Costume Dramas
by Michele 
This year we hit an important milestone in my house: my eleven-year-old is officially too cool to wear a Halloween costume. His younger brother still cruises the iParty costume row with glee bordering on hysteria. (Pirates! Ninjas! Soldiers with machine guns! I could inflict a lot of damage with this stuff!) But every costume I suggest to the older one is met with a disgusted, world-weary shrug. We leave with piles of bloody, severed limbs and a strobe light to turn the barn into a haunted house, along with a rubber mask (to be worn with street clothes) that he allows me to buy for him only because I convince him nobody will give him candy otherwise. Adolescence has struck.
The same progression happened to me. The princess and ballerina costumes of childhood gave way to edgier, more grown-up ones. I was a witch; I was Marcia Brady, then for a couple of years, I wore black clothes and face paint. Finally, I hit the no-costume phase, which comes once you realize that the mean girls are watching you, that their costumes cooler, or at least more expensive, than yours. There's only one way out of the no-costume phase -- the high-concept costume phase. The mean girls aren't too smart. If you dress up as the subway, or as Proust's madeleine, they won't get the joke, and you can take a nasty satisfaction in that. (Until you realize that a bunch of your friends don't get it either.)
It's reassuring how little Halloween has changed. If anything, it feels safer and more innocent today than it did when we were kids. Our childhood Halloweens came with an edge of real fear. In my neighborhood, kids trick-or-treated alone, sent off with dire warnings about razor blades in apples and LSD in popcorn. This turned out not to be such a bad thing. We were no longer expected to eat the bruised fruit and weird cereal balls from the strange neighbor with the cats. We could focus on the neatly wrapped Hershey and Kit-Kat bars and throw the disgusting stuff away.
My favorite all-time costume, I have to admit, is the little green onesie in the shape of a dinosaur, made out of fuzzy fake fur, that both my boys wore on their first Halloween. But a close second are some of the unbelievable high-concept one-of-a-kind efforts in this video from youtube. WARNING: not for the faint of heart.
Happy Halloween!
Oh, Michele, you are on my wavelength. We are into Halloween as a month-long event, inching up to the Big Night, looming in front of us. Our big news: last year my son, then age 4, wanted desperately to be a fairy. This year he is Darth Vader.
Posted by: Harley | October 27, 2007 at 08:53 AM
We love Halloween.
This year, my son is going as the hero from "V for Vendetta". Why? Tons of plastic knives come with the costume.
My daughter is going as an Internet cartoon character who no one other than her close circle of friends has ever heard of.
Due to iffy weather, I will be Sorcerer Mickey, rather than Minnie Mouse.
Posted by: Rebecca the Bookseller | October 27, 2007 at 09:19 AM
What, Michele, you're not going to insist on a Clive Owen costume? No, wait, that would be kind of sick, wouldn't it?
Harley! So nice to see you back! But, what, you're not going to insist on a Blond Bond costume? No, wait, that would be, etc. etc.
Posted by: ramona | October 27, 2007 at 09:24 AM
Harley, yes, wonderful to see you back!
What is it with boys and weapons? My younger kid is the sweetest, goofiest guy, never in trouble, but he needs a macho costume. Every year it gets more intense.
Ramona, I keep my relationship with Clive separate from my family life.
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 09:59 AM
PS -- I'm wearing the same witch's hat I wear evey year. It's a non-costume costume, enough to get in the spirit but not over the top. This year I did buy a really cool broom made of twigs to go with it, however. I love iParty!
Any other grown-ups dressing up?
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 10:01 AM
I miss Halloween! The townhouse complex we live in never has trick-or-treaters, even when we have kids (I think they all go down the street to the swankier neighborhood for an all-around better experience), and middle-of-the-week parties are pretty much out of the question with my schedule.
I did visit a costume store last year with an adult friend and one of her 11-year-old friends. What frightened me was all the "sexy" costumes (witches, doctors, whatevers) marketed to this age group. Low-cut dresses with either mini-skirts or slits up to there; fishnet stockings; high heels -- what are people thinking?????
I think one of my favorite Halloweens was the year my friends and I decided, once and for all, that we were too old to trick-or-treat ourselves. So instead, we volunteered to escort a gaggle of our younger sibs. We sort of dressed up -- pulling together mismatched items out of our parents' wardrobes -- and had an absolute blast. We even had quite a bit of candy practically forced on us by our neighbors. Good karma and good chocolate -- what a combination!
Posted by: Kerry, the Martial Tart | October 27, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Halloween at Mystery Lovers is a special treat. This year's our 17th Birthday.
Long ago we figured out that many grownups have nothing to do on this night and we started the party. With a 10 cent book sale of ARCs to benefit Beginning with Books at 9PM, we see a full house with many in costumes. The free cappuchino all night doesn't hurt either.
Join us!
Posted by: mary alice at mystery lovers bookshp | October 27, 2007 at 10:27 AM
Oh, wish I could be there Mary Alice. Have fun.
Karry, I agree that costumes for young girls seem too overtly sexy these days, just like the boys' costumes are really violent. No surprise, right, that's just the culture -- sex and violence!!!
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 11:03 AM
Well done, Michele. As someone who grew up with three brothers, I know the "I'm too cool to dress up" stage.
And speaking of graveyard smashes, have you seen this one?
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/cemetary-prank/3206441918
Posted by: Elaine Viets | October 27, 2007 at 11:35 AM
Last year was the Peter Cushing version of Van Helsing (the only real one, just as Christopher Lee is the only real Count Dracula, but that's another debate for another time.)
This year, the consensus is I need to join the New Millennium... so it will be the Hugh Jackman version of Van Helsing.
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday; I wanted to get married on Halloween, but we couldn't get things in order fast enough. Well, that and I got out-voted....
Posted by: William Simon | October 27, 2007 at 12:08 PM
Hi Guys. Finally got enough drugs out of my system to sort of think straight!
Halloween - one of my favorite holidays. Remember getting all the candy and then going home and "sorting" it into the "good stuff" and "yuck stuff"
We never get Trick or Treaters - I always have candy and am FORCED to eat it when no one shows up! Therefore, I always buy MY favorite treats. But I miss the kiddos.
The ONLY time I wanted to slam the door in someone's face was in 1980. It was late (maybe 9ish). There were three ADULTS standing there pushing a baby (maybe 6-8 months old) in a stroller. So, you tell me...who was this candy for? If they'd even bothered to put on a costume, I might have gotten a laugh. But as it was, I tossed some candy and locked my door. Gave me the creeps.
My favorite costume of all time (for me) was my "I Dream of Jeanie" harem outfit. Back then, I actually had the body for it.
When I was in college, the frat halloween parties were always interested. Guys dressed in large garbage bags with a hula-hoop around the opening, one HUGE macho guy wearing a pink tu-tu, etc. Need I mention we were T&T for beer?
Thank for the topic. It stirred up a lot of good memories.
Posted by: ArkansasCyndi | October 27, 2007 at 12:38 PM
I have friends in Pittsburgh whose Halloween wedding had all the proper . ..atmosphere. I'll send them news of the Mystery Lovers party. I put on some Halloween stuff, including the tiger paw slippers my mom bought me for a haunted school Henderson teachers put on, nearly 30 years ago. There are few trick or treaters in our condos, but if they do show up, I have Twix bars for them.
Posted by: Mary Storyteller | October 27, 2007 at 01:08 PM
Cyndi!
Welcome back! We've missed you.
What's your costume this year? Pirates are big and you could be a peg leg one!
Posted by: Rebecca the Bookseller | October 27, 2007 at 03:08 PM
Yes, Cyndi, how are you feeling? You've been missed.
William, I know I should know this, but who is Van Helsoing and why does he have so many different incarnations?
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 03:36 PM
SO what's wrong with Michele having a Clive Owen in costume turn up on her doorstep - presumably with a peel here taggie and a bottle of champers in one hand. Or a Blonde Bond similarly simmering in a fantasticly sexy costume and an equally intriguing 'peel here' taggie and bottle of champers.
JUST POST PICTURES!!!
BOO!
Marianne
Posted by: Marianne | October 27, 2007 at 04:27 PM
Er, picture above Blonde Bond for Harley!!
Marianne
Posted by: Marianne | October 27, 2007 at 04:27 PM
Here in the bucolic country, houses are a bit too spaced apart for trick or treaters, so kids are driven via car, truck, wagon or hay-filled tractor from house to house.
Spent last night accompany a friend as we visited some old New England graveyards. The air was oddly dense and heavy with an oppressive feel to it. Now that's Halloween for us big kids.
Felicia Donovan
Author, The Black Widow Agency Series
www.feliciadonovan.com
Posted by: Felicia Donovan | October 27, 2007 at 04:28 PM
Michele, Professor Abraham VanHelsing was the Monster Hunter in the original Bram Stoker novel, and played as a Victorian Gentleman by Peter Cushing back in the 1950's and 60's.
Hugh Jackman played 'Gabriel Van Helsing', more of an action hero in the movie of the same name a couple of years ago. The only good thing about that one is Universal finally got serious about the old Karloff/Chaney/Lugosi movies and re-did them properly on DVD.
Posted by: William Simon | October 27, 2007 at 04:39 PM
My 5 year old is completely jazzed about her costume, which no one will get. She is going as Nan Bobbsey, the older sister from the Bobbsey Twins. To help people out, she will have a name tag that says, "Hi, I'm Nan Bobbsey, Ask me about my adventures". She is obsessed with the Bobbsey Twins and it is all that she wants to have us read to her. We've had to update it for current sensibilities (name the racial or group bias, it is in the series!), but we are stoked that she loves books.
Posted by: Cheryl | October 27, 2007 at 04:45 PM
Anybody who comes to my dorr in a Clive costume will defnitely get candy. Not sure about posting the photos, though, Marianne. You know . . . evidence.
Welcome, Felicia!
Thanks for the explanation, William. Van Helsing is the perfect costume for you -- gentleman, scholar and crusader against evil.
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 04:50 PM
Gosh, sorry for the typos. There are too many kids around today making too much noise! I must proofread before hitting "Post."
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 04:51 PM
Cheryl, your daughter is already into the high-concept costume phase? I thought that didn't strike until 15. She's obviously precociously smart and already outwitting the mean girls!
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 04:54 PM
Michele- you are too kind. I think that she is just blissfully oblivious. Hopefully she will keep up the independent streak, which I always found was the best tactic with the mean girls. We are cracking up over the literary costume for a 5 year old, who could be next?
Posted by: Cheryl | October 27, 2007 at 05:15 PM
Cheryl, our kids are lucky because they're growing up with the mythic structure of the avenging nerd already in place for them. Last night my son's friend was over for dinner, and they were talking about the "popular kids clique," which both of them, being recent transplants to the area, are not part of. I started to give the speech about how life for the popular kids is bound to be downhill after high school, whereas they, being the smart kids, will grow up to cure cancer or at least become investment bankers and make millions. You know what? They already knew that. They've seen all the movies.
Posted by: michele | October 27, 2007 at 05:30 PM
Michele, I hear what you are saying. My daughter just transfered to the (proud mom moment coming) Gifted & Talented Magnet School. It is kind of cool that she will be in an environment where it is only smart kids and in uniforms, no less, so it will be interesting to see how 'popular kids" stuff plays out. Kids always find something to delineate over, but it will be interesting if it plays out over things like kindness rather than brains and clothes.
Posted by: Cheryl | October 27, 2007 at 05:40 PM