I guess this only applies to U.S. readers, since I don't think other countries celebrate Halloween the way we do, if at all.

Do you dress up? What are your plans for this year? What was your best costume ever?

I think our Good Witch/Wicked Witch scheme was the best ever, although I was a pretty slutty looking Glinda. My Good Witch dress is a pink 80's prom dress with big poofy Princess Diana sleeves, and it's very low cut. I had shoulder length pale red hair at the time, so all I had to do was curl it and put on a crown, and run around asking everyone in a high pitched voice, "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?"

Those costumes were very popular with the trick or treaters. Eventually I'm either going to have to lose weight or buy a new Glinda dress so we can do that one again.

Do you like Halloween? Discuss.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

Answers

For years I went as Merlin, during the work Halloween judging. My wife took a plain black monk's hood and tunic, going down to my ankles, painting glow in the dark Kabbalahistic signs and tiny mirrors were pasted on, and I died my beard and hair silver, and got a large walking staff. The effect was quite good and suited me.

Al, Nova Notes.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

Last year I was a roll of lifesavers (Wild Cherry, my favorite) which turned out to be just gorgeous but whose tragic flaw was that it allowed for little interactivity, which I have decided is the hallmark of a fine costume (like asking people what kind of witches they are). Last year I made my best friend in I'm Just a Bill, which was a last-minute stroke of genius. Its interactivity was that everyone could sign her into law, except for the few freaks at the party neither native US nor of the proper age to understand.

This year I am continuing the Schoolhouse Rock theme by being the squat little dude from Conjunction Junction. I will be interactive by wearing my magnetic poetry so everyone can hook up their own words, phrases, and clauses.

Vampy costumes are all very well for those with vampy figures. This year I'm plump and wearing a plump outfit. Next year, I vow to be vampy enough to be thoroughly interactive.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

Wow. I am also going as a slutty vampire. We should hook up Beth. ;)

My roommate Duke is going as a fairy. I've made him huge butterfly wings and a multicolored tutu with ribbons and glitter. He's wearing my pink glitter coated Adidas, and covering himself in silver body paint.

I on the other hand, have made myself black chiffon bat wings, am wearing a black bustier type thing, a huge floor length chiffon and satin black skirt, suitable for some random gala thing, garter belt, fishnets, etc. I've also made myself a wig out of audio tape. Duke says I'm a vampire fairy.

Unfortunately, we're going to the street party put on my Faces and the Depot, since Duke refuses to go to straight clubs. I'm sure the only people hitting on me will be women. Oh well. I shoulda gone with the Liza Minelli as Sally Bowles costume I was originally thinking of.

Do I like Halloween? I never did before, but this one is kinda fun

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

I like dressing up in costume, but I never seem to have a good reason. We don't do Mardi Gras in Texas, so that's out. And then I never seem to get invited to Halloween costume parties until the last minute, and I don't want to rig up a costume if I'm not going anywhere, so then I end up at a party but with no costume.

This year I've decided to go buy a fake tiara, and if I am invited to a party, I can wear lots of fake rhinestone jewelry over my normal clothes, plus the tiara -- maybe my white gloves and blue velvet opera coat over it all, depending on the weather -- and go as Queen of the Universe. I might get a wand, too. Then everyone will have to do exactly as I say!

I enjoy low-maintenance costumes, can't you tell? Especially empowering ones.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

I always think I don't want to do a costume, then am sorry if I don't and happy if I do. As usual, I'm lazily rejecting various ideas as too much work.

I may pin toys, baseball cards, and human organs (or facsimiles thereof) onto myself and go as ebay. (idea stolen from a friend.)

Pat is having a crisis because his default costume is to put on an outfit that includes a pair of hideous plaid pants and an Alpine hat, and carry a pipe and a golf club, and sing. He's Bing Crosby. Only this year, the pants don't fit.

bet there will be lots of sicko Payne Stewart costumes this year...

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

Oh yeah, Pat suggested we go as the comic book characters Milk and Cheese because we have plenty of boxes to make costumes, and it would be fun to be destructive and loudmouthed all evening. But I pointed out that wearing a big box would get old pretty quickly. I like comfortable costumes.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

i LOVE halloween. it's my absolute favorite holiday. i mean come on FREE chocolate??? how can you go wrong.

i do tend to get really stumped on costumes though. i was going to go as a cowgirl - one of the lascivious ladies from the novel "even cowgirls get the blues" but i don't own cowboy boots and i think i made a vow at some point in my life to never wear them - so there goes that idea. my step-dad always said i'd make a great vampire, what with the paper-white complexion and big eyes and i've never done that one before... can't do slutty though - don't have the figure. so that's not going to be any fun.

i've been invited to two parties two, so i HAVE to come up with something!

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

In recent years, I've been a witch or clown. This year, if I can find the bottom half of the dress I was working on, I'm going to be a Renaissance wench. I made a mock up of my wedding dress and I'm going to buy a foofy wig. It laces up the tummy, so I can hide my ever expanding childgrowing space and go for it.

I'm making my kid a pirate and his dad will be his prisoner. Dad doesn't know it yet, but I'm making him jailhouse pants with stripes. :P We've got some plastic manacles for Dad and a plastic ball and chain. We've got a plastic hook and sword for the pirate. Pirate boy will be donning the latest in Disney fashion -- a glow in the dark Mickey-Minnie-Goofy Pirates of the Carribean shirt and black shiny poofy pants his mommy is making out of some black acetate she has. We're gluing a sparkly bead to his hook and he'll have a hat and satin sash to hold his plastic scabbard.

I'm sorry but Mommy won't spend $20 on the latest in Pokemon shitty constumes.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

my favourite costume of all time:

- a full length lacy white slip with the word "Freud" written on it.

Classic, sexy, and great, great fun.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

I saw a hysterical costume last year. OK, maybe its not all that funny, but it seemed funny at the time. Some guy had on a yellow rain coat, and yellow rain hat, and voila! he was the Gordon's Fisherman. He was carrying around an empty Gordon's fish box, which obviously clued people in. Very simple, but very funny.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

I'm a big fan of Halloween costumes, too. Each October I run to the fabric store and spend too much time and money deciding what to whip up this year. Last year, I took silk sari remnants and pieced together brilliant green, aqua and blue butterfly wings. The best part was the antennae, which were blue sparkly styrofoam balls that bobbed on the end of a wire headband thingie I made.

This year, I bought the fabric and pattern for a medieval maiden costume (for something out of Mists of Avalon) then decided it wasn't slutty enough for the parties I'm going to and made a belly dancing costume instead - turquoise full circle skirt out of fake silk, silver bra with beads sewn so they hang down over my tummy, silver and turquoise trim. It actually turned out very well (I have all the silver jewelry and zils for this sort of thing already since I do, occasionally, belly dance), though I can't help feeling like I'm copping out of a real costume. Still, I'm usually too vain to go as anything too creepy or scary.

Most years, I end up with 2 or 3 new costumes - either created from scratch or made up with different parts of other costumes. Sometimes different situations need different costumes - something slutty for the real party, but something a bit more demure for work and something warm for the outside party/parade.

My favorite costume ever was the year I went as Barbarella - old black and silver tap dance costume with a new skirt and sleeves tacked on, fishnets and my black boots trimmed in aluminum foil and boofy hair. I didn't quite have enough outfits to keep changing every half hour, but that was the original idea.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

One of the best couple's costume I ever saw was Mr. Whipple and Charmin. I'm dating myself a bit there, I guess, but it might work now that Mr. Whipple has come out of retirment.

I love Halloween, too, but as one who is seriously phobic about clowns, it's a holiday that also puts me on edge. Too many CLOWNS! I can't tell you how nervous I got the last time someone in the office dressed up as a clown. Even though I knew the person really well, I just couldn't shake the feeling that there was a clown lurking around the corner, waiting to get me.

Last year, someone at worked dressed as a millenium bug. His antena were the digits "2000". It was very simple and very funny.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

OK, so there I am falsely accused of some heinous crime. I'm sitting in my defense attorney's office, sweating and waiting to meet the person who represents my only hope of beating the rap and keeping my cherished freedom. The door opens behind me, and I turn to get my first anxious, hopeful look at my legal savior. Then in walks some slutty vampire?

I dunno. Could be worse, I guess.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

Best costume ever: dressed up as the Emperor from Star Wars "Return of the Jedi" in an old velvet skirt and cape and some VERY scary white/green makeup.

This year -- I don't have time for my own, I'm too busy finishing everyone else's.

-- Anonymous, October 27, 1999

One year I was a Hershey bar, and I won best prize (ten bucks)at the grocery store where I work.

And then on another Halloween I woke up with no costume to wear. I was looking in the bathroom mirror, about to shave and I thought I'll go to work looking just like this... how I look in the morning. Talk about scary! I mussed my hair up even more, I then found a piece of charcoal out in the garage and rubbed it on my face making my morning stubble even more evident. I kept my pajamas on, and slipped on a pair of slippers and a bathrobe and shuffled off to work.

It was an easy, easy costume and the customers loved it. And hey! Nobody could give me any shit about staying in my pj's all day long.

-- Anonymous, October 28, 1999

My favorite costume is my wizard costume. I found piles of this royal blue silky fabric in my garage (it had originally been skirts on display tables at a electronics show), so I made a long, flowy robe with long, flowy sleeves. Made a cone hat out of cardboard and covered it with the blue fabric. Bought a box of silver stars and stuck them all over the robe and hat. Used a Xmas garland of silver stars for a belt. I also have a very flowy ghost costume made out of 2 sheets with one of those scary, rubber, howling ghost masks sewn into it. I wore it to work one year and silently floated around all floors of our library to give our hard-working students some levity for the day. I also have a witch's costume for which I bought new hair and nose this year and I suppose I will wear it to work Sunday when I have to be reference librarian since Sun. is Halloween. I also have a great harem costume from my younger days, but time is running out to wear it. By the time I lose enough weight to fit into it, I shall probably have to buy a Cinderella type face mask to wear with it. Sigh. Although I would get no kudos for originality, these are all pretty good costumes. The most lame costume I ever came up with was for a bar party where you had to come as a song. I wore a halo and my husband and I each held an end of a string with a date (fruit) on it.

-- Anonymous, October 28, 1999

I like Halloween. To quote Vivian, "It's Halloween in my head all the time..." This year, there are two events: a Halloween party Friday night, and I'll be doing an UBERKUNST performance Saturday night. We're doing a team costume--Raymond and Connie Marble, the villains from "Pink Flamingos." Of course, we're probably going to have to explain our outfits to a lot of people. But that's okay. Vivian looks smashing in rhinestone cateye glasses, which is enough reason as any to choose this costume. I have not yet decided whether I'm going to have a big sausage hanging out of my fly. Saturday, for the UBERKUNST performance, I'm going to have to quick-change into some really hideous clothing, not all of which I have purchased yet. Some combination of combat pants, my black synthetic wifebeater, and rubber gloves, I think, with my specially-modified black vinyl enhanced safety goggles...

-- Anonymous, October 28, 1999

I have a pretty limited quantity of "fun" clothes that are good for assembling costumes. All of my good costumes revolve around a short, blue-sequined cocktail dress I bought a few years ago. I mean, where the hell else am I going to wear it?

The first year, I combined it with some sexy stockings and shoes. I was the Lovely Assistant to my husband's Mad Scientist.

Last year, I added some "throwing" heels, a blue-with-white-stars tiara, and a red-and-white-striped apron and went as American Maid. (From The Tick comics.) The people who got it, loved it.

This year, I'm planning to be a fish tank. Some felt fish and seaweed, some gravel-looking speckled tights, and there I'll be.

-- Anonymous, October 28, 1999

I love that Gorton's Fisherman costume!

-- Anonymous, October 28, 1999

Well I think one of my best costumes was when I dressed up as Boba Fett a couple years ago. I bought the helmet, and made the rest. Here's a picture in the ballroom off this site. That costume was wicked, as I got to look all menacing and be anonymous...such fun. Some other notable costumes were a mediaeval knight (with leather tunic, helmet, sword etc), a beatnik with my friend Shawn in high school...although we were mistaken for John and Yoko WAY too many times...I'm not Oriental either!! Fun fun. I love Hallowe'en. I think this year I'm going to dress as a Persian warrior Queen as I have a funky royal blue silk dress with metallic brocade, some kick ass boots, my sword and some hair dye. Or I'll be lazy and dress up in my fencing breeches, jacket and helmet and parade around with my epee. And I'm from Canada, so we celebrate just as much as you all in the States.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

canadians celebrate halloween too!
this year my best friend and i bought matching slinky dresses (hers is silver, mine is black) and we're going to wear matching fishnet and tall boots and fake eyelashes and all that, and be just fabulously good looking.
i have no idea if the costumes are really costumes that are supposed to be something, but it was fun finding the dresses.
usually i go as Morganna Le'Faye, because i worshipped her from grade 6 onward. in grade eleven, in the depths of my gothiness, i just wore a white dress and the whole school was in shock. ah, how amusing i was.


-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Another from the Canadian front... (although our town very nearly didn't celebrate Halloween this year -- it falls on the Lord's day, doncha know. The councils of the four cities in this area were all going to legislate the "celebration" part of it -- trick or treat, and what not, to be on another day. Fortunately, this dumbass notion died in the birthing.)

I dress up at work every year -- one of maybe six people who regularly do so. Now, of course, I have a rep, so my office is on the Weird People Tour on Halloween or the nearest day thereof. Last year I was "My Youth" - spiked hair, safety pins, ripped fishnets and Nina Hagen tshirt. The year before I was Scary Ghoul Vampire - that was fun, no one recognised me. The year before that, I wore my eighteenth century sacque dress and a white wig. Everyone thought I was Marie Antoinette, but that's ok.

This year's a bit boring -- I'm Madame La Zonga (thank you, Peter S. Beagle) the Gypsy Queen Card Reader. I do have a crystal ball in my office, and I've done one tarot reading so far. Everyone else has just told me how terrified they are of the cards -- "and do you REALLY, like, have a sixth sense? Wow!" I do have a most excellent wig, my very favourite, a kind of shaggy black and white ringletted badger-like thing. These bangles are driving me bats, though.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Cute! We have two tarot readers at our office. They dress up and tell fortunes in the library at lunchtime every Halloween.

I had to put on a shirt over my bustier, though, because I was feeling very naked and my vinyl cape was annoying me. I also discovered that vinyl opera gloves are a bad idea -- very sweaty.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

...i actually followed through on my idea to go as a stepford wife...

...so far the only drawback is that the "thought bubbles" headband is beginning to pinch my head...so i keep on saying, "my thoughts are hurting my head"...

...yeah, i didn't think it was that funny either...

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Ah, Halloween. I love it.

I live in a designated college "party town" and Halloween is a real zoo around here. Saturday night there will be between 10,000 and 30,000 people downtown (not a "city" downtown - we're talking about MAYBE a quarter-mile square area here). And since the weather is supposed to be nice (woohoo! 59 degrees Sat night!) there's gonna be TONS of people. Last year it snowed, and there were still about 9,000 people downtown. Neighboring cities loan out their officers to us to help out, and the cops will be decked out in riot gear. Scary.

The traffic is always really snarled right downtown, but people always try to drive through. There were a few people who "borrowed" some orange traffic barrels and wore them. When they squatted down, it looked just like a real barrel. I saw some guy try to move one of the barrels that was in the way of his car, and he just about had a heart attack when the barrel got up and ran away! =)

This year I'm going to wear black jeans, a black t-shirt with black elbow-length gloves, a black cat tail and black cat ears, with a big "13" made out of masking tape on my back. Around my neck is a piece of a broken mirror (one of those kiddy plastic mirrors, not a real one).

Do you know what I'm going as? ;D

-she's actual size

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Last year I went as Carrie-- 70s prom dress, tiara, glittery platforms, & a ton of fake blood. Most people were either freaked out or loved it.

This year the Boy and I are going as Anna Nicole Smith (that would be me) & a Wealthy Oil Baron (that would be him). I had lots of fun shopping for this one-- I settled on a black bustier top, fishnets, a long black skirt with slits up to there, and fab leopard print platforms. My hair isn't quite platinum, but I think I'll make up for that in sheer volume. The Boy will be wearing a Western-cut suit, hat, boots, bolo, & a big cigar to chomp on. Good ol' Anna has been in the news a lot lately in Houston, so I figured this would be the year to do it.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 1999

The last time I did dress up I went as Harriet Vane from the Lord Peter Whimsy mystery series. No one knew who the hell I was. And when I left work I found that one of the guys I was working with (he'd gone as Bam-Bam from the Flintstones..sp?) had written "Loser" with soap on my car's windshield. It was dark, and raining, and I could'nt get all the soap off. I was in an accident two blocks from my front door. Haven't dressed up since.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 1999

I haven't done halloween since college, which was the one and only time in my my life I did anything.

I got a large, clear plastic garbage bag, and cut two small holes in the bottom for my legs and two holes in either side for my arms (knowing that the holes would get bigger with use). I put on a leotard and tights, and stepped into the bag. Then my roommate filled the bag with balloons, in multiple colours, which had been inflated to the size of softballs. The top of the bag was tied around my neck with a length of gold ribbon.

I was a bag of jellybeans.

It was actually quite cute, except that I was so full of balloons, I couldn't sit down. Fortunately, I wore the outfit to a party where there were no chairs, anyway.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 1999

Halloween is a completely foreign concept to me. We don't have that overhere, I'm unhappy to say. I know this is after the fact, but as for original costumes - you could have dressed up as the Blair Witch, of course, giving everyone you met motion sickness in the process.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 1999

not to be a pedant or anything, but it's Lord Peter Wimsey.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 1999