The Hallowe'en Costume Thread

[topher]

I am 6'3" . My wife is 5'2". I want to go as Katie and Tom but it might be the most overdone costume this season.

[hamhock]

Topher, you do mean, of course, with you as Katie and your wife as Tom, right??

[topher]

Yep.

[india7]

Alot of people ask me, "How do kids in NYC go trick or treating?" Good point, because they can't very well go from house to house like they would in most neighborhoods. It's all apartment buildings, and they'd just have to pick a random building, ring a random buzzer, and hope that those people would have candy - it doesn't work. And as a result, I've never ever seen little kids in NYC out trick or treating (some do show up in costume for the annual Halloween Parade in the Village, but that's about it). So I'm guessing that they probably go to the more residential neighborhoods of the outer-boroughs, or out to NJ or Long Island, and trick or treat out there. I've lived in NY for 17 years, only ONE time have kids ever shown up for trick or treat!

Of course, it was horrible - I felt like crap, because for all those years, NO kid has ever rang our apartment buzzer, in any of the three apartment buildings I'd lived in. Not once. People would ask me, "Well, don't you have candy on hand in case they show up?" Nope - with that kind of track record, you just learn not to bother.

So three years ago, what happens on Halloween night? My doorbell rings! The kids had already managed to get into the building, and the poor guys were just wandering from floor to floor, apartment to apartment, hoping someone would have candy! I felt like shit - I hid from them! I just got really quiet, peeked out the peephole, and just held my breath. I mean when I tell you I had NOTHING to give them, I mean nothing. I don't think that cubes of tofu and packets of Sweet N Lo were going to be a big hit with them!

[thetigs]

Awwww, poor babies! But I do understand not having anything to give them. I'd probably hide, too.

My brother and I weren't allowed to go trick or treating. My mom called the kids who went "little beggars", so all we did was hand out candy. (Yeah, I know calling them beggars, but still having candy for said beggars makes absolutely NO sense). The first time I went was in 2002 because of Tig1 and I was so nervous. My husband had to explain all of the hints (a porch light on means that it is okay to knock), but it was still weird to knock on strange doors.

That said, I love trick or treating and I love to see how happy Tig1 and Tig2 are when we skip around the neighborhood "begging"!.

[india7]

thetigs said:

My brother and I weren't allowed to go trick or treating. My mom called the kids who went "little beggars",

I've read what you posted about your Mom in the Job thread! Not fun, I can guess?

My most hilarious Halloween memory from childhood - every year, my Mom's rules were that we weren't allowed to eat a single bite of Halloween candy till we got home and she checked over every single morsel - no open or loose candy was allowed, apples had to be checked, etc.

So the Halloween when I was nine, I came home with my pillowcase full of candy (screw those ridiculous plastic pumpkins - they didn't hold anything! My Mom used to send us out with *pillowcases*!), and as were the rules, presented the whole sackful to my Mom and my older sister (who's nine years older than me) for inspection.

The three of us are sitting on the floor, going through all the goodies, when my sister notices a mini-box of Sno Caps with the flap opened. Probably the glue just came loose, but I wasn't allowed to keep it - no big deal, I still had a big sackful. So my sister goes to set it aside, but before doing so, she absentmindedly shakes a couple out into her hand, pops them into her mouth, and then sets the box aside.

Well, when I tell you that HER whole life just flashed before my eyes, that's an understatement! I was horrified! I was sitting on the floor, with my Scooby Doo mask pushed up onto the top of my head, and I just let out this terrified wail and burst into tears!

My sister and my Mom both went, "Whaaaat??", and I pointed at my sister and wailed, "She's gonna DIE!! She ate loose Halloween candy!" I thought she was a goner for sure - in Kid Mythology, nothing kills a kid faster than loose Halloween candy!

[laconicchick]

Heh. We had to do the candy check too, of course.

One year -- the only year we ever put our jack-o'-lanterns on the porch -- our pumpkins got smashed. I was so upset I threw all my candy in the garbage can in my room because Halloween was "ruined!!" I later fished it out (I think it was still in the bucket).

We weren't allowed to have pillowcases because my mother thought those kids were greedy. So I learned to look down on the pillowcase kids for being greedy. Sorry, India. My mother also hated when teenagers would come to our door. She sometimes made them do tricks (like sing a song). But that stopped when one did a backflip, because she was afraid of getting sued if they hurt themselves. I only got to trick-or-treat until age 12, but OF COURSE my sister got to go until she was 16 or 17, because my mother is a hypocrite. Hmph!

We only went to the houses of people we knew, and we lived in a quiet suburb in a city of fewer than 100,000 people.

LaconicDude and I are trying to think of costumes for this year -- two years ago he went as Wolverine, complete with months of growing out his facial hair and having a co-worker build him working claws, and last year we went as Leela and Bender from Futurama. Both years he has won a prize at his job for his costume (they have three prizes -- funniest, most original and scariest). We are a bit stumped as of yet.

I think I mentioned this a few months ago in this thread, but the best costume I saw last year was a girl on the bus dressed as the Paper Bag Princess. I want something like that -- fairly original, but recognizable. Hm...

[ladymadonna]

I was thinking of going as Cap'n Jack in Dead Man's Chest; where he has his face painted with the caterpillar and the eyes on his eyelids and down his cheeks. That might be kind of overdone this year, though.

Topher, I think you and your wife should totally do the TomKat thing. Only, you should dress up as KateBot in like, full-on zombie gear, a refugee from Thriller. No! Wait! You should totally wear matching Tshirts that say: "I'm with Amazing -------->" !

I haven't thought of anything for the ladymadonnaettes yet. The year I dressed them as the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 & Thing 2 won us many awards. It's so hard to top!

[Deleted]

laconicchick said:

We weren't allowed to have pillowcases because my mother thought those kids were greedy. So I learned to look down on the pillowcase kids for being greedy. Sorry, India.

Geez, I preferred the plastic pumpkin emptied into the pillowcase - best of both worlds!

[Deleted]

This year I'm being a fairy, like last year. I always have these grand ideas of what I'm going to wear but I don't even start trying to put my costume together until a week before, so I always go the easy/unimaginative route.

I spent $70 on my fairy dress so I'm wearing it again this year. I need to get new wings, as mine got trashed at the bar last year. I'm going for smaller wings this year, because the big flappers I had last year drove me nuts. I want to wear something flowery in my hair but I don't know what yet. Last year it was a wreath of white flowers.

I was a pillowcase kid, too. My mom made most of my costumes and still helps me put them together. She dresses up for work, too. Hallowe'en is a big deal around my home. We don't get trick-or-treaters, though, because we live in an apartment.