Katie

I am that person too. One year I wore a dress I had bought at a Renaissance Faire; another year I wore most of a hastily-cobbled-together Hogwarts uniform. This year I got nothin’, which is all fine and good because I don’t have anywhere to go either. Some friends of mine are going to be in Chicago. I’m too broke to join them.

I’ve made a skirt from a pair of camo pants, inseams ripped up the center, than sewn into a sheath skirt with slits to the knees in the front and back. A pair of combat boots, a broom and a big black hat complete the ensemble.

I’ve been a samara/carrie mix, with a white robe, a knife, my hair plastered down my white face, and tons of fake blood that never set and was sticky all night, haha.

Pumpkin, Faerie, Football Player (My brother is one, so I just borrowed the stuff, and when I went to collect candy, I put it in his helmet instead)

This year, I bought a Mother Earth costume. No one is going to get it, so I bought wings to match, and am now a forest nymph. I modified it to make it a little more…revealing, I guess. I’m turning 18 which makes me Legal here in MB, Canada, so it’s a bar outfit, haha.

Pennylrichardsca, I love the jellyfish idea. My brother was considering a giant squid, that might be fun too.

except I’m taking empty pill bottles, a empty bottle of liquor and smearing all my make up. and wearing a toe tag. :]

Had we gotten the go-ahead in good time, I was half thinking about a City trader getup – striped shirt, red braces (suspenders), ghastly white makeup with big black £ signs over the eyes, carry a scythe and be ‘Death of Capitalism’. Not sure quite how that’d go down…

The one previous year we dressed up, I was the other Death, the one from the Sandman comics…although given the top hat, some people thought I was Stevie Nicks. I liked the colleague who dressed as a milk carton (with his head through a hole in the side so his face was the photo of the missing kid), and the two guys who came as Madonna and Britney…don’t ask.

OT, but I’m seeking out plaid pantyhose just now – not for a costume as such, just a saw-them-gotta-have-some thing – and finding that like most such things, they come in a ‘one size’ that’s about the size I was at age twelve. Anyone know of someplace that does bigger ones?

My other idea was to be Parker Posey as Jackie O in House of Yes: pillbox hat, sheath dress, gloves, glasses, and blood/brains all over the dress. My boyfriend said that he absolutely won’t be JFK and that it’s completely tasteless… I was hoping that the fact that I’d be quoting an (obscure, indie) movie would make it all Somehow OK.

This year we will be that duo of make-believe, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. I’ve already got a black tutu and black leggings, I’ll add a black or white (or layer both) shirt. My best costume trick is full-sized label paper, you can find it at any office supply store. It’s a great and cheap way to add illustrations, details, or a mask (just attach to a paper plate). Using that I made a big tooth which I glittered and will stick on my shirt, and an awesome crown whose spokes are the roots of the teeth (attached to cheap plastic headband). Add a cheap pair of wings and a wand (wood dowel from hardware store + craft paint + dental floss), a bag of white tic-tacs for “teeth” and some waxy tooth black out (and fun hair and makeup, obvs) and I’m set.

FYI, Santa is always the most popular guy at any party. Plus he gets all the slutty cops and witches to sit on his lap, lucky dog.

I LOVE the ventriloquist idea! Like Billy Flynn and Roxie Hart from Chicago – or ANTM did a great photo shoot of the same thing a few seasons ago. Might have to poach that one for next year!