Either as a kid or during adulthood
IRS agent, I had a clipboard and a plaid jacket. I looked the other way for an extra piece of candy. I came home with stuffed pillow case full sweets and a pencil, fuck those guys.
When I was 5 I wanted to be a chocolate chip cookie. I remember vividly driving up to a dumpster behind a big box store to find a single piece of cardboard big enough to make a me-sized cookie. Then I got all upset because everyone at school wanted to eat me 🤣
deleted by creator
Zombie. At college I had a costume party coming up with few options. However I had a ripped sweatshirt and a bunch of plastic spiders and rubber snakes. A bunch more rips, some strategic dirt, and attaching the critters turned me into a passable zombie. I really liked the results.
Note: I wish I had the confidence to…… the winners at that party was a couple dressed in trash bags. Only trash bags
Back in colege we used to do a zombie pub crawl that was pretty epic. We’d start with 5-10 people each year, most of whom were makeup artists.
At every bar, people would ask to join, and we’d do their makeup! 1 year we ended up with 200 people, not including the 4 police officers who’d been assigned to our growing mass of the undead. They let us do their makeup, and were driving a runner car before and after us, as we no longer could keep contained to the sidewalks.
When I was in college I decided to go drag for Halloween. I got the gayest dude in our dorm to pick my outfit, wig, do my makeup, and make sure everything was perfect. Then a bunch of us went bar hopping and it was easily one of the best nights of my college life.
- Went to army surplus store, got various stuff, also got peace buttons and a headband, took all my hair down (long hair), and wore the military gear all unbuttoned and disordered. There wasn’t really a plan for the costume beyond that, but people partway through the night decided I was Ron Kovic, which seemed like it fit even though I had no wheelchair. I had a photo from that night for a while with a friend who was going into the navy, who was dressed up as some kind of special forces man with a big hunting knife, with us standing together him looking like a psychopath and me smiling doing a peace sign. We were the before and the after.
- The day I cut off my long hair, I invested in a super-sharp suit, and went before work to get it all cut off and get a super-sharp short hair haircut instead. I showed up to work in full suit and tie, neatly shaved, looking like a completely different person. My coworkers kept getting startled because they would look over at my desk and see this suit guy sitting there for some reason instead of me.
- When I was in my mid 40s I dressed up as an old man. Powder in the hair, glasses, old man clothes, and moved around all slow and careful and looked over my glasses at things. People were alarmed a little bit by how effective and accurate it was lol… like “I don’t want to see you this way, stop stop doing that.”
Those three I all enjoyed quite a lot.
I have a big bushy beard which somewhat limits my costume options if I’m going for any kind of accuracy unless I want to wear a mask
My two standby costumes that I dust off when I find myself with unexpected Halloween plans are
A lawn gnome. I dye my beard white, put on a blue ren faire sort of tunic, a wide belt, and a red pointy hat
And a Monty Python lumberjack. Red flannel shirt partially unbuttoned over a bra, suspenders, high heels, and a knit hat. I also have a big ol’ double bit felling axe I may trot out if the occasion warrants it.
I suppose I can also lose the heels and bra and just be a regular lumberjack.
But what fun would that be??
Not me, but my spouse. In 2008 as the economy was tanking, she went as a box of Franzia. Painted wardrobe box with 2 bladders of wine in there, she took days to paint the box like a real Franzia box. Thing must have weighed 20 pounds. Went to a parade and huge outdoor event and she was very popular. Those nozzles saw a lot of action, and were basically a public health danger 30 minutes into the night. The wine lasted hours and she ditched the box with some wine still in at some house party we passed.
Not for halloween but for a friends birthday costume party when I was like 19: I strapped a cone of white paper to a head torch on my head, then sellotaped a piece of paper to my t shirt that said “I’m a fucking unicorn” and won the costume competition there lol. I didn’t know it was a costume party till last minute and improvised.
Plague doctor in 2020.
I had been a plague doctor one Halloween several years before the 'rona hit. I definitely dug the mask back out and went grocery shopping with it a few times during the height of the pandemic.
Ninja samurai, not quite a samurai but wearing more (cheap plastic or foam) armour than a regular ninja. 9 year old me had it so good. The sword almost lasted a whole 20 minutes of play
Actually i.take it back, 10 year old had it better, a homemade bespin outfit luke skywalker and I got to use my lightsaber all night
The two topics dominating the news at the time in my country was: speculations about a possible Russian submarine stuck in our archipelago, and the sudden increase of beggars with handwritten signs after Romania and Bulgaria’s accession into the EU.
So naturally I went clubbing dressed like a Russian sailor, with a handwritten sign begging for money for plutonium “for make submarine back to motherland”. Complete with snorkling tube/mask and paper cup with some change to rattle at people. I left the club with more money than I came with, even after paying for all my drinks (redbull vodka all night of course).
I still like to do topical costumes or friend group in-jokes now that the parties are smaller and private. Too old for clubs nowadays.
Did way more Halloween stuff in my 20’s-30’s, slowed down a bit in my 40’s but still go out to events in October.
I was a Chilean miner in 2010, that one was fun since the mining accident in Chile was all over the news at the time and people immediately recognized the hardhat and whatnot.
Another year I had dressed up as a sort of sleepwalker complete with bathrobe, slippers, etc. But it turned out that was way too vague and everyone called me Hugh Hefner that night.
But most years I was a bit lazier and just turned myself into a zombie with makeup, fake blood, ripped clothes, that sort of thing.
“A bad night”
Handcuff on one wrist, dress shirt ripped, tie still on. Hair messed up, lipstick, blood, dirt, and no pants.
Went clubbing like that.
A vandal. A visibly hand-made empty egg carton, a baseball bat, a ski mask, and a candy sack. Felt pretty proud of myself with that one.
