I love Halloween. I love making costumes. I sometimes wear a costume for no particular reason. This year, I’m dyeing some linens and sewing myself a jester costume. I already have a fine velvet jester’s cap a friend gave me years ago.
OTTOMH
I have lying around-
my old clown outfit that eveyrbody hated
my new clown outfit that got good reviews
my Cultist of Cthulhu outfit (robe, cephalopod helmet, staff)
I could also reassemble my Tomorrow Knight (Mark III) outfit (hemet, cuirass, greaves, vambraces, mylar wings, and either lucite sword and shield or aluminum spear)
I kind of agree with the OP; some friends usually throw a (great) annual Halloween party, and people really go nuts with the costumes.
I love going, but always feel like I half-assed my costume because it’s usually something thrown together in the week prior to the partyh. Although the last couple of years, we just said “Fuck it.” and showed up in street clothes because we had a newborn and a 1 year old and were in no mood to bother with any costumes.
Eh, just throw on a funny hat or something. Pretty much every Holloween party has some contigent of people that either don’t dress up or just toss some random piece of weird clothing on and call it a costume. I’ve never seen it be a problem.
I had similarly resolved, and held to my resolve for more than 30 years.
Then, last year, I broke down, and it wasn’t even for Halloween. My curling club had a movie-themed costume party–in February–and I attended.
The Lincoln movie was hot at the time, so I decided to come as Lincoln. How hard can it be? Stores sell ready-to-wear Lincoln costumes. White Shirt, black pants, cloak, top hat, and beard, and you’re good to go.
What a disaster. First, someone else had the same idea. We were the only duplicate costumes at the party, so everybody pointed at us and laughed. Second, the hat wouldn’t stay up, and I had to prop it up with cardboard strips that chafed my chrome-dome head. Third, my fake beard came unglued during dinner.
Fuck costumes. Fuck “cosplay”. Never again. I’m Freddy the Pig, and if you don’t like it tough because that’s the only person I’m ever going to be. You want me to wear a costume, sign me to an Actors Equity contract.
Yup. It’s another example of how our society pushes adults to act like children, and it’s also an opportunity for corporations to sell cheap made-in-China costumes and artificial sugar. Just say no to Halloween.
Ditto, except I like parties. Halloween is a depressing “holiday.” It’s about death! How is that fun? Please. Plus it’s a depressing time of year, decreasing sunlight, everything dying. Yuk.
