Wicked Wednesday: Spooky Costumes

by Barb, somewhere on Route 95 between Brunswick, Georgia and Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Wickeds–what was your favorite costume, ever? Doesn’t have to be spooky or even Halloween necessarily, but the one you liked the best.

Liz: I was highly obsessed with Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street as a kid (ok, still am) and I dressed up like him for Halloween multiple times in high school. Even funnier was the fact that I went to a Catholic high school so freaking out the nuns was an added bonus. I can’t find any pics, alas, but it was still my favorite costume. I’m actually contemplating getting a Freddy costume for one of my dogs…Penny, of course.

Julie: Liz, I can sort of imagine the high school Liz scaring nuns. Not getting the Freddy love, but that’s just me. I’ve never been a huge fan of dressing up as an adult. I do remember some fun costumes when I was a kid. Wearing that plastic mask that had condensation as you breathed, so your face got chapped. And my mother would make us wear a coat, so the effect was ruined. I did make my twin nieces costumes a few times. When they were three I made costumes so they looked like candy corn, complete with voluminous princess flounces on the bottom. I loved how much they loved them, and that I’d designed them so that they could be layered and worn as is outside.

Edith/Maddie: I have loved costumes for a long time. I’ve been described as a “crunchy-granola” type, but some of my favorite Halloweens have been dressing in an entirely different style: black bouffant wig, red lipstick, eye makeup, tight white top, short tight black skirt, fishnet stockings, red heels, and a cigarette (unlit) in my hand. I wore that getup to a party with work colleagues and nobody knew who I was! So fun.

Jessie: I am imagining Liz and Edith showing up at a Halloween party together in their favorite costumes! The village I live in goes all out when it comes to trick-or-treating and for all of their childhoods, my kids enthusiastically participated. We made homemade costumes every year. Once my husband made the kids matching robot outfits from cardboard boxes spray painted silver and hoses and widgets from the garage. Another year I made matching spider and Miss Moffit costumes. My very favorite was when my second son was three. When I asked what he wanted to be for Halloween he confidently replied a potato. Not French fries, not mashed, but a whole raw potato. So, I created a costume from brown felt that covered everything but his face and I glued wiggle eyes all over it. The eyes began to pop off from the cold as my husband took my son round the village. For the next year, we would find eyes in the cracks of the pavement or on the grassy verge on our trips to the post office or the general store. It was enormous fun!

Barb: I HATE costumes, hate, hate, which may go some way to explaining why I hate Halloween. But life has weirdly conspired to put costumes in my path far too often. After I survived the Halloween gauntlet as a child and then as a parent, the company I worked for put on an extended skit every year at our user conference that required–you guessed it, costumes–and acting and solo singing. I survived that just in time to come in Key West–a place that is costume crazy. We’ve just finished Fantasy Fest, the Halloween-themed holiday, but around here every holiday, fun run, concert by a tribute band, whatever, calls for costumes. I’m amazed some of my friends have room in their closets for regular clothes. I haven’t succumbed yet, but now that we’re here for six months…

Sherry: Ha, Barb room for their regular clothes! I love dressing up. I don’t think I was ever anything very scary. A long time ago I found a couple of great fifties dresses at a thrift store. A sorority sister and I went as Laverne and Shirley in them to a party. The picture below shows that I wore it more than once. Also I dug out this old photo of some of us at Crime Bake proving Edith’s claim about the black wig and Julie’s that she doesn’t like to dress up as an adult!

Readers: Tell us about a costume you loved or you hated.