Rediscovering Halloween

I like Halloween. As a child, of course, Halloween was fantastic. There was the party at school, the choosing of a costume, and then trick-or-treating and going home to sort my "loot" into categories. My categories were pretty simple: suckers, chocolate, gum, and the crap that I didn't want (Mounds and Almond Joy, popcorn balls). I don't know why I bothered to sort and separate, other than reveling in the ability to have enough candy to sort. I mean, it all ended up back in my bag in a jumble, minus the crap, but I guess I had a mental tally of what was in there.

Then, somewhere in high school, Halloween lost its magic for me. Too old to dress up unless there was a party somewhere (and there wasn't one anywhere), and way too old to trick-or-treat unless you wanted to endure the disproving glares of everyone handing out candy and watch them reach for the tootsie rolls. Handing out candy at home was ok, cuz the little kids were cute in their costumes, but that got boring after a while, too. So, Halloween, blah, whatever.

Halloween started to be fun again after I became a parent. I am one of those parents who dressed her two-month-old as a flower and went around to relatives homes. I love seeing my kids dressed up. And I like going trick-or-treating with them, but NOT when it is freezing cold. Being a good Mom, I buck up and take one for the team, and go no matter what. I've even taught them to tough it out and go the extra couple of blocks in the cold, knowing that the spoils of the toil pay off in the candy bucket, cuz people start giving out handfuls of candy when its cold and they want to get rid of it. And we go home and sort their candy...

All of that is great fun, but LAST year, I rediscovered the fun of costumes. I was new in town and my fantastic new hairstylist (that topic is a whole posting in and of itself), invited me to go out with her, in costume, for Halloween. I was hesitant, but I ran to Kmart, bought a silvery cape and fake eyelashes, wore all black, the cape and dramatic makeup and went as a witch of sorts. There were lots of people with lots of great costumes, and it was FUN. It was fun to see everyone being whimsical and adding alcohol and a dance floor to adults in costumes is just a recipe for a good time.

So, Halloween is creeping toward us again! Hooray! And when our card club got postponed a week, I suggested adding costumes to the mix. The suggestion was well-received. And I wanted my spouse and I to be the Spartan cheerleaders from SNL of old (Will Ferrell, Shari O'Terry) so we could do the perfect cheer for Euchre (You got the right, left, oh you pass. Watch out cuz we'll set your... Spartan Spirit!) But of course this brilliant idea did not hit me until Wednesday, and I would have had to pay for express shipping. Darn. Back to Kmart for me. I tried on several costumes, all marked "One Size Fits Most." "Most" of what? Most people under size 8? Most teenaged anorexics? Most exercise fanatics? Cuz those costumes are not designed for "most" women. But I found one, and I will be a "Fair Maiden" and might add "dead" to the beginning of that concept with some white makeup. I'm so excited to see what everyone else will wear, and to just hang out and have fun with my grownup friends all dressed in costumes. Happy Halloween everyone!