My son will dress up as a book-- foam-backed posterboard, shoulder straps. Handpainted cover art allows for lots of creativity, easy to do, low odds of utter disaster (i.e, put in some work and a wearable costume, though possibly a goofy one, results). Extremely awkward in crowded spaces, though.
That said, we're totally stumped, too! Solve this problem for a young, devastatingly attractive married couple, mineshaft.
For the first year since she was born, I'm not involved in Rory's Halloween costuming.
No ideas, which I would give you whether or not I was using them. I doubt we'll be knocking on the same doors for candy.
I've met Blume. I think she's sane, oudemia.
We bought this for Hawaiian Punch to wear at the wedding reception.
For Hallowe'en, I'm dressing Jammies and Hawaiian Punch up in matching clothes and putting a little mustache on her. I haven't figured out what to do with myself.
Usually I plan Halloween out months in advance, but this wedding has used up that part of my brain.
I keep wanting to dress up as Ruth Bader Ginzburg, but I'm like four times her mass. For the petite ladeez who want to strike FEAR into the hearts of conservatives: black graduation-type robe, lacy something in the neck, severe bun, ginormous glasses, and a giant copy of the Bill of Rights. Bloodstained ax for the Tree of Liberty optional.
@ 5:
Simple. Than Sifu can be Zelda and Blume F. Scott.
Someone should make a Weeping Glenn Beck mask.
Here in Chicago, we're thinking of something parking-meter related. Possibly a group costume: several people with green "PLEASE PAY AT PAY BOX" bags over their heads, and then someone else dressed up as the pay box.
Chopperella, after much urging and pushing from her mother, will not be Bob the Builder (an early enthusiasm that waned quickly) and will instead be a damn Princess Fairy or something with lots of glitter. Her younger sister Chopwina will be a cow.
Bonus related thought for a dude with an exhibitionist streak: Cow suit, but cut off one of the udders and use the resultan hole to provide a personal substitute. I gotta imagine you could get a block, block and a half before being arrested/punched out.
Chopper comments on Weenie
I don't like where this is heading.
Back in high school one of my friends came up with the brilliant costume idea "guy who doesn't know his dick is hanging out." He didn't actually try it out, though.
15, 17: Use this for a trial run.
18: There an awful lot of anti-Obama shirts on that site.
I wonder what they did with all their anti-Bush shirts?
3: muppets are always good. How about Floyd and Janice?
15: a couple of years ago, my friends and I went as robots. One friend went as a ghetto-bot, with a ghetto blaster, and also a hole where his penis would be, out of which stuck a wine spigot from a boxed-wine bag. It was the source of endless amusement, and could bereplicstes with a Coe costume.
My most successful costume was as a transvestite Jesus way back in college. A nailed together cross, a crown of thorns, lots of eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lipstick, stuffed bra, a sheet wrapped around me, appropriate wound marks, etc. It was a hit at the parties, not so much with the locals who all did double takes, some accompanied with threats of physical violence. It was also frickin' freezing - a sheet and sandals are not appropriate late October clothing in New England.
I've been drafted as Carrie's Afro-haired date.
Which I can pull off better than any of the half-baked Halloween ideas I've never followed through upon.
(Other individuals with large hair might, however, want to use my long-cherished but never acted-upon idea of installing a light in a briefcase and going out as Jules from Pulp Fiction.)
14: You know, if I saw somebody dress up as a snowy owl with a short blonde wig and be O RLY Taitz, I'd be pretty impressed.
One person should dress up as internet traditions and the other should dress up with a sign pointing at the first that reads: "I AM AWARE OF YOU"
I went as Clark Kent the year before last. (And last year, but it's OK, I had moved in the meantime so it's not like anyone saw me being unoriginal.) I got out an old, prescription-expired pair of glasses with rims all the way around, gelled my hair firmly into a part, and put on gray slacks and the most formal white shirt I own, but left the white shirt unbuttoned to reveal a Superman t-shirt underneath. That worked especially well year before last, when I wore it during the day on Halloween to my job at the newspaper.
Thre people: one pimp, one prostitute, and the third dressed as an acorn offering the other two tax advice.
Sandwich board with check boxes for "bikini," "landing strip," "Brazilian," etc. You're the pubic option.
Cutlery. Wear grey, possibly face makeup, and make little fork/spoon/spork hats.
Anatomical duet was the most original costume
29
29
One person should dress up as internet traditions
A cat with captions on it? An enormous asshole?
Did that guy dress up as an asterisk? As a black hole? What on earth is that guy supposed to be?
Two costumes I've known friends used but never used myself:
- cloudy with a chance of showers: dress in grey, possibly with cotton ball clouds, carry spray bottle with water
- gum: dress in a uniform (bright) colour, attach one of those small plastic children's chairs to your head.
There's also the one Mir's son (of the blog Woulda Coulda Shoulda) used a few years ago: chick magnet: attach lots of peeps to self.
A teacher at my high school once dressed up as his favorite dinner: blue shirt and pants, extension cord worn like a necktie, and wrapped up in it was a rubber chicken. (Chicken cordon bleu.)
See, there's a big philosophical split between those who believe a great Hallowe'en costume arises from a great pun, and those who believe that a great Halloween costume should be bringing something to life, or look visually cool.
I'm afraid I'm firmly in the latter camp.
Has anyone ever worn one of these pun costumes? I might if I had any evidence that it had been done in the world of reality.
34 would be good if you have a kid. Mom is a spoon, Dad is a fork, kid is a spork.
It wasn't for Halloween, I don't think, but I once went to a fancy dress party (theme: Tube stations) covered in beer labels. Made of ale/Maida Vale, see?
Has anyone ever worn one of these pun costumes?
It's possible that I have been to a Halloween party where somebody wasn't dressed as a cereal killer, but I wouldn't bet money on it.
Everybody knows that the fallback Halloween costume is Greek God or Goddess, right?
We have no plans. I love to give out candy to the kids in the neighborhood but I've never gotten my act sufficiently together to do so in costume. Usually it's because I have an idea but no time to put it together. This year I think I can put it together but have no idea. Gah.
I am the worst sort of costume party goer. In keeping with my suggestion to Bleety above, my Halloween strategy is to look good.* This means I wear a nice dress and dub myself some character from literature or history.
*Exception -- I have a photorealistically perfect Raggedy Anne costume (there is a matching Andy, too!) that my mother made ages ago (I think my parents wore them in the 70s). I've worn that.
As to costume intent, I am all about bringing something to life rather than a pun. That said, the last time Rah and I did a tandem costume was for a Book of Revelations party. We wore business suits, nametags ("Arthur Andersen" & "Enron") and went as the False Profits.
48: And he was never heard from again.
A friend once went as Tippi Hedren from The Birds with a dozen toy birds on thin, stiff wires from a shoulder harness attacking her from the air.
If anyone has the time to put that together, please steal it with my blessing.
Dress up AS halloween. Pumpkin head, trick or treat bag, fake blood all over, cobwebs + spiders all over your hair and a fake tattoo of a witche's face on the arm, under which is written "MOM". I did this a couple of years ago and it went over incredibly well - both as a way to make an idea come alive and to be visually stunning.
Also: Burger King and Dairy Queen for the attractive couple.
51: I did that. There's a picture of me LOOKING AWESOMELY SPOOKY in that costume, on facebook. I actually startled people when I was wearing that.
I went as a Nun of your Business (habit, clipboard) in the Peace Corps one year -- there were a lot of pun costumes because they tend to be easier with limited materials.
I haven't dressed up for years, though.
I suck at Halloween. I have never been able to figure out why it's so hard for me. I'm creative; I like wearing odd clothes. I should be a natural. But I'm just not good at it. I usually end up going to parties just wearing something mildly outlandish.
Whatever happened to non-Halloween costume parties? People like dressing up (or, some people do, and the others could avoid parties like that), but I don't think I've ever been aware of a costume party outside the Halloween context.
Yeah, I pretty much suck at Halloween, too. I think that part of it has to do with the fact that in NYC, you're going to end up taking the subway and walking ten blocks to wherever you're going, and also that once you get there, most of the other women are going to be sexxy fairies or witches or cats anyways. I've dressed up as a pirate like six years in a row now.
56: If I wasn't an antisocial misanthrope I would throw a Majestic Hat party, where I provide food, drink, and lots of construction paper, tinsel, glitter, and the like, and have the party goers make funky paper hats. I'd have to buy a ton of adult sized safety scissors, as accidental stabbings tend to dampen the mood, and drunk people playing with sharp objects isn't the safest thing ever.
Anyway, feel free to steal the idea, as I'm not going to actually use it.
Whatever happened to non-Halloween costume parties?
Hollywood tells me that non-Halloween costume parties are only for orgies. I don't know whether I suck at Halloween, because I can't think of many things I want to do less than spending an entire evening in a costume. Therefore, I've only costumed up once since 1980.
53: Where's the photo? I couldn't find it in your facebook profile.
AB loves the pun costumes, and has gone as Mothra Stewart and Medusa Cleaver (which I guess is actually more of a mashup costume). We haven't dressed for Halloween since, well, we had kids to dress.
45: Iris has gone as Iris, of course, and this year made an abrupt switch from flamenco dancer (for which she has an Authentic Tourist Crap dress from Spain) to Medusa (I really need to research cheap rubber snakes).
In the thread linked in 48, JM mentions that she wants to say CHANGEBAD irl. This weekend a good friend of ours revealed that she absolutely hated her 30s, despite that decade featuring a happy marriage, a relocation to a city she likes (and house/garden she loves), founding of a well-regarded cultural series, publication of 2 books, and ability to stop working fulltime for someone else in order to support her writing (plus she met us!). We couldn't really challenge her on it, but she indicated that it's basically because, well, CHANGEBAD. And all of those things entailed change.
People are crazy.
she absolutely hated her 30s, despite
I don't know your friend, obviously, so grains of salt all around. However, I believe the world divides (one of the ways it divides, anyhow) into people who are generally satisfied and people who are generally dissatisfied. That division, in my grand theory of people sorting, reflects internal orientations and has almost nothing to do with external circumstances.
I am the worst sort of costume party goer.
Me too. I lack the drive that many people seem to have to devote great effort to the imagination and creation of a goofy costume. Dressing up for a night in some unwieldy homemade cardboard costume? Not something that excites me. But it is well known that I am no fun.
Last time I dressed up I put on a suit, wraparound sunglasses, and a cell phone earpiece, and told people that I was a Secret Service agent.
I have mixed feelings about adults dressing up on Halloween; it seems a nice holiday to leave to the kids. The cat is way, way out of that bag, but it is one of the aspects of adulthood as extended adolescence that I don't really go for.
It may just be boring old me--last non-Halloween dress-up, I went in a suit as a businessman (it actually "worked" pretty well).
63: I strongly suspect you're right. Or rather, I completely agree that you're right in general, and suspect that my friend turns out to be a glass-half-empty type. I just don't think of her that way.
Actually, thinking about it, she may be someone who can be reasonably positive in stable circumstances but is stressed (and negative) about change. I guess we'll see in 8 years.
65.2 written before seeing 64.2. But all that extra effort for a silly costume party, Otto? Geez.
67: I figured if I just wore the suit the costume police would roll their eyes at me and accuse me of not wearing a "real" costume.
JP considers leaving original comments something best left to the kids.
I can't remember the last time I wore a costume for Halloween.
60: Hmm. For me, it shows up as my second photo. It's one that a friend tagged me in - I would think it'd be visible for other people. I wonder if it's blocked. Can anyone else see it?
Also I have been to a decent number of non-Halloween costume parties. It is only fun if you have a group of people who will run with it and go all out. CARPE DIEM!
I am terrible at Halloween costumes. I'm too lazy, I think. For example, one year I went as a private detective, but it turned out it's really far too warm inside to keep a trench coat on all night, so I gave up. I went as a grape in college, but people failed to recognize it (why? why? I'm wearing a giant purple costume with stuffing and I have grape leaves in my hair, people), so I decided that I was instead a pregnant purple Caesar, not a grape at all.
70 I'm shocked! (I almost characterized my stance on adult Halloween costumes as revealing my "inner teo".)
My kid is going as a "Weenie"--he seriously got a cool hotdog costume from Target. I was very impressed that he picked it out in a 3rd grade ironic sort of manner. Zounds! I might be raising a precocious hipster!
The second photo for me is of you, Jammies and Hawai'i. Perhaps if it is on someone else's wall and we aren't friends with them it is blocked for us.
My girlfriend's 10-year-old niece was looking for ideas and when asked for a general category she chose scary. I suggested she go as President Sarah Palin. I don't think she's taking this idea, so I hereby give it to the world.
As my anonymity slips a little more into disarray...
Wow, you're LOOKING AWESOMELY SPOOKY in that costume.
79: I once went to a Halloween party given by members of the Committee on Social Thought where the attendees had to bring "something that scared them." I brought a copy of The Closing of the American Mind.
80: Awesome!
As my anonymity slips a little more into disarray...
Hmm, I didn't see you anonymity at all in that picture.
My best Halloween and my worst Halloween, in terms of quality of my costumes, were both while I was in college.
The best costume was sort of two, because two different groups of friends - the special-interest housing group I lived with and the Tae Kwon Do club - both had parties I wanted to go to on the same night. For a twist, the housing club's costume party had a theme: porn. So for the TKD party, which I went to first, I dressed up as the Phantom of the Opera - cape and half-mask. Obviously, it's not the most artsy-craftsy possibility, but it was fun. Capes are cool, and I do a good freaky laugh. And when I got to the second party, I called myself the Phantom of the Porno and offered to show my "organ" to anyone who asked*.
The worst Halloween costume was going to be Wolverine, more the movie version than the comic book version. But I procrastinated on various parts of the outfit one after another until Halloween afternoon came along and all I had found was a leather jacket. I suck.
* No one did.
I usually sit out Halloween, because I am too cool for school, but this year I kind of need to think up an adorable but easy pair of costumes for two one-year-olds. And buy a metric ton of candy, because our block gets a ridiculous number of trick-or-treaters.
One time I sewed a pillowcase into a sheet with eyeholes and attached a red sock out the mouth and painted lips on it. People loved putting candy directly into my mouth. Clever variation on an old theme.
Slut-o-ween always makes me feel uncreative.
In college, all of the A school students came up with insanely good costumes.
Amber's idea in 32 made me laugh.
I dressed up in a vague, generic costume, went to a party with a bunch of creative people. The best early guess about my identity was better than what I had planned to be, and it became the identity I chose for the rest of the night.
People loved putting candy directly into my mouth.
Speaking of sucking at Halloween.
("Have you seen the guy who came dressed as a glory hole?")
Who are the two people on either side of Emdash? I know everyone else.
I remember being exasperated with a friend whom I thought was perpetually unsatisfied, and thinking that the They Might Be Giants lyrics described her perfectly:
Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want/
Or, I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do.
||
No more masturbating to Gourmet magazine.
|>
Satsfied or not is a balancing act, I think. Perpetual satisfaction is complacency, passivity for most people. Always pushing on the other hand means never missing an opportunity, usually at personal cost.
Having some self-insight and self-control for this facet of outlook is valuable, but quite difficult, or at least rare.
98: Appropriate NYT article on anxious personalities
Photographic counterevidence.
More apt photographic counterevidence?
And I should add that I am of course kidding. I only make such cracks because I remain bitter over Sifu's rejection of me.
80: So it was you that backed into my car last week.
I don't think I've ever been aware of a costume party outside the Halloween context.
You need better friends!
93, 101, and one perusal of the Flicker pool later: Goodness, but the Unfoggetariat has some mighty appealing young'uns.
105: Mid-30s is not *that* much younger than 47, baldy.
Hush up, Josh. I was not either wondering about foolishmortal.
Quick, everybody go read about how LB and other women cyclists are an "indicator species."
I plan to demonstrate the concept of performativity by dressing up as myself.
But will you be onstage or backstage?
And do those foreigners even celebrate proper American holidays on the right day anyway? Shouldn't you be off preparing for Thanksgiving or something?
106: I see myself as more unattractive than old.
I might celebrate the Thanksgiving weekend by taking a day-trip across the border. (Sadly, it will probably be to use a library for some coursework-related activities.)
36: must mean goatse but the first thing crossed my mind was dsquared. Not everyone will agree, but what can I say? He always rubs me the wrong way.
By "internet traditions" I actually meant "internet traditions", not any one thing.
Oops that was me. I was referring to the reply. Giant asshole/ cat with captions.
Though mixing the two would be amusing.
u r cnt. Kthx bye!
For the record, I've still never seen goatse. Or tubgirl, or a number of other internet traditions. But I am aware of them.
117: I'd stick too that. The only one I've seen is goatse and I really wish I hadn't.
mixing the two would be amusing.
eb, I pre-screened it. It is not consciousness-searing.
79: one of Rory's pals dressed as Paline last year. I was a good ways into talking up ideas about how she could play especially dumb to best stay in character before I comprehended that she was dressing in homage, not mockery. Oh, hey, no offense there, you betcha!
Here's a non-Internet tradition for you: Helen Thomas prods White House press secretary on the public option. Both a 60-second video and transcript at link.
in 2007 husband x and I went as the TED spread. I was the interest rate for T-bills and husband x was LIBOR. then things got better and worse for the economy as we moved closer or further apart. just big posterboard charts, basically. I have no good ideas at the moment. I'm going to take my kids trick or treating in this weird enclave of American oil execs and such where the shut the streets down and do mad haunted house action. wait, OMG I cut all my hair off, I can be pris from bladerunner! problem fucking solved.
This thread made me remember that I hadn't posted photos from the Prom from Space that M/tch & I went to. M/tch's costume was suggested by Stanley and mine was inspired by a suggestion from Apo. The pix are in the flickr group.
121: Oh noes! Rory's fallen in with The Wrong Crowd!
30, 41: Saw someone wear a tuxedo w/ a partially unbuttoned shirt showing a Superman t-shirt underneath, carrying a baton: a superconducter!
127: Couldn't have done it without you, friend.
129: Did she ever know that she's your heeeeeroooo?
123: As a financial journalist, I think that's awesome. May I ask what the costume was for Libor?
I'm going as Omar from the Wire (blue satin pjs, hair under a hat, drawn on facial hair, carrying a cardboard shotgun & box of honey nut cheerios). My husband will be Stringer Bell (suit, economics textbooks). Our 9 month old daughter will be Brother Mouzone (clip on bowtie, baby boy's dress outfit w/ tiny fake gun attached on one hip & a library card on the other, fake glasses, most recent issues of Harper's). No blackface; hopefully people will still figure it out.
My husband will be Stringer Bell
If you are Omar then surely your hubby should be a gorgeous young Latin man.
this is apparently a photoshop joke, but man would it be awesome in real life.
Has Slut-o-ween gone the way of the dodo, now that the economy has tanked?
