, what a great choice -- Ginny, especially if your daughter has red hair.
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The couple with the golf ball heads look cool! It's a clever idea, just like what you've said. Ahh, Halloween. I remember the time when me and my best buds went out as KISS. The four of us all wore wigs, and we looked like real rock stars! Old school rocks! I borrowed my wig from my sister. It was one of her New Born Free wigs. My buds borrowed some from my aunt. They wore Sepia wigs. All of our wigs were styled by my mom, so that we'd look like THE KISS.
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