I could have done something a little crazier than this (I had a few ideas) but I had a recruitment event for my orchestra teaching job that night and the following, so I needed costumes that were easy to get out of.
The cape, mask, and shorts I got from my Mom's costume bin. I added a pair of knee-high flame pattern socks (the only red socks I own) and my very most super-heroic shirt-- a CTR shirt I got at the MTC. Red lipstick and a ponytail and I was ready to go.
Let me give you some insight into my family by sharing a conversation I had with Dad before work.
Dad: So, those socks-- is that a Mandelbrot Set?
Me: It's supposed to be flames.
Dad: Oh. Well, no one at your job will be geeky enough to think they're the Mandelbrot Set so you should be fine.
Me: I mean, I don't mind if people think that's what it is, I just wanted red socks. Maybe it'd have something to do with my superpower? I don't even know what kind of powers "CTR woman" would have.
Dad: The power of overcoming evil.
Me: Ooh, that's good.
Dad: The ability to go over tall problems in a single choice.
Me: Maaaaybe that's stretching a little.
Time: About 15 minutes
Notable or Unexpected Reactions: Perhaps oddly, the co-workers who made the biggest deal about this one were the ones who I know are not Mormon/LDS. I had a few comments like, "Wait, is that CTR? Like on the rings? Awesome!"
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Probably not. A superhero can be a great costume, but I'd rather go with something a little more intensive than what I ended up doing. Also, the mask was itchy and the shorts had an awkward tendency to slide up.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: It's not *especially* Halloween, but I guess I'll go with "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down.
Costume #22: Sci-Fi
Again, I went with something very simple that it wouldn't take long to get out of since I had something going on for my orchestra teaching job that night. I wore black slacks and a red t-shirt, then printed and cut out a Star Trek logo which I attached using a safety pin.
Time: Less than 5 minutes
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: I got A LOT of flack about not having much of a costume when I'm usually wearing something crazy.
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Maybe if I was in a group going together with a theme. If this was my main costume there are a lot of things I could do to make it better-- adding some stripes to the sleeves, adjusting the cut of the shirt, adding some props like a phaser and a tricorder.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Um... I... I'm sorry, I've got nothing. Here, instead have a link to a place you can download the soundtracks to every Star Trek series ever, should you be so inclined.
Costume #23: Cartoon/Anime
Wilma Flinstone! Kind of. The colors were all wrong but I did what I could.
This one was suggested by my Mother, and the necklace and fake furs came from the costume bins. I wore a black t-shirt and bike shorts for modesty, then used safety pins to hold the furs in place. Bare feet would have been more show-accurate, but against company policy, so I wore a pair of animal-print slippers.
I kept the makeup pretty simple-- bronzer and brown tones that I thought went well with the outfit.
I did my best imitation of the character's hair, in shape if not in color. I put most of my hair in a bun, then did a sort of sideways victory roll to get the kind of triangle-bangs.
Time: About an hour
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: It seemed to be about sixes whether people would call me "Wilma" or "Betty", but since I had the wrong colors I was just glad people recognized the right cartoon. I also had one person identify me as, "Oh! You're the wife! From... that one show!"
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: You know, I never would have thought so, but I had a really great time with this costume so I think I would. It was a nice "cool weather" (as opposed to cold weather) costume-- left enough skin exposed that I didn't overheat, but the fake furs were quite warm which was nice anytime I went by the opening in the back of the store that lets the cold air in.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: I had trouble finding a good song about the stone ages, but then I remembered that this song exists and had to do it: "Roll Back The Rock (To the Dawn of Time)" by Little Richard.
Costume #24: Clowns
I actually threw this one together the day of: I decided to do it last minute on a different day than was in the original list of themes (which even the management are treating like very ignorable guidelines). I didn't have a tutu, which would have been ideal, so I tried wearing one of my shorter skirts over a bulky pair of shorts in the hope it would poof the skirt out a bit. Didn't really work, but I kept the shorts anyway because it was really nice to have pockets. (I'm getting tired of how many of my costumes don't have any pockets.) I wore a colorful pair of socks and a black t-shirt, and borrowed a pair of suspenders from my brother. I also used the bowtie from my Mary Poppins costume the week before.
Originally I was going to wear regular shoes, but when I arrived at work the woman who takes care of the shoe department called me over, saying that she had the perfect pair of shoes for me. I followed her to find the pair of clown shoes in the photos-- I couldn't resist borrowing them for my shift. They were interesting to wear: I had to walk with my toes out to keep from tripping over them, and they slapped the ground loudly when I walked so that you could hear me from the other side of the store. The hard plastic inside the shoes actually gave me some light bruises on the top of my feet, and there was pretty much nothing in the way of arch support-- but I was having so much fun I didn't even care.
I used the white eye shadow to make my face pale trick again (I'm actually running low on white eye shadow so I'm going to have to stop doing that soon), then added red and gold eye shadow to my eyes. I used eyeliner and black eyeshadow to do the black, and red lipstick to do the mouth and the nose (with a little bit of white creme makeup to make the nose look shiny).
I did my hair in two high ponytails with colorful scrunchies, then put elastics on the ends and pulled hair loose to get a sort of bubble effect.
Time: About 75 minutes
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: My coworkers loved this one. I had several people ask if they could take photos, and I had people bursting out laughing every-time I walked by with those ridiculous shoes. I got several compliments from customers, too-- but I definitely creeped out some children who proceeded to run back to their parents and give me suspicious looks. I didn't do anything out of my way to scare people, even if I went for slightly creepy makeup-- I do think scaring people is fun, but these people were there to buy used clothes not to get a knock-off haunted house tour.
The best moment, though, came during the morning production meeting. The manager who was leading the meeting (who hadn't gotten a look at my costume yet), said, "Alright everyone, after doing morning maintenance we need everyone to roll clothes for a-- what on earth are you?" I realized he was looking at me. "I know you were Betty yesterday, but what are you?"
The change in topic came so out of left field that I just started laughing and couldn't talk. So one of the cashier's decided to step things up a notch:
"Jennifer, what are you? Are you a mime? A clown? An axe murderer? Do we need to keep you away from sharp objects? Are you here to kill us in our sleep? What are you, Jennifer, what are you?!?"
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Before I would've said no, but this was a really fun costume to wear. I'd want to get an actual tutu, and do some other fine-tuning, but I would really consider this.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Um... there are a few songs with lyrics about creepy clowns, but most of them go for more mature content than I'm willing to link to, so instead let's go with this instrumental piece called "Creepy Clown Music" I found on YouTube.
Also: Sunglasses.
Costume #25: Cowboys & Indians
For this one, I borrowed a sheriff badge, cowboy boots, and the fringe pants from my Mom's costume bin. The boots were incredibly uncomfortable-- it turns out they need new insoles-- but they looked good. The fringe pants were an awkward fit because they were made for my Dad, so I had to do some safety-pin tailoring and be careful about bending over-- but I like how they look so much that I'm kind of tempted to ask my Mom to make a pair in my size just to wear normally. Also, they had pockets.
From my own closet I added a black t-shirt, an old hand-me-down vest with a western pattern, an appropriate necklace, and a cowboy hat. I did very simple, minimal makeup and did my hair in two french braids.
Time: 30 minutes, mainly because of the aforementioned "safety-pin tailoring" and because my hair is getting long enough that it takes a long time to braid.
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: Lots of people dressed up today, so I didn't get a lot of notice. But I did have one weird reaction, though, when someone commenting on my costume suddenly started talking about the movie Braveheart. I asked him what that had to do with cowboys and he said, "Well, you know, it's got fighting with swords, and chopping off people's heads, and people wearing kilts, and Mel Gibson."
"None of that has anything to do with cowboys." I argued.
"Yeah, well... it's still a really good movie. Well, maybe I'm thinking of Dances With Wolves."
So... that happened.
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: I did dress up as a Cowgirl in third grade (and did not at the time see any irony in this following up my second grade costume, which was Pocahontas). These days, I'd probably go with something a else unless I was going to a themed party or something.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Finally an easy one this week: Ghost Riders in the Sky, by Johnny Cash (Honorable mention goes to Automatonic Electronic Harmonics by Steam Powered Giraffe)Phew. I'm kind of running on fumes right now-- that orchestra class I'm going to be teaching starts on Monday so I'm feeling a little overwhelmed trying to juggle everything. For that reason, don't be alarmed if my next blog post goes up a few days late (I say as if anyone who knows me was expecting a consistent schedule anyway, this is the most regular updates have ever been on this blog). In the meantime, LDS General Conference is awesome, and October is in four hours, and I have a long to-do list that I'm procrastinating, so it's time to sign off for now. See you soon!
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