Help! October 30, 2006 Jill I need an easy, creative Halloween costume. I also have a friend who may be interested in some sort of duo costume. Any ideas?
Because it seems I won’t be doing any Halloween celebrating, I’ll pass along my costume idea: inappropriate Mark Foley IM. Low-tech version would just be sharpie on tshirt; classier would be iron-on. Attention to detail will really make this costume, such as appropriate colors for each sender. You can use actual IM excerpts (personally I like the one where he has cybersex during a vote, but that’s just me) or your own, snarkier versions, along the lines of “Hello. I’m a republican and I’d like to talk to you about your penis.” Creativity can also come in your choice of screennames; consider PageBoy17 or GOPcloset.
Oh, and if it wasn’t obvious–the duo version would be two different “screens.” You’ll have to fight over who gets to be Foley.
I would highly recommend Jo(e)’s post here: http://writingasjoe.blogspot.com/2006/10/safety-pins-and-lingerie.html Read the post and the comments! Some great ideas for women that are not just the “sexy fill-in-the-blank” costume…
wealthy widow and cabana boy! i was going to do this with a kid i work with who was a few years my junior, *ahem* but the party got cancelled.
I thought that Mel Gibson would be a great costume. Walk around with a bottle of booze alternating between saying, “The alcohol made me hate Jews” and “Freedom!!!!!!”
Movers. As in, moving the republicans out of Washington. The “mover” costume would be easy, and you could have fun with props of the things you founds when moving.
One year my husband was a pint of guinnes. He dressed all in black and pained his head white. Whenever I have to throw a costume together I usually go with “gypsy” or “pirtate” as a good deal of my regular clothes can go in that direction anyway, and it’s just a matter of over accessorizing. Going for a “decade” is also usually pretty easy as that’s pretty much accessories and hair. Like 70’s or 80’s or something. Also, I had a friend once who did the old-school “ghost” with eye holes cut in a sheet and everything. That was actually kind of cool.
Go as a deviled egg. Buy a pair of devil horns and a plastic pitchfork, wear a white shirt and put a yellow circle cut out of construction paper or felt on your tummy and back. Tee hee?
A black dress with a red A on it – and if you can find a bonnet, you’re golden – an voila you’re Hester Prynne.
Be a chess piece- make a paper Bishop’s hat (instructions here) and paint it either all black or all white (a can of spray paint will do the job nicely). Wear corresponding all black or all white.
The other day, I realized that I have a fedora, black raincoat, and lots of businesswear … so I’m going to be Jack Abramoff. That would be a pretty easy one to do, if you have the stuff. Then there’s always the foam option–two pieces of foam tacked together in a particular shape. You could be a state (I suggest states longer than they are wide) or a postage stamp or something like that. If you’re a state, you could add cities and rivers and whatnot. Lots of fun.
The other day, I realized that I have a fedora, black raincoat, and lots of businesswear ā¦ so Iām going to be Jack Abramoff. That would be a pretty easy one to do, if you have the stuff. One of my favorite costumes involved clothing like this. I wore a suit, loosened the collar and necktie, put a card saying “Press” in the hatband of the fedora, got a steno pad and a pen, and voila! I was an old-school newspaper reporter.
road: black clothing, two stripes of yellow tape down the middle. props: stuffed animal (road kill) fork. partner option: divivded highway pool table: green clothing, colored styrofoam pool balls stuck to clothing with velcro tape or glue (depending how much you like the clothes) optional prop: cue stick or, partner can be cue stick night sky: black clothing, star stickers (extra points for actual constellations) no props needed. beauty pageant winner: any formal dress, tin foil crown. props: sceptor, and sash with title: Miss Demeanor, Miss New York, whatever partner option: smarmy MC princess: any formal dress, crown. prop: stuffed frog or, partner can be frog black widow: black clothing with red hourglass affixed to abdomen. make extra arms out of tights and buy googly eyes for extra eyes. prop: bug toy, or partner can be bug weather forecast: grey and blue clothing. prop: squirt bottle (cloudy with chance of showers).
I keep trying to sell my SO on the idea of going as the White Stripes: one red shirt, one white shirt, one red pair of pants, one white pair of pants. I even told her I’d be willing to shave everything but my moustache. But she’s not going for it, even though it’s an AWESOME idea.
Write phone numbers on a yellow shirt and go as the yellow pages. Draw a yolk on a white t-shirt wear devil horns and be a deviled egg.
Cut squares out of orange felt and circles out of green felt. Pin them to your clothes and go as Carrots and Peas.
Pinky and the Brain! One’s a genius, the other’s insane… or so I’ve heard. Damn, I glossed over the “easy” part.
Partner plan: If you’re not rabidly opposed to Big Coffee– My uber liberal girlfriend glued play money all over her clothes. I glued stars all over mine. We were “star” “bucks”
My two cents: a couple years ago I had a skirt with cherries all over it. I found another piece of fabric that had cherries on it, cut out the “pi” symbol, pinned it to a black tank top and went as cherry pi. yes, I was a huge nerd. For the duo – As a child, a friend and I went as a pair of dice. Some white posterboard, black construction paper, packing tape, and you’re golden. You can use the dots as holes for arms and legs. Black leggings, etc. Of course, there’s really no way to be a “sexy” pair of dice, a la the NYT, since you’re encased in a cube of of posterboard that obscures your entire torso. š
You could always be really cheap, go in your street clothes, and tell people you’re a Cylon sleeper agent.
Along the lines of Little Light’s suggestion . . . do you have a dress you really like? Can you wear it and claim to be some random literary or historical character? My hs prom dress was an art-deco black silk sheath beaded number, and when necessary I bust it out, marcelle my hair, wear red lipstick, smoke, and presto Zelda Fitzgerald.
If I were dressing up for Halloween, I would probably go as the Grim Reaper. A robe of some sort, hood, and a sickle, which should be easy to make. Depending on how difficult it is to make yourself a blue beehive (I really don’t know), you could go as Marge Simpson. Then again, you may not have a lime-green one-piece dress. I love the cherry pi idea. That’s the best Halloween costume I’ve ever heard.
Oh my gawd Ellie in #11, now I want to be New Hampshire for Hallowe’en! That would be soooo cool. My sibling went as the Mir space station once, with a cardboard tube rocket body and giant solar panels she wore on her arms. It even had a tiny red-and-orange cellophane electrical fire on it. She’s good for costumes, though. She’s been a gas pump and an ATM as well. She actually made more than $1000 one year winning prizes at parties. Not a bad racket! No ideas for costumes, though. I really should be ashamed, I mean, I am an artist, but I can never think of anything cool.
The easiest last-minute costume ever: Zombie fighter. 1. Look around your home, place of business, local bar, or wherever you happen to be when you realize you need a costume. 2. Think- is there anything lying around that would give you that all important killing distance with a zombie horde? 3. Pick up the baseball bat/lamp/pool cue, mess up your hair, and go to the party. This costume gets better the more people you have in your group. Remember- team up and survive!
Does anyone know how to make a beehive hairdo? I want to be Miss Yvonne from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (I have a possible Pee-Wee Herman), but I have no idea how to make a beehive. I have a lot of hair, so I’m sure it’s possible. Unfortunately, I’m not coming up with much on Google. What? This thread was supposed to help Jill with her costume? Hey — why not be Miss Yvonne? You just need a skinny dude with a grey suit and you’re golden.
Does anyone know how to make a beehive hairdo? http://www.hairarchives.com/private/archive2/beehive/settinga.htm
Does anyone know how to make a beehive hairdo? Here’s another page, written as “reminiscences” but actually instructions. Unfortunately, there are no pictures. http://www.loti.com/beeehive_hairdo.htm
Heraclitus: last year, searching for costume ideas at the last minute, I had a windfall–at work (I hauled junk at the time) someone threw out an old, actual, slightly rusty farm scythe. So I went the little-black-dress-and-fishnets-and-dramatic-makeup-plus-huge-freaking-scythe route, and it worked wonderfully.
I thought the “Jack Daniels Fairy” idea from the earlier thread was awesome. Sounds easy, too. And going as a Supreme Court Justice, also suggested earlier, sounds about as easy as one could imagine.
Thanks twf! I found that first link, but I couldn’t really get what they were saying. But the second link looks good. Sorry for the beehive hijack!
this might be hard for you to do, but I went as Borat, and everyone seemed to like it: brown suit + fake moustashe. It seems very timely.
Enemy Combatant, named “Bill of rights” and Lynndie England/Chuck Graner. One needs a Black sheet with a hole in it, and an old sack/american flag sewn into a bag, and some wires. Combine with brown pants, brown or green t-shirt, and bright turquoise rubber gloves. Some chains/ropes/dog leashes for effect.
If you’re going to a party with friends who know you well, you could go as each other. My husband and I did this one year. Granted it was pretty easy at the time because he just had to do punk female and I had to do hippie male. I don’t know if it would work if your mode of dress wasn’t as “genre.”
Pirate costumes are really easy to put together– I got everything I needed for mine in two trips to the thrift store. Just get a frilly white long-sleeved shirt, a vest, some brown pants that you can hack off to calf-length, and boots, for the basic costume. Beyond that, you can add hoop earrings, eyepatch, sashes & swords to taste. Good (and nerdy!) coed pairs costumes: Mulder & Scully, Buffy & Angel (both of these work best with a really short girl and a really tall guy), Lois Lane & Clark Kent, Dr. Who and your Companion of choice– beyond that, you need to put a lot more effort into the costumes, and while *I* would totally dedicate that kind of effort to dressing up as John Crichton and Aeryn Sun, I understand most people would not. This year, I’ve got a Space Age Stewardess costume built around this awesome dress I found at the thrift store: it’s red and cap-sleeved, with shoulder tabs and lots of zippers, and zips up the front. With a red pillbox hat, white gloves and boots, and the right makeup, I look like I stepped out of the Jetsons.
My friend Emily pointed out that a roll of adding-machine tape makes for easy instant costumes. I once went as “Ms. Procrastination [two years earlier].” Alas, I couldn’t find my tiara before the party (and whenever I mentioned this, people thought it was part of my schtick). Possible duo costume: Last weekend on NPR, someone talked about an iPod commercial: one person dressed all in black, dancing and wearing an iPod, with the other person holding up a solid-colored bedsheet.
Tonight, I’m Trick-or-Drinking as Britney Spears, complete with track suit, huge sunglasses, huge pregnant belly, and bottle of Bud Light (I’ll be going with a friend who has decided to upgrade her “sexy schoolgirl” costume to “Young Britney”). But since the boobs alone make my costume NSFW, for work, I’m dressing as a well-read, well-informed, man-friendly feminist who votes. Scary.
I love this yearly thread! š Sooooo many good ideas, so few parties to attend. *sigh* I went as Rosie the Riveter last year — actually won a prize at the party. Woo-hoo! š (The theme was “Favorite Advertising Icons”, and since all of the female icons I could come up with were little girls or cooking women, I went sort of laterally on the theme. *shrug*) Fairly easy costume — denim overalls or (baggy!) denim work pants, hopefully cuffed. Denim work shirt, either short or long sleeved, or a “camp shirt” — short sleeved with patch pockets, no darts. *Loafers* or work boots. (In the Saturday Evening Post image of Rosie she is wearing loafers, and I suspect that was fairly common in period due to women’s work boots simply not being made and men’s being too big for many women.) Hair covered with a snood or kerchief tied like the old Aunt Jemima icon. I smudged myself up with a little dark brown eyeshadow to simulate work smudges, wore a little eye make up and RED lipstick, and carried a large crescent wrench in my back pocket. It rocked. š
One of my co-workers came to work today as a “prisoner of love.” She wore black and white striped clothing to look like a prisoner and has a chain with a red, stuffed heart attached to one ankle. It’s awesome.
blues brothers. Dr. House and Cuddy. Rachel Ray: Dress in normal clothes, and carry around an armload of food and kitchen utensils. Wear a Hawaiian shirt, fanny pack, shorts, and a skull mask–Death Takes a Holiday.
The easiest last-minute costume ever: Zombie fighter Nonsense. I’m dressing as a serial killer. As everybody knows, they look just like the rest of us. Yes, I suck at costumes.