I’m That Costume Girl. I like costumes.

I was a lucky little girl. My parents loved dressing up and acting silly. The whole family really. Notice the included pictures of Grandma and Grandpa better known as the Flower and the Bee (they had 13 kids).

Leading up to Halloween, my Mom would help me think of costume ideas. We had to plan ahead because we didn’t have the disposable income to buy a licensed costume. Planning might include selecting patterns, raiding closets, and searching thrift stores.

The first year I understood Halloween as a dress-up day, I chose to be a Ballerina. At the time I was taking toddler ballet and tap classes and had little pink tights and a tutu* available to me (Not true. My Mother made my tutu). I was cute, gosh darnit. My cousin Toby was a pirate. Arrrgh. We made a cute little mismatched pair. Next up were my Wonder Woman Underoos.

My approach to costumes and dress-up in general is to work with what you got. That doesn’t mean you have to avoid costume stores, not at all.

For example, You want to be Baroness (G.I. Joe is big this year). Where to start? Simple, start with a basic black bodysuit or catsuit, perhaps a Catwoman costume. Make a red Cobra emblem with felt, paint, or tape to affix to the chest, add a few toy guns, a pair of glasses, and maybe a black wig. There ya go! Not perfect, but you’ll turn heads and have fun. It’s not just about turning old coveralls into the perfect Kaylee Frye outfit, it’s about adapting and being creative.

Now I’m off to brainstorm costume possibilities. There are cons on the horizon.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 pm and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.