What Halloween Means to Me

Okay people, let's talk about Halloween.

I LOVE Halloween. Not because it means I get to justify eating exorbitant amounts of candy (Tootsie Rolls, I love you), not because I Trick-or-Treat (can't even remember the last time I did that), not because I have kids that Trick-or-Treat, and not because Halloween is apparently a great excuse to dress like a skank and go party-hopping (or so I hear). No. Actually I love it for everything I get to do leading up to it.

I love it because I don't believe in buying pre-made costumes, so I always get to be creative and make my own. I love it because I get to do what I do best, which is go completely crazy with decorating and details. I never feel so "in my element" as I do  when I'm designing an idea and then finding a way to make it come to life. I also really enjoy coming up with costume ideas for other people and then helping them make their costumes totally awesome. Halloween is the time of year when you can take a temporary step outside of the responsible life of the "daily grind," which for me is the corporate world, and be like a kid again - excited and innovative.

This year, I went a little more crazy than usual. In February I was at our local Ross with Jayni and happened upon a pair of red sparkle-heels for $8. They only had them in Jayni's size. Jayni is a singer, a sweetheart, and a brunette. It was clear to me then that she NEEDED to be Dorothy for Halloween. She agreed. And that gave me a fantastic reason to be Glinda the Good Witch, because anytime I can dress up as something that involves fun, glittery make-up, you know I'm going to do it.


After more $$ than I care to admit, what felt like 20+ (wo)man hours, 3 tubes of puff paint, and hand-gluing thousands of individual gemstones, I (with some help from Jayni, the seamstress) had created this:

The crown in the works.

Finally completed.

Our friend, Smoker Glinda, Jayni as Dorothy (she made her costume too), and Nice Glinda.

Smoker Glinda liked to stand by me and say things like "You Whore." So hilarious. 

One of the things I love about the company I work at is that we get way into Halloween. We always have a Halloween party where all 250+ employees bring their kids to Trick-or-Treat. This year, every department was given a budget to decorate a conference room. And I don't mean some spider webs and streamers. I mean we had full-on, amazing rooms. One department had a yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City, A Charlie and the Chocolate Factory room that looked AMAZING, a Zombie Apocalypse Price Is Right room, a Hotel Transylvania haunted house, and our department (and by department I mean me and one other girl with sporadic help here and there) turned our room into... The Batcave. Yes, it was my idea and vision. And I am SO pleased with how it turned out:

We crinkled black butcher paper and taped it to the wall to give it the "cave effect."

The entrance to the cave.

Inside the cave, with black lights, glow-in-the-dark hanging bats and glow-in-the-dark spider webs.

Our video production team made a cool Batman video with great Batman theme music.

And of course, a "bat signal."

Commissioner Gordon & Twoface.

Penguin & Twoface (I painted Twoface's face, and he won an award for Best Make-Up).

Other Halloween costumes I've done:

2011: A coworker was Darth Maul. I did the face paint... with only a napkin as a utensil.

2005: The Riddler. The roommates and I did Batman theme, obviously. 

2011: Padme. The whole Marketing dept. did Star Wars theme. 

2009: Tinkerbell. This year I actually spent more time making the Queen of Hearts costume for my friend Kathryn than I did on my own costume. I even did her hair and make-up.

2007: Water. I guess I was feeling more abstract that year. 

2010: Hermione Granger. Made the tie, made the wand, made the Gryffindor badge.

And I can't find any pictures of 2006 when I was Betty Rubble. But if I do find one, I'll be sure to post it. Anywho... there ya go. Halloween is totally my thing. And I had a great one this year. Hope you did too!