Saturday, October 16, 2010

Halloween Costumes for The Future, Present, and Past

Absolutely certain we'll have to dress our sweet potato girlie as Princess Leia at some point whether she'll want to or not... other Halloween consume ideas on her mommie's "Wish List of Halloween Costumes for The Future" (NOTE: I began writing this post the 8th of October):

Bumble Bee
Ladybug
Cheshire Cat
Pocahontas
Cowgirl
A Cookie or a Donut (and one of us parents can dress as a carton of milk!)
Witch
Red Devil
Tiger
Bunny Wabbit
Scarecrow
Dorothy from Wizard of Oz
Raggedy Ann

Hmmm... the above list requires she be willing to dress up for Halloween until she's 16 years old! We'll see about that.

She was a dragon last year (Smaug!) and the costume still kinda fits (just barely), so we were planning to reuse it, as the angel boy-O is certain - - make that was certain-- he'd be Frodo again for this Halloween. UPDATE: Just as I suspected, her big bro just returned home from a weekend at Disneyland with plans to be something else than Frodo: The Mad Hatter! Which is a fantastic idea... cuz perfectly enough, I now get to cross something off the lengthy "...Costumes for the Future" list: She'll be the Cheshire Cat!

Halloween Costumes of My Past: Note, I don't remember Halloween before my last year of preschool - - and the person who could tell me, who would remember, she isn't around anymore.

Age 4 or 5: Geisha girl wearing vermilion kimono with a floral and maple leaf printed pattern, and my hair spun in buns round on each side of my little head, complete with coral pink paper fans pinned therein.
Age 6: I'm really not sure - - I have no memory of either my Halloween costume, nor of trick-or-treating my kindergarten year. I would guess I was either a clown or a witch. I'm leaning towards circus clown. I do remember watching the older kids in my school's Halloween parade held in the upstairs gym though, and I remember thinking there sure were a lot of kids dressed as McDonald's 'Fry Guys.'
Age 7: I think I was either a clown or a witch -? Probably a clown again.
Age 8: Witch, I'm sure of it!
Age 9: I'm almost certain I was a witch again.
Age 10: Pat Benatar/Punk rocker - - far too much detail to explain this one. It was great and ridiculous all at once!
Age 11: Scarecrow - I hadn't liked this one at first, but by the night's end, I thought myself that I was freakin' adorable.
Age 12: At the time, I was going for a 'bum' look, donning old over-sized clothes and a scruffy brown hat, and I had a thin layer of Vaseline spread about my cheeks, chin and jawline, rubbed with coffee grounds (which were supplied by a neighbor, who's daughter, Kathleen, was also dressed as a bum as my trick-or-treating partner that year). The grounds were meant to inspire an unshaven look. We were out on our own until nearly 10pm. We thought we were the coolest.
Age 13: I was a Paisley Ghost - and my pillowcase of candy was stolen by some 15 year olds who rushed me. As I turned around to defend myself, it became utterly pointless with a stupid paisley bedsheet over my head, unable to see much detail.
Age 18: I'm fairly certain I did something, but I can't remember - - I should ask Mikie if she remembers.
Age 19: This one, only fellow Ricks College graduates would understand: I dressed as an early-married, early pregnant, Mormon Ricks College student, complete with a teeny, fine print floral patterned Sunday dress and a fake preggers belly - - Mind you, I didn't make it out the door dressed like that(not enough guts to do it), although 3 of my roommates with the same 'costume' went out and made a night of it that year.
Age 20: Zan, the boy-half of the Wonder Twins duo. This was the same Halloween a roomie and I decided to deck out all our friends from our apartment complex as superheros and villains, utilizing all sorts of creative arrangements and treatments of colored tights and long underwear, using both original purchase colors and dyed versions to match our needs, and various felt and/or satin appliques... We had Green Lantern, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, Cat Woman, Supergirl, Superman, Spiderman, Flash, Bat Girl, and Jayna, my other Wonder Twin half, roommate and fellow costume creator. And we all went out in public together as a group, each dressed in character, also behaving in character... like Chris, as Spiderman, who actually sprang atop a grocery cashier's checkout, looking out for Dr. Octopus, or James, as Flash, who ran 'Flash-style' up and down the grocery aisles when we had descended upon a Smith's grocery store in search of 35mm film when I'd run out. At check-out, film in hand, 'Flash' was nowhere to be found and the cashier actually used the store's PA system: "Flash to Checkout 10, Flash? Would Flash please return to the store front to Check out 10, Flash to check out 10." We also had dinner together at TGIFridays before our evening festivities truly began... Humpht. I guess by now I could have easily described the Pat Benatar costume from A to Z after this long-winded portion of my recounting costumes of the past.
Age 21: a Nerd from the 60s
Age 22: a Death bunny, all pasty faced with thick, black eyeliner, fake lashes, and black lipstick, wearing a long, straight, black-haired wig, a short, black velvet shift, and torn black pantyhose over burgundy tights, and a pair heavy heeled, black platform ankle boots. I was dressed like that all day long and it really freaked out a number of Provo, UT locals while I drove and walked about town.

This year I'm gunna be a witch whether the rest of the parents wanna dress up or not! So, I've got a little less than a month now to work on my witch cackle!

AGAIN: I began writing this October 8th...

Sooo
My Witch Costume UPDATE: I have acquired a black gown with a scoop neck, elongated sleeves, and a hacked up hemline with a slit. I've also scored a black, kind of see-through cape with a hood that has a glittery purple-plum colored spider's web pattern printed all over it, and I've got some dark green and black striped tights to be worn with black, high-heeled ankle boots that don't reach beyond my ankle so that the tights will be more visible. The dark green of the tights is meant to compliment the green sheen seen in the plume of black feathers atop my witch's hat, which is a satiny black with a plum colored sheen to it, and also has 3 satiny plum colored fabric roses, front and center, and a black netted veil that hangs with little black plastic spiders here and there. The hat is what inspired this whole effort: It was my Grandma Joanie's witch's hat. I also have kind of Lady Liberty green costume makeup (more on the gray side than on turquoise) to be applied to any and all visible skin. Ohhh, and direct from Hong Kong (no really, I'm not kidding: post-marked from Hong Kong), I've got some long fake lashes that have a bit of purple feathers set to be aligned with the outside corners of my eyes. And then black lipstick.

2 comments:

Mikal's Life said...

I pulled out my scrapbook and looked and I don't think that we dressed up since that was the weekend that we spent in Logan for the BYU vs. Utah game. I'm kinda bummed that we missed the opportunity to dress up that year now! Although we did dress up for the heck of it a few times that year!!

Annejelynn said...

I knew you could confirm for me, Mikie!