Halloween!! :D

That is a typical British sentiment...that it has to be scary to be a Halloween costume.  Not so!  Halloween costumes just have to be costumes is all. 

I think the reason for the feeling that many Brits have that Halloween costumes should be scary comes from the fact that they have fancy dress parties all year long; but in the US, there is no culture of fancy dress parties (I'd never been to one my whole life in the US), so Halloween is your one time opportunity to become someone else--anyone or anything else!

Come to think of it, ever since I was able, I've made my own costumes and all through childhood and adulthood I was never anything scary that I can remember.  I love the scary atmosphere of Halloween, but prefer to be non-scary characters.

My favorites as a kid that I often repeated were--a Native American princess complete with my stuffed cat on my back as my papoose and a gypsy.  Back in the 80's I went as Boy George and danced the night away with Michael Jackson, more recently a whole gamut of fairies, elves, medieval and renaissance princesses, and a more recent favorite Ceres The Ancient Roman Goddess of Agriculture (don't ask!  The theme for the party was "food"!)

Back in the 80's I went as Boy George and danced the night away with Michael Jackson

  I bet you were so cute!!! I love it!

I wish I had come up with something more creative this year, but it might get a laugh or two. I can't say anything yet... but will post some pics after the party! 

I think the reason for the feeling that many Brits have that Halloween costumes should be scary comes from the fact that they have fancy dress parties all year long; but in the US, there is no culture of fancy dress parties (I'd never been to one my whole life in the US), so Halloween is your one time opportunity to become someone else--anyone or anything else!

Good observation! Makes sense to me.

I think the reason for the feeling that many Brits have that Halloween costumes should be scary comes from the fact that they have fancy dress parties all year long; but in the US, there is no culture of fancy dress parties (I'd never been to one my whole life in the US), so Halloween is your one time opportunity to become someone else--anyone or anything else!

I think you're right Andee.

I always had homemade costumes in the US and was never scary either.  I wore a neighbor's football uniform one year, was an Eskimo one year (my Dad had an "eskimo" fur coat from when he lived in Labrador), and was "Queen of Hearts" one year in red clothes with giant cardboard "cards" (sandwich board drawn by my sister) hanging over my shoulders.  When my little sister was a preschooler she went trick-or-treating one year in a brown paper grocery sack decorated with kid-made colored paper flowers. 

Since we're sharing costumes of years past... when I was a kid my Mom made our costumes.  I've been both Minnie and Mickey Mouse.  One of my all time favorites was Rainbow Brite (yes, I am a child of the 80's) and another favorite I was a present.  (Picture a huge box with child inside- arm holes and the bottom cut out, with a bow on my head).

And since my B-day is at the beginning of October my parties were always Halloween themed as a kid.  My Mom had all these great Halloween games for us to play- a couple of favorites were the mummy wrap (by loads of toilet paper, have the kids wrap each other, first to finish wins) and the Guess the Creepy ingredient one.  She would take regular foods, put them in a bowl, say what the creepy ingredient was and then we had to guess what they were.  Example- peeled grapes were "eyeballs" and Fruity Pebbles cereal was "dried maggots".  You get the idea.

My love of Halloween started at a very early age.

One of my all time favorites was Rainbow Brite

woooshh! went right past me. Had to google that one.

But yea we did that grape eyeballs, jello something I forget and hamburger (mince) for brains. The dried maggots sounds ace!

One year when I was a kid, my mom and dad got a new washer and a new dryer.  Obviously each of those came in its own large box.  My friend and I decided to take these boxes and use them for our Halloween costumes.  We spent an entire weekend working on them, but to this day I think it was the best costume I've ever had, or at least my favorite. We went as a pair of dice!

One year when I was a kid, my mom and dad got a new washer and a new dryer.  Obviously each of those came in its own large box.  My friend and I decided to take these boxes and use them for our Halloween costumes.  We spent an entire weekend working on them, but to this day I think it was the best costume I've ever had, or at least my favorite. We went as a pair of dice!

where's that LIKE button? oops forgot where I was. Cyber fog this morning

I think that'd been an ace costume.

I love the head in the freezer costume. Though it wouldn't be ideal for drinking, eating, or sitting down, which kind of puts a damper on things. Which is why I didn't do this one!

http://www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com/coolest-frozen-head-in-fridge-costume-1.html

I love the head in the freezer costume. Though it wouldn't be ideal for drinking, eating, or sitting down, which kind of puts a damper on things. Which is why I didn't do this one!

http://www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com/coolest-frozen-head-in-fridge-costume-1.html

Brilliant.  However you're right. Not conducive to eating, drinking, sitting....

Brilliant.  However you're right. Not conducive to eating, drinking, sitting....

In other words, no fun, but you can scare the bejesus out of little kids. So that's fun. 

where's that LIKE button? oops forgot where I was. Cyber fog this morning

I think that'd been an ace costume.

I think I might just have to do it again one year!

In other words, no fun, but you can scare the bejesus out of little kids. So that's fun. 

 


But presumably the fridge door opens allowing acces to your own stock of drinks. And there are things called straws.

In other words, no fun, but you can scare the bejesus out of little kids. So that's fun. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHA!!!!!!!!!

But presumably the fridge door opens allowing acces to your own stock of drinks. And there are things called straws.

Good call Bob.  Good call.