Costumes

We went Halloween costume shopping today. It was interesting, and with only a couple of weeks to go before the big night..well, it seems we might have left our run a bit late in terms of finding a good costume ....or perhaps they were all THAT bad to begin with.
In Australia we don't celebrate Halloween so much. Occasionally a group of cheeky outrageously dress tikes would ring the doorbell and loudly plot their revenge, should I turn out to be some horrible old biddy who tells them all to bugger off. The first year I should have rushed out at them so they headed off screaming in terror down the road never to return, instead of hiding silently, cowering in the kitchen like a hostage, because I didn't have a brass razzoo to offer them - not even the dreaded apple!
I was prepared the next year, and of course, not a single bloody kid bothered to show up. Grrrrrrrrrr!
The next year I forgot again, but that time I did manage to find something lurking in the dark corners of the pantry cupboard. I gave them each a sachet of some horrible chocolate sauce I had been meaning to throw out. What!!!! Its technically junk food. Although the look on their faces suggested they may have been acquainted with those sachets before - mystified and not happy - I was lucky I didn't get egged really.
Yes, Halloween was not the norm in Australia. In fact, the first I ever heard of it, I was ten years old, and that was in a book - Blubber by the wonderful Judy Blume .
The story was about difference, bullying and the effects of bullying. In Blubber, the main character used the excuse of Halloween to taunt "the fat girl" by dressing as a flenser or whale hunter. She thought her costume idea was very clever, except none of her peers knew what a flenser was, and so her costume failed dismally to inflict the desired sting and embarrassment onto her target, nor did she gather the laughs and congratulations from her peers. It was one of those - "sucked in!" moments, lets call it - sweet justice.
Judy Blume was my favourite author as a young girl. She was brilliant at capturing the essence of social behavior in children and young people. I sought out all of her books, and eagerly awaited a new release.....anyway, I digress.
During today's costume scavenge, I discovered that I really am a bit of a stick in the mud over some things, as I found myself quite confronted by most of the costumes.
Alex really wanted to dress up as Scooby Doo. I don't know why, he hasn't watched that show before. Anyway, there were no Scooby outfits, so instead he wanted to be a Giraffe - his favorite animal. There were a two such costumes floating around and both looked equally silly. I really had to bite my tongue over them and pray that he would decide against that idea. He did....Amen!
Last year he went as a king, which was his idea. I just bought a knights tunic, that happened to come with a crumby looking crown. I bought a plastic sword to go with it. It was a pretty conservative choice, but Alex liked it, and since he isn't really into dressing up, an elaborate costume is not really a good investment.
In the end, Olivia chose a fairy costume - which was a relief - she had some crazy ideas previously, anything from SuperMAN to a banana...don't ask!
Alex was happy enough to allow me to buy a magicians cape...I am thinking mileage out of that one - magician one year, wizard the next, Dracular maybe, a matador -ok, I maybe plucking at straws now, but you can see where I am going with the cape thing, can't you?
I am not really the dress-up type myself - can you tell? I feel like a complete dork. I avoid dress-up parties like the plague...I schedule an appointment with something dire and very contagious that will prevent me from attending ...err, like the plague. I am not really sure why. It is not like I never went to such parties as a child. Our little town used to put on a Christmas party every year for all the little kids, and it was always a dress up affair. I remember dressing up as Little Red Riding Hood one year and also a nurse - but the most memorable outfit was a very girlie fairy costume that my Mum made me - Barbie pink tulle tutu, and delicate pink wings, and Dad made me a wooden fairy wand with a star on top which he painted silver - the whole outfit was the BEST thing EVER - a little girls dream come true. I loved it! Looks like I am just going to have to continue reminding myself to have more BLASTED FUN; after all, that IS what Halloween is all about.