Friday, October 23, 2009

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!

10 comments:

Annika said...

I was so hoping you'd have that picture of us! That really was the best Halloween ever. Well, OK. I remember pretty much nothing of the day itself. It might have totally sucked. But our costumes were INSPIRED.

omg, my word verification is gorns.

Steph Su said...

Oh, I totally did the cardboard box costumes as a kid as well. I was a car one year, and a present the next. I think you make a gorgeous Alice! Now please help me come up with a costume idea quickly (no zombies, please), before my boyfriend growls at me!

L said...

I'm sorry I can't suggest a zombie costume you should wear, I still have no idea what I'm being!

Sara said...

You could be a Marilyn Monroe zombie... that would be kind of cool. You could wear a blonde wig again! :)

I still don't know what I'm being either... I might be a wuss and not dress up. *sigh* I have a feeling my friends might not let me get away w/that though. One of my friends is being an old-school aerobics instuctor... you could be a zombie version! Bright colors, leggings, and sweatbands!

Sara (from The Hiding Spot)

Anonymous said...

OMG, you are wearing my old velvet swing jacket! Wonder if Annika still has it?

Brittany said...

Catholic School girl Zombie... two costumes in one! Plaid skirt white shirt weird cross, and then POW living dead makeup and blood caked clothes.
*laughs* As with everyone else I am still not knowing what to be for Halloween, a big problem is definitely this winter NOT AUTUMN weather, because I don't want a costume I will freeze in!
Have fun.

marina said...

halloween's my favorite too! =D
last year i was one of the sparkle motion dancers from donnie darko (no one got that) and this year i just decided (literally, just decided today) that i'm gonna be betty boop.
zombiewise, you should be like the corpse bride ya know? plus it'd be funny since you just got married. and sure, she's mostly dead but you could change it some. or, my boyfriends being post killed jfk. you could do something dead president like. it's slightly offensive but fun.

~bean.

chris lempa said...

Hmmm. . .How about a punk rock zombie?

Scott should be a luchadore zombie.

Michael said...

I am not sure what I'm going to be for halloween this year. last year i was the singer from the Adicts (crazy make-up and all). I hate not knowing what to be. I had a few ideas, but I need to try to go for something more economical.
As far as halloween plans, there are cover band shows (local bands have entire sets covering another band) around or the day of halloween here (this year the day before AND on halloween).
Last year some of the bands covered were Distillers, Elvis Costello, Operation ivy and a few more. This year some of the bands are The Stooges, Rancid, NOFX, Thin Lizzy and some more. None of these bands ever come to NC, so it'll be cool to at least here their songs played live. My band is covering Blink-182. this is way outside our comfort zone, because we are an aggressive hardcore punk band, so playing ultra poppy punk will be interesting.

Unknown said...

Trick-or-treating sure was a fun thing to do when I was a kid, even now, I still enjoy it with my friends, while we're dressed up as various celebrities and sports icon with the help of my front lace wigs. Every year, we always came up with a theme for our halloween gig, thankfully, the roles I got are easily portrayed and I already had the human hair wigs for it.