I apologize for being behind again on the monthly holidays. This is not becoming a habit. Let’s get to it.

This is a big month for the world: it’s Olympics time! Take the time to have some field days with your friends and family. Give out Office style medals of yogurt caps to the competitors and generally have fun creating your team’s uniform look.

1. August 8: Summer Olympics. Let’s start this list off with a bang. Have a party for the opening ceremonies. Decorate the table with tiny flags and have each person represent a country.

2. August 18: Bad Poetry day.
This day is evil
It’s for all the people
to speak in rhyme
for a limited time
A limerick will do
Wear a beret too
*shiver* See what I mean?

3. August 19: Aviation Day. It’s Orville Wright’s birthday. Be like Snoopy. Dress as pilots, attendants, tourists, handlers, and airplanes. Check your local calendar for air shows.

4. August 22: Tooth Fairy Day (disputed Feb 28). Male or female, it doesn’t matter just have fun. Dress as a tooth fairy or dentist. Be as demented or sweet as you want. Great day to talk about tooth care with little ones or cause terrible nightmares. Your call.

5. August 24: Vesuvius Day. This one is a little demented to celebrate since three cities were destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. I say if Doctor Who can play with the story why can’t we? Dress as a volcano god or roman citizen. Maybe hold a fake dig and be archeologist for the afternoon.

6. August 26: Nat’l Dog Day. This day is about recognizing how dogs help us and about how we can rescue them. Check your local shelters to find out if they’re holding any special promotion and offer to lend a hand. A much more fun way to celebrate is to dress like your dog. I don’t mean put your dog in clothes that match your clothes, but to wear dog ears, a nose, and a tail that matches the dogs fur.

7. August 30: Frankenstein Day. Not to be confused with Frankenberry day on October 30. This is a great opportunity to get spooky before October arrives. Gather your friends for a Young Frankenstein costume group. There’s nothing quite like a good mad scientist.

I tried another Sixties inspired costume. Why? It looked like a fun little dress and I secretly want to be Goldie Hawn. This is the Funky Mod Sixties Costume from Costume Craze.

Look familiar?

The pattern is the same shift as the Mod Chic. The dress is purple velour and funky poly with hot pink vinyl accents. It includes the dress and the matching pink headband. I went with a classic side ponytail and boots. However, the look would be more authentic with colored tights and patten flats.

Tousled hair just won’t do. A dress like this calls for coifed hair and fake eyelashes. Maybe add a patent cap or a wig.

Go all out. Be funky.

Yorick from Y the Last Man is assembled. I picked up the missing pieces today. The only thing left to make the costume finished is to try on the poncho.

Yorick’s poncho is styled a particular way within the comic and I’m not positive the one I picked up is the same as Yorick’s. Later today or tomorrow, ManWithPez will try on the poncho for me. We’ll compare it to the comic and see how it matches. With any luck I won’t need to modify it. However, luck is rarely a positive factor for me so I’m betting I’ll need to cut something or other.

Yorick Brown:

White performance gloves, $3
Yellow plaid short sleeve button-up, $10
Blue poncho, $5
Stuffed Capuchin, $10
Gold ring, pack of 50 for $1.25
White long sleeve tee, $5
Gas Mask, years of emotional scarring from military service

Total expense: Less than $35

If you are not military, check with your friends and family, someone might own or have access to a gas mask.

The only accessories MWP needs now are a steely secret agent to protect him and a genius scientist capable of saving the world. If any ladies out there are interested in accompanying him one day at Dragon Con let me know.

Side note: There’s talk of a Y the Last Man movie. People always toss around their favorite actors during speculation, but I’ve picked the prefect cast. Zachary Levi as Yorick would be genius. If he’s too tall to sneak around as a woman, how about Sam Oliver. He’s not as strong an actor as Zach but he has the potential. Tracie Thoms is agent 355. There are pages in the book that look like they could have been traced from her picture. She’s incredible. I’m not sure about Dr. Allison Mann, maybe Grace Park? But she’s so young. I should be a casting director.

Gah! I forgot to post the fun holidays for July. July sort of crept up on me this summer. It’s a popular month for National celebrations like Canada Day (July 1), Bastille Day (July 14), and Independence Day (July 4). Let’s get started!

1. July 4: Independence Day. I know it’s tomorrow, but there’s always time to party on a holiday weekend. You can don revolutionary or colonial dress. It’s also Country Music Day so you can wear cowboy hats and boots for a fun hoedown.

2. July 5: My Dad’s Birthday. What? It counts. Light up the fireworks, wear silly masks, paint your face, and just have fun. Pretend you’re part of a parade: dress and act accodringly. Anything goes today.

3. July 10: Teddy Bear Picnic Day. You’ve heard the old song, right? Do this one for the kids. Host a party in your backyard or at a local park. Let the kids bring their favorite stuffed animal and wear stuffed animal inspired gear. Maybe fuzzy ear headbands for everyone and painted noses to boot.

4. July 13: Geek Day. That’s right, today is the day to be proud to be a geek. Wear your glasses and use all your gadgets. Host an upgrade party for all your geek buddies. Become the ipod. Become the circuit. Become the surge protector. Talk specs and news and submit your photos to DIGG.

5. July 15: Tapicoa Pudding Day. This one is so easy for me because “Thouroughly Modern Millie” is one of my fun-time movie selections. Get out your 20’s garb and practice dancing The Tapioca. Bobbed hair, long beads, flappers, suits, and sidecars. Have fun!

6. July 24: Amelia Earhart Day. Celebrate aviation with scarves, goggles, bomber jackets, and airplanes. Have the kids play pilot with balsa wood gliders. Lots of fun.

7. July 25: Culinarian’s Day. Great reason to try to food. Host a dinner party and have a food tv marathon. Dress up as a chef with the hat and crazy pants. Easy to find chef gear at your local restaurant supply or uniform store.

Enjoy July. There’s sun, good times, and lots of fresh fruit for homemade ice cream. Try to choose costumes that breathe well in the heat

Turmoil is pretty much a perpetual state for humans.

It’s up to regular folks to bring a little lightness to life. Some regular folks in Baghdad wanted to end their semester in style…movie style. Desperate for some fun, the graduating class decided to don costumes inspired by movies.

Movies are a great source of inspiration, not just for Halloween but for parties too. ManWithPez was inspired by ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ when he made his Seymour Krelborn costume. There was very little sewing, but the details were in the taped fingers and the puppet. It’s the little details that wow.

Back in the dorms of 1995, the gals and I thought it would be fun to do a group costume from a movie. For some reason, we picked ‘Annie’. Okay, I know why we picked that one, we had a spunky redhead. Julia as Pepper, Kari as Sandy, Lucy as Annie, and myself as Miss Hannigan. Lucy wore a heart locket from my jewelry box. Kari painted her nose and pinned a sock to her belt. Julia had the oversized mismatched clothes and I hit the local Goodwill for strappy heels and silky robe.

Though we didn’t know it at the time, we were cosplaying. What’s the difference between costuming and cosplaying? Well, playing the part. You see, we acted in character for parts of the evening. Randomly throughout the party I would blow Miss Hannigan’s whistle and the girls, and other party-goers, would yell, ‘We love you Miss Hannigan!’ It was great. I carried a rum bottle filled with Pepsi to add to the Hannigan feel. It was fun.

Since that great experience, I’ve wanted to do a movie based group costume again. Maybe this time something with some men. ‘Serenity’ is a bit too obvious for me since most of the folks I know in costuming I know through dressing up as the crew.

I want something different…something uncommon. I’m thinking Young Frankenstein. It’s a balanced cast: 3 women and 3 men. Not to mention it would be a blast to act like those guys!

Who’s with me?
and
Who’s hosting the party?