HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

If there’s one thing to know about me – other than being a writer and liking cats, or something – it’s that my favourite day of the year is Halloween.

In 2011 and 2012, I did Halloween posts here, but for whatever reason I totally forgot to do a post for 2013 – which is a shame, because it was a good one.

First, let me do a little backstory, here:

Like I said, Halloween is my favourite day of the year, chopping down my birthday and Christmas. I love the idea of dressing up. Costumes – the bigger and better – make me giddy. I love dressing up myself, I love dressing up my house, I love seeing what children are dressed up as. Everything about it makes me so happy. I wish it was Halloweek because one day just isn’t enough for me.

So, because of this, I like to go hard for Halloween.

Before I delve into this year, here are some examples of Halloween costumes past:

2008: Pregnant Nun 

This is me comparing my bump to that of my pregnant French teacher. Mine is much larger than hers, as is abundantly clear. Though I didn’t compete in the school costume contest (which I regret, as I probably would have won something), everyone who passed me had something to say about my costume – and 98% of those comments were praising my twisted creativity. To this day, this is one of my favourites.

2009: William Wallace

Little known fact: William Wallace slayed zombies. This year also marked the year I started getting contacts from the optometrist for Halloween, so I didn’t ruin my costumes with specs. Unfortunately, they gave me a prescription from 2005, so I was blind all day anyways. For this costume, I memorized Wallace’s freedom speech from Braveheart, and this year I did compete in the costume contest, though I didn’t win. A few people told me they expected me to moon the school during the contest, because of Braveheart. Another regret.

 

2011: Amy Winehouse

2010 wasn’t memorable, so we’re skipping straight to 2011 – the year Amy Winehouse died, and the year I began posting about Halloween on the internet.  That post also details what the Downtown Vernon treat trail is – but basically businesses downtown, like the bookstore where I work, hand out candy to children. Some of my favourite comments to date came from this costume, because it was only few months after she died and she was fresh in everyone’s minds.

2012: Effie Trinket

And may the odds be ever in your favour. This year marked the first time I had to hand-make a lot of my costume, rather than reuse my own clothes and buy props. It isn’t a perfect example of her Reaping Day costume, obviously, but it was recognizably Effie. I had to buy the clothes, then glued fake flowers to make the shoulder pads and bustle. This year was also the first of so far three consecutive years of seriously nerdy Halloween costumes.

2013: Jedi Knight

The lost year that I forgot to post on the website: I was a Near-Human Jedi Knight the Near-Human part meaning I’m part Human and part Mirialan but that’s nerdspeak for I didn’t want to go full Mirialan and get green makeup on my costume. I found and ordered a replica Jedi costume online. Opening that sucker made me sweat more than I’ve ever sweated in my life. I love Star Wars, by the way. I have a Star Wars tattoo. Anyways, this was a hit because Star Wars, and because I had a robe and lightsaber. One child sought me out well after the treat trail was over to see the Jedi that he’d heard about. The third picture isn’t day-of, obviously, but I didn’t have any other photos of my robe and lightsaber as well (it’s one of those noisy, badass, Force FX ones :D)

 

 

2014: Weeping Angel

Whatever you do, don’t blink. You blink and you die.

 

Do not blink.

The pièce de résistance of today’s post – the weeping angel. I started watching Doctor Who this past year, and fell hard and fast. One of my favourite enemies were the weeping angels, because the idea of them is terrifying. For those who don’t know or need a refresher, weeping angels are not statues. They are alien lifeforms that turn to stone whenever something is looking at them. As long as an angel is watched, it is literally stone. But as soon as it is no longer being watched, they can move – and they are fast. If you are touched by an angel, they don’t necessarily kill you, but send you back in time and feed on the energy left behind.

So do not blink.

When I was thinking of what to be for Halloween, my first thought was something from Doctor Who. But what? The Doctor is great, but too difficult to place. He could be anybody. I wouldn’t be able to do Rose justice. Then I thought, an enemy, obviously. My first thought was a cyberman, because I’m not quite there yet with my building skills to be a dalek, but then I remembered the angels and BAM, Halloween!

The only thing that isn’t handmade for this costume is the mask, and even that was painted to match the rest. I would never have been able to do this costume without the help of my number one, Lexi. We found the pattern for the dress and bought a wool blend in dark grey, and she made the dress for me, and put two and a half wire hangars in the hem for the stiff hoop. I sewed fingers into grey tights (that isn’t paint on my arms) and glued fingernails onto the ends. We sewed and knotted yarn onto a swim cap and styled it for the wig. My friend Bethany’s stepmother is a graphic designer by trade, so she helped me design and carve wings out of styrofroam, and using coroplast  and elastics, Lexi and I made a back and straps for them. Once everything was finally built, I took everything to Bethany’s stepmother, and I painted the wings, mask, and wig, while she painted the dress. Then, Halloween morning, after strapping me in (getting dressed was a two-person job, mainly done by Lexi), Lexi painted my face and voila!

Without even trying, I scared people. I was standing next to a former coworker and chatting, and seeing a customer come near, I moved out of her way. She jumped and gasped, and said that she thought I was a statue. That happened a few times. One little girl during the treat trail was so afraid of me – all without my mask, mind you – that she kept a two metre distance between us, and stared at me and trembled.

But the best part, by far, were the people who got it.

Many people said I was a dark angel. A few understood that I was supposed to be a statue.

But there were about ten people who saw me and screamed at me, across streets and down the block, “YOU’RE A WEEPING ANGEL!”

One woman looked at me and said, “Don’t blink,” then, as she was leaving with her kids to go to the next store, “You’re going to give me nightmares.”

One family saw me down the block and screamed that I was a weeping angel, then had their children pose with me weeping so they could take a picture.

Actually, a lot of people took pictures, even people who didn’t understand what I was. Three exchange people took pictures with me – one from Jamaica and two from Asia (I didn’t catch exactly where). Kids getting candy would stare at me while going to accept candy from anyone else (Bethany was a friendly, approachable egg, Lexi was Rosie the Riveter, and Zoey was Little Red Riding Hood).

It was euphoric.

And now I’ve peaked. I have costume ideas for the next few years, but I don’t know if they’ll ever be this good.

Now I just need an opportunity to reuse it did somebody say comic con?

What did everyone else dress up as for Halloween?