It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
I love Halloween. Is that weird? I think it’s almost as fun as Christmastime. I love to dress up in fabulous costumes. I spend all year thinking about what I’ll be. Funny thing is, I don’t usually decide until right before Halloween. I know why I like the costume part of Halloween. You get to be anything you want for just one night and no one looks at you like you are some kind of fruitcake. Here are some of the things I’ve thought about being this year: Marie Antoinette, a pirate, a punk rocker, a highland lass, and Scarlet O’Hara.
I think the decorations are great too. I remember a family in my hometown that went all out every Halloween. They would decorate every inch of their front yard with all things spooky. As Raggedy Anne I would stop for a moment at the lawns edge gathering my courage to sprint through the fog past the bloody hands, coffins, and skeletons that jumped out at you. It was positively thrilling! That house was a must-visit every year. So was the house that handed out giant-sized candy bars or the one that handed out little brown bags filled with candy. It was a definite bummer when you hit a “toothbrush house”.
I long for the day that my house will be the creepy house that all of the kids want to visit on Halloween night. I have to hold off for awhile because my small children get too frightened by any decorations that are designed to be scary. Oh well, someday.
I find that most adults I talk with find Halloween to be kind of annoying. Anytime I mention having a Halloween costume party most of them roll their eyes and say something like, “I hate dressing up for Halloween.
So what do you think, fellow bloggernaclers, am I weird for enjoying Halloween? What are you going to be for Halloween? What are some good ideas for costumes? How about quick and easy Halloween costumes? Let me know because I’m having a Halloween party and I need to give all of the Halloween deadbeats costume ideas.
I’ve just learned that my ward activities committee is nixing the annual Hallowe’en party this year, citing “lack of interest.” (Read, I suppose, as lack of THEIR interest.)
So some friends and I are throwing our own ward Hallowe’en party at the church for fellow purists. You’re welcome, if you’re in the neighborhood!
Comment by Justin H — September 26, 2005 @ 8:47 pm
Sounds like fun, just tell me when and where!
Comment by Kristen J — September 26, 2005 @ 9:08 pm
I love Halloween, especially dressing up. I am even having a countdown to Halloween on my blog, and hosting a Halloween swap too. I love it that much. I think it is totally sad when adults can’t enjoy something fun like dressing up. Just because you are an adult doesn’t mean you have to be boring! :)
Comment by Aimee — September 26, 2005 @ 9:28 pm
Sorry for the following nostalgia overload, but I can’t help it…
The Hallowe’en love goes way back in my family. I remember my dad and mom constructing this huge, intricate refrigerator-box haunted house maze in our garage one year for their(read: no kids) Hallowe’en party. My dad dressed up (face paint and all) as Gene Simmons but my mom made him redo the makeup and go as a hunchback instead. (i guess she didn’t want to be outed as the wife of the KISS fan to other members of the ward.)
My mom made me all sorts of costumes (this past year my daughter wore the clown costume my mom sewed for me twenty some odd years ago). In fact, probably the single greatest day of my elementary school career was going to school as a Ghostbuster (tan jumpsuit, proton accelerator backpack and all) in fourth grade. I was a geek every single other day, but that day, I was king.
I remember also how bummed I was the year my parents refused to let me go trick-or-treating with my friends (they were totally justified; I was way too old). In a gesture of reconciliation, my dad went out and rented every scary movie he could find and we fell asleep watching them together. Now it’s a tradition my wife and I share (and we’re way more firm about it than anything on any other holiday, come to think of it.) Good, good times…
Comment by Justin H — September 26, 2005 @ 10:08 pm
It’s good to know I have fellow Halloween junkies out there.
I’m glad you got nostalgic on us Justin. I’ve got several Halloween costume ideas, KISS and ghostbuster (your mom sounds like she rocks by the way). I also love the scary movie tradition too.
I’ve sewn a lot of costumes for my kids. Let’s see..my son was Baby Elvis in a white polyester and red sequinned jumpsuit for his first halloween, then he was daniel boone. My girls have been flowers, elves, and witches (all homemade). Probably the best one I made for my girls is a spanish dancer costume. I think every kid in the neighborhood has worn that one, even the boys.
I made a Galadriel costume for myself a few years ago and bought the pointy ears to top it off.
I’m sorry, now whose getting nostalgic!
Comment by Kristen J — September 26, 2005 @ 10:22 pm
Oh yeah, if you look at the radio blog on the right side of this page you’ll see the scary monsters halloween sound effects at the top of the list.
Comment by Kristen J — September 26, 2005 @ 10:32 pm
Awesome, Kristen. Your kids are lucky (as was I–my mom did rock!).
I’m still smiling at the idea of a real-life Tiny Elvis. LOL!
Comment by Justin H — September 26, 2005 @ 10:35 pm
Ooh, don’t forget the Wiggles costumes you made for me (and my brother and two other guys in the ward) Kristen. I actually won honorable mention at a world-class costume party for that one (the hostess had a toddler son I think). People said I looked a little bit like a tall version of Anthony Wiggle…
(I’m not kidding about the quality of this party either. My old cover band, the Free Range Chickens got invited to play at it every year in Encinitas. I think it was thrown by the heir to the family that invented the Poinsetta. This annual shindig is the kind of costume party you see on TV. It made the award all the more impressive.)
Comment by Geoff J — September 26, 2005 @ 11:28 pm
My greatest costume! Hope I can describe it. Take one lare 30 gallon plastic garbage can. Find some overalls….the kind mechanics used to wear, or the kind garbage men used to wear. The denium kind, bib overall type but full suit with long sleeves and necked collar. A pair of gloves, and a full rubber head/mask.
Cut 1/2 the bottom out of the garbage can. Cut the overalls at the from side to side around the rear (Not the front) at the crotch, just below the rear. Stuff the body and arms so it looks like a body inside the overalls. Attach the rubber mask to the top, also stuffed. Stuff the gloves and attach them to the arms. Now you have a “man” stuffed from the head down to the crotch. Now the hard part. Attach this body to the front of the garbage can (the half cut out of the bottom should be toward the front also). Place the arms back around the garbage can so the reach down to the bottom edge of the can. It will look like the man is stuck to the can with his arms hold it up.
Now you climb into the garbage can, but your legs thru the legs in the overalls and stand up.
The end result is you inside the garbage can, being carried by this “stuffed garbage man” (your legs are the garbage man’s legs).
If you understood all that, it’s a real eye popper! I’ve loved this costume and won a couple of prizes with it.
Sorry for the long description.
Comment by don — September 26, 2005 @ 11:39 pm
Lol, don. That sounds like an awesome costume. All of these costumes are restoring my faith that the halloween spirit is alive and well.
I just wish I had pictures of some of these costumes, especially the garbage man.
Comment by Kristen J — September 27, 2005 @ 7:48 am
Halloween is bizarre for me, because it just wasn’t part of my culture growing up (I’m American, it just wasn’t “done” in my small home town). I never experienced Halloween until adulthood, and I just can’t get past the strangeness of it and the mythology behind it.
This will be our first year in a predominantly residential neighborhood. We’ve bought candy, figuring we might have some little ones stopping by – any pointers for a first-time Halloween-er?
Comment by Ginny — September 27, 2005 @ 2:15 pm
This clinches it. The Johnston’s are apostate.
My 4 year old still doesn’t know what halloween is…though this year, I am tempted to dress him as a monkey and give him a bucket full of peaches.
Comment by J. Stapley — September 28, 2005 @ 7:54 pm
Ha! Lol! I triple dog dare you!
Comment by Kristen J — September 28, 2005 @ 8:46 pm
This is kind of off-topic, (but, by the way, love autumn, especially the way the light turns pure gold around 4:00 in the afternoon), just wanted to say, I was baptized and confirmed into the church last weekend. I’ve already received some blessings. A person I’ve been helping out financially for a couple of years told me he is finally in a position to start paying me back and sent me a check, and my weblog cracked the TTLB “Large Mammal” level for the first time.
Comment by V the K — September 30, 2005 @ 8:53 am
Very cool V the K! Congratulations!
Comment by kristen j — October 1, 2005 @ 9:18 am
Okay, I know this thread is dead, but I can’t hold in my excitement! I just figured out what I am going to be for Halloween…a Lego! We bought a cardboard box, plastic tupperware bowls to make the bumps and then we are going to spraypaint it all. It’s going to be the best costume ever!
Kristen, did you decide what to be?
Comment by Jamie J — October 24, 2005 @ 9:35 pm
Oh yeah, I’m a geisha girl. i wish i was going to be a lego though. that’s pretty cool!
hey, i did get second place in a costume contest already.
Comment by Kristen J — October 25, 2005 @ 8:14 am
I spent about 30 hours making a cardboard train outfit from scratch that somewhat resembles Thomas. My son has no idea what Halloween is but he loves “driving” his train around the house. If I had any sense I would have made it out of corrugated plastic board and it would last forever.
You can see a photo of it at http://www.frappr.com/bloggernacle if you find me there.
Comment by a random John — October 31, 2005 @ 12:21 pm
Ok, that was one cool train. I think you have a future in Halloween costume making.
Comment by Kristen J — October 31, 2005 @ 2:10 pm
My sister-in-law offered to purchase it. Next year I’m thinking of doing an X-Wing (assuming the boy wants one, but what 3 year old wouldn’t?) out of the plastic board. Maybe if I get my act together I will plan it out, make a pattern, and make kits for several of them. I need a better way of cutting plastic though than the shears that I used on the cardboard. Maybe a jigsaw or a dremmel tool.
Comment by a random John — October 31, 2005 @ 2:39 pm
Sweet. We’ll order one. (Do they come in pink too?)
Comment by Geoff J — October 31, 2005 @ 5:21 pm
I need to investigate this more. I’m trying to nail down the pricing of corrugated plastic board. My brother claims to have purchased 8’x4′ sheets from a plastic shop in San Jose for about $8. I am unable to find anything that size on the web and what I can find is about 10x as expensive. If I do find a source that for the raw material that would make these cheap enough to produce in quantities of say, 5 X-Wing or Thomas suits at a time then I will probably try to make several at onece and look into how to decorate them. Cardboard Thomas was four cans of spray paint and a bit of work. I am guessing that stickers would do a good job though on an X-Wing. Custom printing would be great if I could figure out how to do that inexpensively.
Comment by a random John — October 31, 2005 @ 9:24 pm