Trick or Treat, Costumes & Contests

Fall is my favorite season, October is my favorite month (though Fall and October have *not* been cooperating this year. We seem to have skipped straight into early winter in Chicago and I am *pissed* because I hate all things winter), and Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. What can I say? I've always been a spooky goth girl at heart. I started dressing in a lot of black, listening to The Cure, and reading Stephen King when I was about 11 (though I honestly can't stomach horror as much anymore. Ever since I saw The Ring and had nightmares and daymares about it for weeks. I just don't like being scared witless anymore. Though I do still love vampires, zombies, and the macabre.)

I've had a bunch of crazy costumes through the years and I thought I'd share some with you, to help me get into Halloween spirit.

This was my first Halloween costume. Electrical tape on yellow pajamas and some cardboard wings and pipe cleaner antennas--a bee! Cheap and easy!

My mom was the queen of making costumes out of cardboard. One year I was a playing card, using posterboard. This year my brother was a ketchup bottle using posterboard. One year I was a dye (like part of a pair of dice) using a cardboard box. This year, another cardboard box is used, add in some tinfoil antennas and I'm a TV:


In college my friend Annika and I got creative and I dressed up as her and she was me. She's on the left, portraying me in all my goth glory:

Yeah gotta love the goth years. Here I am celebrating Halloween when I was 19. Nope I'm not dressed up as Morticia Adams. That's just the way I dressed back then. When every day was Halloween:


I had a couple years where I decided to be literary characters. Here I was the ice queen from a Russian fairytale I loved as a kid:

And here I am as Alice from Alice In Wonderland. Of course wearing the blond wig caused me to dye my hair blond again shortly there after because I liked it so much:

And of course last year, I was a zombie. So was Scott, here we are trying to eat my friend Kathy's brains:

I was an office zombie. I got to tear up my old 9 to 5 job clothes and it was very cathartic. So cathartic I decided I wanted to be a zombie again this year. In fact I wanted a zombie party.

I throw a Halloween party approximately every ten years. I'd do it more often, but I never seem to have time to organize parties and I get nervous about throwing them, mainly worrying that no one will come or it will be a totally lame failure. I hosted my first Halloween party when I was ten. It was the one year in grade school where I was kind of in with the cool popular kids and I was terrified my party wouldn't impress. But we had a pretty spooky basement so it all turned out well. My second Halloween party happened when I was nineteen... or maybe twenty. It was during the lost years, my goth club girl days when I was drinking heavily and err abusing other substances too. So my memories are blurry. But I remember making vegan Halloween cupcakes and everyone adored them and they were quite surprised to find out they were vegan (I love doing that!).

This year since I'm working on Halloween, I've decided to throw a party at the Beacon, the bar where I still earn the majority of my living. It's been rather slow there lately (prolly bc of the crappy not really fall weather), so I'm hoping to boost business. I was also hoping my friends would come because it is still my party even though it's happening at the bar, but alas I'm having a hard time getting them out of the city (which is seriously annoying because the bar is right on a train line and Forest Park is just outside the the city). So anyway I'm having those no one will show up fears again. If you are over 21 and in the Chicago area for Halloween, please consider yourself invited. (Here's the official facebook invite). There is a 4$ drink special, a costume contest (with wacky prizes that you could only get at the Beacon), and NO COVER CHARGE! The whole party is zombie-themed because A. Zombies are cool. B. I like making the drink called Zombie and C. I wanted to be a zombie again. This brings me to my dilemma.....

So Halloween is a week away and I'm *still* undecided about a costume. I was hoping that you my dear blog readers could help me. What kind of zombie should I be???? I kinda wanted to do some sort of celebrity zombie (one of my friends and her boyfriend are thinking of coming as Jon and Kate Plus Eight and zombifying a bunch of babydolls. If so, I bet they'll be at the top of the costume contest!), but haven't thought of anyone yet. I need to be a zombie that's still sort of cute/sexy because umm hideous zombie bartender is not going to get good tips and I really need good tips right about now. I was thinking of being a 50s style waitress zombie. Or maybe cheerleader or prom queen zombie? Do you have any other ideas? A zombie celebrity? A zombified literature or movie character?

In the spirit of Halloween, I've decided to give out candy. Anyone who comments on the blog today with a zombie suggestion for me will be entered to win Ballads of Suburbia taffy! And please tell me about your own costume and Halloween plans too because I'm sure they will be inspiring.

I'll draw the winner on Monday. It will be a *big* day of winners because I'm also drawing two winners of signed copies of Ballads of Suburbia, one from my Save Shrinking Violet contest and one from my Teen Read Week contest, so please enter those this weekend as well!