Halloween creativity
Got any cool Halloween costume ideas this year?
I’m asking as a favor to my cousin Dan, who came in second in a costume contest last year and is really itching for first this year. Last year, he went as his own Facebook page, which was good but very 2008. Dan lives in DC, and is 30, so something both generationally appropriate and connected to current events would be his top choice — however, he works in the media, so he can’t do anything so controversial he might lose his job. Labor and expense, however, are no obstacles. (Dan is tall, on the slender side, and sort of looks like Matt Damon, if that helps. And yes, he is single, ladies.)
What Should Cousin Dan Be?
What are you going to be? What’s your favorite Halloween costume, ever, or the one you’d most like to do but never quite managed to pull off? I had a great idea that I blogged a few years back, but never used:
Since I’m both a PhD and a cute brunette from Kansas, I thought I could go as “The Professor and Mary Ann.” Cut a cheap pair of khakis and a pair of jean cutoffs in half and sew them together. Alter a white oxford so it buttons down on one side and ties into a halter on the other. Slick all my hair back on one side and into a big poofy ponytail on the other, and carry around a science book and a coconut pie.
I still love that idea, but now I have my hair in a short bob and it’s red, so I can’t do that.
What are your best creative ideas, for Cousin Dan or anyone else?
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He could go as Rahm Emanuel (though “tall” kinda ruins that one) — wear a suit, carry a big rubber fish, anyone in DC would get it. That’s not going to win you any contests though. Could he go as a death panel? Or a forged Kenyan birth certificate?
More importantly, does he know what he’s doing for Hallowe’en? Because he should go see Milk Machine play at Solly’s Tavern.
My favorite current-eventsy (sorta) costume was last year when my best friend went as a Taft supporter. Taft was elected in 1908, so she wore a fake mustache and a tweed suit with a vest and carried a “Taft ’08″ sign.
I am suffering from a creative lapse and have no idea what to do for Hallowe’en. I’m usually way more on top of things, especially since I have to plan both my costume (and I sometimes have spares) and my husband’s, since he doesn’t care even a little.
The best costume I ever pulled off was when I wore a blue dress and makeup, dipped tampons in blue paint, pinned them all over the dress, and went as “Picasso’s Blue Period”.
Yeah, it was that kind of crowd :-)
My group of friends usually has a theme party for Halloween, like “Twisted Fairy Tales” or “Comic Book and Cartoon Characters”.
This year we’re doing “Gods, Goddesses and Mythological Creatures in their Modern Day Jobs.” The idea is that the economy is so bad that even Zeuss needs to pick up some time in retail to make ends meet. So far the ones I’ve heard in the planning are:
Calypso as a marriage counselor
The Little Mermaid as a baywatch-style lifeguard
The Grim Reaper as a life insurance salesman
Lucifer as a televangalist
The Morrigan as the person who carries the doomsday button around the White House
Maman Brigitte as an assassin
Freya as a brothel Madame
Oya as a weather reporter on the local news
Ama-No-Uzume who runs a fertility clinic
I’m thinking of Lilith as a punk rocker.
I’ve been reading your blogs since before this one existed and I really enjoy your humor and common sense, but this is my first time commenting.
I love dressing up for Halloween! I really regret that I’m too old for it now. When I was little I was Bilbo Baggins from the Hobbit, a turtle (I could even retract into my shell, sort of), a jack in the box complete with large cardboard box, Cimorene (the feminist princess main character from a kid’s book called Dealing with Dragons), a Spanish Lady, a clown, and my favorite, Abigail Adams. (I also dressed up as Maid Marion in 3rd grade to give a class presentation on Robin Hood.) My mom made all of my costumes.
Now that I’m in college, the only Halloween opportunities to dress up are parties, and no one seems to have the same sense of what’s cool as I do. (Also they get really drunk while I don’t drink at all, which is not a great social combination.) Last year I was Emily Dickinson, wearing a white antique skirt and blouse from the turn of the century. I went around answering “Who are you?” with “I’m nobody — Who are you?” I got a disappointing number of blank stares.
For your cousin, what about Thomas Jefferson? If money is no obstacle, he could get himself a really well-tailored 18th century suit and a tricorn hat that actually fit, and make himself a scroll with the Declaration of Independence on it. Tall, thin-ish guys look GOOD in that era of clothing if it’s done right. (And by right I mean historically and class accurate, like a good reenacter — none of these cheap costumes that broadcast the wearer’s and maker’s ignorance. Detail is everything!)
And what could be more non-controversial and yet radical and completely of the moment than the Declaration of Independence?
I like Fillyjonk’s death panel suggestion. Maybe get a grim reaper costume with a strip of bad rec-room wall panelling on his chest and say he’s in town looking for a job. Carry a letter of reference from Sarah Palin.
JoGeek — fabulous.
My favorite recent Halloween costume was David Tennant’s Doctor Who — I realized later I was wearing the same suit I wore for the interview to win this job as a Halloween costume. Hmmm. Well, we aren’t suit people around here.
He should dress as a pie with red ink notations all over it and go as Tort Reform HA HA HA HA.
I once knew someone who constructed a set of Roman armor out of cardboard Coke cases and went as a Roman Coke.
I’ve always wanted to see someone go as “I Messed With Texas.”
He could dress as a bird. Then he could tweet famous Twitter bits, like the Congressman who tweeted about his “undisclosed” Iraqi location.
My favorite costume I’ve seen executed was Fairy Goth Mother: ball gown, opera-length gloves, wings, and Goth make-up (white-ish foundation, DARK lipstick, eyeliner, mascara).
I’ve always wanted to go as “all that and a bag of chips: — black clothes, covered in “that” in different fonts/sizes, carrying a bag of Lays or something. but, unless you know the phrase, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
for cousin Dan: combine topical and pop-cultural? a political vampire, sucking the blood out of (lots of possible vicitms, actually).
I’m going to a themed “super villain” party this year. My costume will be as my alter-ego Dr.Nemo Gemini’s favorite cartoon villain, Dentist the Mentist. He’s a dentist who hypnotizes people with his forehead mirror, and removes all their teeth. He’s psychotic and crafty.
JoGeek, Kellie & Telophase, I LOVE pun costumes!
Brian, you are frightening. I am glad I actually know you. And you WILL post pix of this, right?
Eager Ears, the fact that nobody got your Emily Dickinson joke makes me sad.
Hey folks, I apologize for the slow reply as I’ve been Internet-deprived lately. Thanks for all the suggestions…my favorite so far is the Death Panel, though I’m still trying to figure out how to convincingly pull this one off. I’ll post more later– but the pressure was on for me to be comment #666 on Robin’s blog! Any execution ideas for this Death Panel costume are welcome! Pun intended, duh.