The Ghouls All Came From Their Humble Abodes.
So, if you’ve been following this journal for a year or more, you probably know that Halloween is a big deal to me and my sister. We started buying things to go in the yard as soon as we moved in together - a sound activated creepy bat/ghost/witch/light up eyes in the front bushes, giant spider and cobwebs, light up zombie/skeletons coming out of the ground, tombstones - we just go wild. Then we (along with The BFF) always dress as something scary and do a sort of Larping in the big front windows, acting out things to scare the kids who come to our door. We’ve gotten a bit of a reputation in the neighborhood and on a good year, we can get 150 kids. On our best year, we got approx 250.
But this year…we aren’t doing it. The tombstones fall over all the time from wind and rain and Sis just didn’t have it in her to set them back up over and over again all month. We didn’t have time to carve pumpkins. I even totally forgot to send out my traditional Halloween cards. Plus, Sis is on a new schedule of four 10hr work-days, to have Wednesdays off to take Mom and myself to appointments, so she won’t be home until 6:30, in costume until 7. And The BFF is working (yay for permanent job!) and can’t come to town on a weekday. I’m sad about the lack of Halloween around here.
But I am still dressing up! As Ballerina Batgirl! Which is basically just Batgirl, but in a yellow tutu and with glittery makeup. And I have two friends stopping over for dinner and to see my costume - they’ve joined us three years now, and they love to watch our zany Halloween antics. And when she gets home, Sis is putting on her Darth Vader outfit and Winston’s R2D2 outfit and taking him for a walk amongst the trick-or-treats, which will delight them.
At any rate, since I’m more comfortable posting photos here of myself, I thought I’d share some of my costumes from years past. The first year we did the Larping, we did zombies. We stood in the big front windows and acted like we were trying to get out of the house. Sis would throw herself against the window and growl. One little boy dressed as a soldier ‘killed’ her repeatedly with his toy gun. The next year we were Reapers and BFF and I stood in the windows and held very still. Many kids thought we were holograms. Until we started to turn our heads, very, very slowly. One girl, about 9, screamed and ran away at full speed. The next year it rained and BFF had the flu, so Sis and I took what were going to be Scary Witches and turned them into Good Witch outfits. Then the next year, we did Scary Witches. BFF brought a cauldron and fog machine and there was a lot of cackling. I sat in the rocking chair, positioned so you could see me once BFF opened the door to hand out the candy. I would start rocking very slowly once I knew I was in view and I got a lot of, “What is THAT?!” from the kids. The following year we were Steampunk Vampires. I sat in the front windows with my face in my baby doll’s stomach. Sis would signal me when to lift my head and I would and my mouth was covered in blood and guts and the kids would scream, “She’s eating her baby!”. Also K brought his then-tweenaged son over and wanted a picture of us and right before he clicked it, I turned and tried to rip the kid’s throat out with my vampire teeth. The look on his face clearly says, “I hate my dad’s friends.” Last year we went for Scary Fairies, though they turned out a bit more Victorian Fairy than anything. It was a slow year last year, so I just sat in the windows and sort of growled and screeched at kids.
Me as a Zombie, 2010 & Me as a Reaper, 2011.
Me as a Good Witch (with Kirk), 2012.
Me as a Scary Witch and the Trio of Scary Witches, 2013.
Me as a Steampunk Vampire (getting eaten by my sister and then eating my baby doll), 2014.
Me as a Scary Fairy, 2015.
This year I’ll just politely handout candy like any good ballerina superhero should!
But this year…we aren’t doing it. The tombstones fall over all the time from wind and rain and Sis just didn’t have it in her to set them back up over and over again all month. We didn’t have time to carve pumpkins. I even totally forgot to send out my traditional Halloween cards. Plus, Sis is on a new schedule of four 10hr work-days, to have Wednesdays off to take Mom and myself to appointments, so she won’t be home until 6:30, in costume until 7. And The BFF is working (yay for permanent job!) and can’t come to town on a weekday. I’m sad about the lack of Halloween around here.
But I am still dressing up! As Ballerina Batgirl! Which is basically just Batgirl, but in a yellow tutu and with glittery makeup. And I have two friends stopping over for dinner and to see my costume - they’ve joined us three years now, and they love to watch our zany Halloween antics. And when she gets home, Sis is putting on her Darth Vader outfit and Winston’s R2D2 outfit and taking him for a walk amongst the trick-or-treats, which will delight them.
At any rate, since I’m more comfortable posting photos here of myself, I thought I’d share some of my costumes from years past. The first year we did the Larping, we did zombies. We stood in the big front windows and acted like we were trying to get out of the house. Sis would throw herself against the window and growl. One little boy dressed as a soldier ‘killed’ her repeatedly with his toy gun. The next year we were Reapers and BFF and I stood in the windows and held very still. Many kids thought we were holograms. Until we started to turn our heads, very, very slowly. One girl, about 9, screamed and ran away at full speed. The next year it rained and BFF had the flu, so Sis and I took what were going to be Scary Witches and turned them into Good Witch outfits. Then the next year, we did Scary Witches. BFF brought a cauldron and fog machine and there was a lot of cackling. I sat in the rocking chair, positioned so you could see me once BFF opened the door to hand out the candy. I would start rocking very slowly once I knew I was in view and I got a lot of, “What is THAT?!” from the kids. The following year we were Steampunk Vampires. I sat in the front windows with my face in my baby doll’s stomach. Sis would signal me when to lift my head and I would and my mouth was covered in blood and guts and the kids would scream, “She’s eating her baby!”. Also K brought his then-tweenaged son over and wanted a picture of us and right before he clicked it, I turned and tried to rip the kid’s throat out with my vampire teeth. The look on his face clearly says, “I hate my dad’s friends.” Last year we went for Scary Fairies, though they turned out a bit more Victorian Fairy than anything. It was a slow year last year, so I just sat in the windows and sort of growled and screeched at kids.
Me as a Zombie, 2010 & Me as a Reaper, 2011.
Me as a Good Witch (with Kirk), 2012.
Me as a Scary Witch and the Trio of Scary Witches, 2013.
Me as a Steampunk Vampire (getting eaten by my sister and then eating my baby doll), 2014.
Me as a Scary Fairy, 2015.
This year I’ll just politely handout candy like any good ballerina superhero should!