Thursday, October 21, 2010
9:35 p.m.
The Corpse Bride--My favorite costume to date!
Today, I was quite worried about my writing trend that has been going on. I felt as though my feared writer's block was, once again, kicking in. But then, I realized, we are in the midst of my absolute favorite month of the year. For as long as I can remember, I have loved abandoning my regular persona, and taking on that of a totally different "person". It is the one month of the year that you can TOTALLY lose all your abandon and act CRAZY--or simply act whatever way you want an no one will judge--except those, of course, who have absolutely no Halloween spirit. I actually prefer Halloween more now than I did as a child.
I remember, when I was a child, there weren't many options for Halloween costumes. Quite frankly, looking back now, I found store bought costumes to be really, freaking CHEESY. Plastic masks that you can neither see nor breathe through, and crappy plastic "overalls"--half the time, they couldn't be used more than once because the tore before the yearly Halloween party was over. I remember, balking at putting the plastic coveralls on every Trick-or-Treat night. They were hot and made you sweat, and because I wore glasses, every breath steamed them up. And, I always managed to cut my tongue on the opening at the mouth because I was an incessant lip-licker--and I always stuck my tongue out at authority when "no one was looking"--mostly the parental units.
I have, however, had many costumes throughout my lifetime, that I have enjoyed.....once, that is, I graduated from the stupid plastic costumes. One of my favorite costumes, which actually wasn't even for Halloween but for a circus that our kindergarten class put on, was an elephant that my dad made completely out of brown paper grocery sacks. The trunk was made out of paper towel rolls. I ABSOLUTELY loved that one. After that, I had a series of costumes (those stupid plastic ones again), I hadn't one that I liked a whole heck of a lot until I was in the fifth grade--I recall there was a series of plastic ones along the lines of Barbie, a princess, one of Charlie's Angels, etc. In the fifth grade, my mom bought felt and made our costumes that year. If the fruits were right, you could have called us the Fruit of the Loom Gang. My brother, Johnny, was a pumpkin; Tara was purple grapes; Tammy was a strawberry; and I was a slice of watermelon (I wore green tights to blend in with the rind on the slice, we painted my face pink with black dots, to represent the pulp and seeds, and then we put a pink and green striped ribbon in my ponytail. That was probably my most favorite childhood costume. As I recall, I also was a fruit another year--one created by way of my own hand. I had used it earlier in the year as a prop for an oral report that I had to give on the nutritional value of a raisin--I put on a Hefty garbage bag upside down, and then I wore a black ski mask with the face cut out on my head. I also pranced around with a tape deck that was singing, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"--pretty ingenious, huh??? Unfortunatley, I don't have any pictures of those early costumes....but I wish I did. I actually stopped enjoying dressing up when I was about seventeen years old. I dressed as a Philadelphia Flyer to go Trick-or-Treating with my younger siblings and I received no treats because people thought I was too old--this was when I began to think that I was too old to enjoy the fun of the day.
It wasn't until I was well into my adulthood that I really began to like Halloween. At first, I was pretty embarrassed by acting so silly. But then I realized, this was the one time of the year that I could be MYSELF....or even someone else. It all started with being invited to a Halloween party a few years back. I was at a loss for what to dress as. So, I dug out a Hefty garbage bag, put my hair up in a pony tail and used a drawstring from the bag to hold it, then I glued garbage, including a faux dirty diaper all over it. My husband went with the theme--he dressed as Johnny, the garbage man. We won the Best Couple Costume at the party. That was quite awesome for a costume that took us all of ten minutes to create.
One year, I was looking for womething appropriate to wear to work because you have to, kind of, keep things low key there. So, I searched around the house for an idea. I found one, quite accidentally. Geo had a clean room suit in the cabinet downstairs in the basement and right next to it, was some old party decorations. Then my brain gears started to grind--the suit was white (it covered your shoes and your hair with a hood)--and then I took the various colors of crepe paper and "Happy Birthday" crepe paper and stapled it from head to to on the suit. I went to work wearing my "Birthday Suit". At first, I had to explain it to people but then when I gave the explanation, it made sense. People loved it. The best part was, when I left for work that morning, Kellie Shimmel was leaving her house for work at the same time. I scared the crap out of her. It wasn't meant to be a scary costume, but it served its purpose.
By that time, I was still pretty heavy and I wasn't interested in dressing so SEXY, so to speak. So the next year, when Halloween rolled around again and we were invited to another party, I went as The Atomic Wedgie and Geo dressed as a bum (but only because his real costume hadn't come from the online store that it was purchased from). For some reason, at the party, we were dubbed, "The Welfare Couple"--and again, we won the prize for the Best Couple costume. Not bad, we were two for two!!!
Moving right along to the next year, and by this time, I had shed 150 pounds (a story for another blog), and decided that I wanted to try the "sexy" angle. My sister-in-law decided to have a Theme party for my brother's thirtieth birthday--it was the "Roaring Twenties" and everyone had to dress in either a Flapper or as a gangster. I wore a purple Flapper with a feather boa, a head band, pearls, and purple pumps. Geo dressed in his handsome gangster gear with a play machine gun. We got double use out of our costumes that year. I think they looked pretty awesome, but were invited to two parties on the same day and opted to go to both, so we left before the judging at the first one--so in other words, we didn't stick around long enough to see if we could go three for three at that particular party.
I remember, when I was a child, there weren't many options for Halloween costumes. Quite frankly, looking back now, I found store bought costumes to be really, freaking CHEESY. Plastic masks that you can neither see nor breathe through, and crappy plastic "overalls"--half the time, they couldn't be used more than once because the tore before the yearly Halloween party was over. I remember, balking at putting the plastic coveralls on every Trick-or-Treat night. They were hot and made you sweat, and because I wore glasses, every breath steamed them up. And, I always managed to cut my tongue on the opening at the mouth because I was an incessant lip-licker--and I always stuck my tongue out at authority when "no one was looking"--mostly the parental units.
I have, however, had many costumes throughout my lifetime, that I have enjoyed.....once, that is, I graduated from the stupid plastic costumes. One of my favorite costumes, which actually wasn't even for Halloween but for a circus that our kindergarten class put on, was an elephant that my dad made completely out of brown paper grocery sacks. The trunk was made out of paper towel rolls. I ABSOLUTELY loved that one. After that, I had a series of costumes (those stupid plastic ones again), I hadn't one that I liked a whole heck of a lot until I was in the fifth grade--I recall there was a series of plastic ones along the lines of Barbie, a princess, one of Charlie's Angels, etc. In the fifth grade, my mom bought felt and made our costumes that year. If the fruits were right, you could have called us the Fruit of the Loom Gang. My brother, Johnny, was a pumpkin; Tara was purple grapes; Tammy was a strawberry; and I was a slice of watermelon (I wore green tights to blend in with the rind on the slice, we painted my face pink with black dots, to represent the pulp and seeds, and then we put a pink and green striped ribbon in my ponytail. That was probably my most favorite childhood costume. As I recall, I also was a fruit another year--one created by way of my own hand. I had used it earlier in the year as a prop for an oral report that I had to give on the nutritional value of a raisin--I put on a Hefty garbage bag upside down, and then I wore a black ski mask with the face cut out on my head. I also pranced around with a tape deck that was singing, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"--pretty ingenious, huh??? Unfortunatley, I don't have any pictures of those early costumes....but I wish I did. I actually stopped enjoying dressing up when I was about seventeen years old. I dressed as a Philadelphia Flyer to go Trick-or-Treating with my younger siblings and I received no treats because people thought I was too old--this was when I began to think that I was too old to enjoy the fun of the day.
It wasn't until I was well into my adulthood that I really began to like Halloween. At first, I was pretty embarrassed by acting so silly. But then I realized, this was the one time of the year that I could be MYSELF....or even someone else. It all started with being invited to a Halloween party a few years back. I was at a loss for what to dress as. So, I dug out a Hefty garbage bag, put my hair up in a pony tail and used a drawstring from the bag to hold it, then I glued garbage, including a faux dirty diaper all over it. My husband went with the theme--he dressed as Johnny, the garbage man. We won the Best Couple Costume at the party. That was quite awesome for a costume that took us all of ten minutes to create.
One year, I was looking for womething appropriate to wear to work because you have to, kind of, keep things low key there. So, I searched around the house for an idea. I found one, quite accidentally. Geo had a clean room suit in the cabinet downstairs in the basement and right next to it, was some old party decorations. Then my brain gears started to grind--the suit was white (it covered your shoes and your hair with a hood)--and then I took the various colors of crepe paper and "Happy Birthday" crepe paper and stapled it from head to to on the suit. I went to work wearing my "Birthday Suit". At first, I had to explain it to people but then when I gave the explanation, it made sense. People loved it. The best part was, when I left for work that morning, Kellie Shimmel was leaving her house for work at the same time. I scared the crap out of her. It wasn't meant to be a scary costume, but it served its purpose.
By that time, I was still pretty heavy and I wasn't interested in dressing so SEXY, so to speak. So the next year, when Halloween rolled around again and we were invited to another party, I went as The Atomic Wedgie and Geo dressed as a bum (but only because his real costume hadn't come from the online store that it was purchased from). For some reason, at the party, we were dubbed, "The Welfare Couple"--and again, we won the prize for the Best Couple costume. Not bad, we were two for two!!!
Moving right along to the next year, and by this time, I had shed 150 pounds (a story for another blog), and decided that I wanted to try the "sexy" angle. My sister-in-law decided to have a Theme party for my brother's thirtieth birthday--it was the "Roaring Twenties" and everyone had to dress in either a Flapper or as a gangster. I wore a purple Flapper with a feather boa, a head band, pearls, and purple pumps. Geo dressed in his handsome gangster gear with a play machine gun. We got double use out of our costumes that year. I think they looked pretty awesome, but were invited to two parties on the same day and opted to go to both, so we left before the judging at the first one--so in other words, we didn't stick around long enough to see if we could go three for three at that particular party.
And, last year brought me to my piece d'resistance--The Corpse Bride. After weeks of looking online for costume ideas, and becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my available choices for my budget, when I finally had a brainstorm. I had my wedding gown and veil up in my closet that was never going to be used again. So, I started to play with it a little bit. I bought some black tulle, spiderwebbing, a skeleton head, a pair of skeleton earrings, a hologram necklace, a black wig with a gray streak, and some creepy makeup. I had a bouquet of flowers that I had from a previous wedding that I was in served as, not only part of my dress, but also as my wedding bouquet--I just painted them black and touched them up some spiderwebbing. I even bought a new "wedding ring" (a spider with a purple stone in its back). On my cheeks, I wore some crystal jewels--a spiderweb and a gravestone.
When I got my purchases home, I set to work on my gown and it was finished in a matter of hours. I spray painted the flowers, first and set them to drying. Then I added some black to tulle to the outside of my veil and at intervals all over the dress. I put the skeleton head at my waist, a black rosebud on each sleeve, and then applied the tulle and spiderwebs all over the dress. I wore them with a pair of HOT silver pumps. The night after I finished it, we went to the Three Diva's Halloween Party. I wasn't really expecting too much because, quite frankly, I thought there were better costumes there than mine. BUT, to my surprise, I won the prize for Best Costume Overall--It was dinner and a movie for two at Red Robin and The Rave at the Promenade Shops. I thought that was so cool. Below, is a gallery photos containing my progression of the costume.
When I got my purchases home, I set to work on my gown and it was finished in a matter of hours. I spray painted the flowers, first and set them to drying. Then I added some black to tulle to the outside of my veil and at intervals all over the dress. I put the skeleton head at my waist, a black rosebud on each sleeve, and then applied the tulle and spiderwebs all over the dress. I wore them with a pair of HOT silver pumps. The night after I finished it, we went to the Three Diva's Halloween Party. I wasn't really expecting too much because, quite frankly, I thought there were better costumes there than mine. BUT, to my surprise, I won the prize for Best Costume Overall--It was dinner and a movie for two at Red Robin and The Rave at the Promenade Shops. I thought that was so cool. Below, is a gallery photos containing my progression of the costume.
Click here to edit.
By the way, my companion for the evening, was my husband, Mr. Whoopie Cushion. This particular costume had turned out to be one of the most unlucky costumes that we ever crossed paths with. That, I must say, is definitely a blog for another day. I will tell you, however, that we should have, and in the future will, stick to the couple themes in costumes because, maybe, just maybe, it won't be so unlucky.
So, since it is my favorite time of year, and I love to dress up, I will bid you all a Happy Halloween--even the most gloomy Gus. I also have to tell you, I have opted for low key dress up this year. We are going to a wedding that is doubling as a costume party this year. I am wearing a purple dress so I bought myself a purple mardi gras mask with purple feathers. If I can find it, I will wear my purple feather boa. Geo is going to be wearing a Phantom of the Opera Mask. Talk about boring...I would give the Corpse Bride another run, but I feel she is inappropriate for a wedding. What do you think???
So, since it is my favorite time of year, and I love to dress up, I will bid you all a Happy Halloween--even the most gloomy Gus. I also have to tell you, I have opted for low key dress up this year. We are going to a wedding that is doubling as a costume party this year. I am wearing a purple dress so I bought myself a purple mardi gras mask with purple feathers. If I can find it, I will wear my purple feather boa. Geo is going to be wearing a Phantom of the Opera Mask. Talk about boring...I would give the Corpse Bride another run, but I feel she is inappropriate for a wedding. What do you think???
