Vickie Fee

Costumes I have known

I’m not donning a costume for Halloween this year. In fact, it’s been quite a number of years since I put on a disguise for All Hallows Eve. But I did spend some time over the weekend thinking back on Halloweens Past. 

Hubs and I in costume for a Rocky Horror Picture Show party many Halloweens ago.

One year when I was still in high school, I went out a double date with one of my best friends, her boyfriend and a friend of his. I don’t remember at all what my costume was. But I do remember my date’s costume. He dressed as an older woman. A gray wig, garish make-up that did little to hide his stubble, women’s stockings rolled up to his knees, a housedress straining against his broad shoulders that couldn’t zip all the way up, and boobs stuffed with socks hanging loosely to his belly. I had met the guy a few times and my mom had met him once. But my dad was the one who answered the door.

Daddy tried to hand this six-foot tall trick-or-treater some candy. “Steve” said, “ah, no sir. I’m here to pick up your daughter. After looking him up and down, my dad said, “I guess you’d better come in.” He awkwardly tried to make conversation. When we left, Daddy called out, “Hey, young man, don’t be late.”

More than twenty years ago, hubs and I went to a Rocky Horror Picture Show costume party. He dressed as the minister in the wedding scene at the start of the film. That part was played by Tim Curry, sans make-up and outrageous costume. Rounding out the rest of the cast at the party were a couple of Dr. Frank-N-Furters, a Magenta, a random assortment of Transylvanians, and one woman who showed up as Peter Pan. I was dressed as Columbia and did my best attempt at tap dancing during her big scene dancing with Eddy. I’ll readily admit that no one could mistake my clumsy hoofing for Ginger Rogers. But, at least, I didn’t have to spend all evening explaining to people why I was dressed as Peter Pan.

Tell us about a Halloween costume that you’re especially proud of that you put together for yourself on a kid or grandkid, brag about it here. Share your plans for Halloween: Handing out candy, going to a party, watching some scary or funny Halloween flicks? Share in the comments

32 thoughts on “Costumes I have known”

  1. My husband and I went on a cruise during the week of Halloween and they were having a costume/cocktail party on Halloween. Since our last name is Adams and my husband used to get teased as a kid when the tv show was on we went as Morticia and Uncle Fester. It was hard to walk in that dress and I was a bit nervous as it was so low cut but we were a hit.

    We don’t get many or any kids for Trick or Treating as it’s mostly retirees where we live in Florida. I still buy candy as some years we have gotten a few. I always get KitKats as they are my favorite and I get the leftovers. Yum.

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    1. Vickie: Queen, I always buy the just-in-case candy, too, although we haven’t had a trick-or-treater in years. I buy Reese’s peanut butter cups.

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  2. When I was in 8th grade, I came up with a homemade scarecrow costume. Overalls, flannel shirt with a pillow tucked inside, white cotton gloves, a cotton sack overy head with cutouts for eyes and nose. I wore an upside down, woven flower pot for a hat and used pieces of rope around my wrists and ankles to help keep straw in place. It was souch fun putting it together. Happy Halloween, all! 🎃

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  3. The only costume that sticks out in my mind was my senior year of college. For our 200 Daze party (roughly 200 days until graduation), a friend of mine and I went as a box of crayons.

    No Halloween plans. I’m going to turn off the lights and hide upstairs. It’s supposed to be cold and rainy, so I don’t anticipate many visitors.

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  4. I made costumes for our daughter for years. Although relatively simple, my favorite one was a butterfly. She wore a black leotard. I made a black vest to hold the most beautiful wings! I bent heavy wire into wing shapes and covered them with a gorgeous shear fabric of lush butterfly colors. A headband with butterfly antlers completed the outfit.

    We are being Halloween Grinches and not giving out candy. We only get a handful of kids and the stairs up and down to the door are a bit much for us at times.

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  5. When I lived in Denver in the 1980’s and worked at Zach’s restaurant on Capitol Hill I was one of the few straight “waitrons.” Halloween was a chance for everyone to wear what they wanted–usually as little as possible. I dressed as Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter (former English major, don’t ya know!) and was covered from neck to toes. My sister embroidered a gorgeous letter “A” for me to wear.

    I garnered a ton of attention (and several indecent proposals) with that costume–go figure!

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  6. Peter Pan would actually have been a great addition to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”!

    My favorite Halloween costume was when my housemates and I went as a 4-pack of Guinness stout. But early in the evening, the beer bottles had to separate in order for us to dance, lol.

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    2. Oh, that’s funny, Leslie! Hubs and I took swing lessons and dance at every opportunity, so one year at a party—knowing we’d mostly be dancing—we went as a s’more. Big graham crackers like a sandwich board over each of our shoulders and one of us with a big scanned Hershey’s bar and the other with cotton for marshmallows. Perfect when we were dancing, but very confusing when we weren’t.

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  7. Well, I guess the easiest costume I ever wore was…Nancy Drew, for a non-publishing work party. Only one person knew who I was supposed to be. But c’mon, people: cashmere sweater, pearls, tweed skirt and low heels, trench coat, “titian” wig, a freaking magnifying glass in my pocket and…I carried a large antique table clock. Second-easiest: I wore a TON of garish makeup, leggings and over-sized sweater, put my hair in a scary mess of a ponytail, and laced up my figure skates (with the guards on, of course). Oh, yes, and I carried a hammer. Guess who? (That one was more of a hit than poor Nancy.)

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    1. Vickie: Lisa, I’m sure you looked perfectly malicious as Tonya Harding. You could do a sequel costume with tear-streaked mascara, a bandaged knee — and your trusty ice skates as Tonya’s victim!

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  9. Theatre major that I was, I’ve never been a fan of costumes. But I LOVED creating them for Eliza. My favorite was when we made her the Spider Queen. I took a color gown-like costume she’d worn before and attached plastic spiders to it, then made her a crown decorated with spiders. Hmmm. It just occurred to me, I should ask her what HER favorite costume was!

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  11. I’m not great at creating costumes (for myself or the kids!). The costumes have actually gotten better as they’ve gotten older because they do it themselves. This year, my older daughter dressed up with her friends (early Halloween party), and they were are characters from The Lorax!

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  12. I don’t typically do the costume thing, but I was proud of one costume idea. Many years ago, I had my son dress up as his dad (because he was such a mini me). It was adorable! They went trick-or-treating and twinned the whole way!

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