Costume Quagmire

Yesterday I went over the basic plan for our 2012 costumes. Why so vague? It's nearly August and I don't have anything definite. Normally by this time my entire costume would be planned out, in progress and set in stone. Panic should be setting in right?

Well, here's the deal... I ain't what I used to be size-wise. Have you ever crossed the path of a mirror and said "who the hell is that?!" only to realize it's your own reflection? Ack!

Size, in of itself, is not the issue as the costume manufacturers finally got a clue and offer a wide range of sizes. Plus, I can sew and conjure up my own. Besides, I don't care what size I am I will always have a Halloween costume. No, that's not it. It's that I don't know what size I will be in come Halloween.

My youngest, Gabe, who will be entering Junior High in just a couple of weeks, informed me this summer that he wanted to run Cross Country. In a spur-of-the-moment, lack of good judgement kind of call I said "Great! I'll train with you!". What ever was I thinking?!

We started a great little program called Couch to 5K. Yes, it involves running. I hate running. I haven't ran on purpose since I was in Junior High. To make matters worse, because I can't do anything half-@ssed, we are running on a trail...in the woods...and we've had 28 straight days of 100°+ heat plus humidity. It's dreadful, it's hard, I sweat (eww) and have I mentioned that I hate running?

Apparently there's an up-side to this training. I'm losing weight. Seven pounds in three weeks to be exact. I'm starting to like this running thing.

I'll figure out my costume but I wanted to put a little positive word out there for anyone who may not be comfortable in their own skin. Ok, I realize that that's every woman regardless of size. There is a costume for you! No matter what your size, shape or style there is something and if you can't find it you can make it. Yes, even if you're not crafty you can make your own.

Over time I will try to add to this conversation with finds and ideas that may get your creative costume juices flowing. For today I'm going to show you a little something that's quick and easy.

One of the hottest trends in costumes is tutus. This video shows you how to make a no-sew tutu for a child but it's the same process for adults. You can make it as long or short as you like and in any color you want. (The video shows the waist being made with ribbon but you could also use elastic.)

Now that you know how to make one here are some fun ideas on how to wear it.

This blog features several tutu costumes that she wears for runs but this is one of my faves:

picture source: life's a wheeze

Make the back longer and create something like this:

picture source: Glamtastik

Oh, and for you Ghoulie Guys out there? Yes, you too can wear a tutu:

picture source: Best Race Costumes blog

Haunt on!

Party Planning Part 4: Our Finest Frockery

I don't know about you but I take this costume thing seriously. As I should being a costume retailer and all but it's rare that I shop from my own shop (hell of an advertisement there Marsha). There are some very good off the rack costumes out there and I'm not at all opposed to wearing one, it's just that I really enjoy creating my own.

To keep with our theme as proprietors of The Manor I'm thinking something of a grey ghost lady for me and a sophisticated ghost gent for the hubby.

I've found a few inspiration pics thanks to my BFF Google and my new buddy Pinterest.

For her - The Lady Grey:

Love the hat, the jewels and the shawl here:

picture source: Benjamin's Lure

This is different, an adult, full length tutu. Hmmmm, there are some possibilites here:

picture source: MirelaOlariu on Etsy

Love the makeup, simple enough for a busy hostess to pull off:

picture source: Ziaria on DeviantArt

I like this wild and crazy hair example, or perhaps I'll just stuff my hair under a hat?:

picture source: A Goth Hipster

For him - Master Smith:

I have several tux tailcoats so I'm thinking about just doing a little tweaking to one of those. For example, I love the cuffs on this:

picture source: Tansy Firedragon's blog

I also love the hat and found this great little how-to to pull off something similar:

picture source: Badia on Instructables 

A pair of black dress pants, shoes and some pale makeup should complete the look for Master Smith.

How will this all turn out? Honestly, I have no idea but as soon as I find out I'll let you know!

Haunt on!

Remembering Last Halloween

Last year at this time a small battle ensued in our household. My then 11 year old son was starting to feel that he was too old to go Trick or Treating. Say what?! Uhhmmm - no. Mom wants to go therefore you will go! (I swear I'd make him ToT 'til he turned 40 if I really had any say.)

He wasn't opposed to getting in costume, he was just feeling older than his years, but when he realized other friends were going he changed his tune. Nevertheless I knew this was likely it. My last year chasing behind a group of rowdy boys decked out in their frightful finery. I'd been trick or treating for over 18 years with my kids but this was it. The final chapter. ::sigh::

I savored every second of last year's Halloween night. I took my time traveling up and down Highland Street, trailing far behind my charges. Located in the historic district, most every house for 3-4 blocks participates by decorating and handing out treats. Hundreds of kids ran up and down sidewalks, leaves crunching under their feet. The sounds of children's laughter amidst squeals of delight while adults, some even in costume, weaved around the throngs of little ones.... It's a thing of beauty.

Once Gabe (the son in question) got onboard with trick or treating he went about designing his garb. He decided on an evil clown. He went through all of my catalogs but could find nothing satisfactory. So he moved on to my BFF Google and began printing out ideas. Then one day he came to me and presented his design. It was a combination of three different costumes - none of them store-bought. (I brought him up right!)

Now it was my turn to make it come together. This was the recipe:

Foam clown mask

Spirit gum

Colored contacts

Mini top hat

Jeans (ha! that was easy)

Goth boots

And one very important thing....

He was adamant about having a vintage band jacket. This meant I'd better score one in his size on Ebay (unlikely) or bust out the sewing machine (even more unlikely). We got lucky and found the perfect one on Ebay. I had to fight for it but we prevailed. (Bidders on Ebay really shouldn't mess with Halloween fanatics.)

So, here's Gabe on last Halloween. At least we went out with a bang!

P.S. I'm in charge of Trunk Or Treat so I'm not giving up hope. I still plan to wrestle him into costume this year - even if he won't go trick or treating.

Haunt on!

Halloween Has Gone to the Dogs (and Cats)

I've been called a witch plenty of times. Yet, I have no black cat. In fact, I have no cat at all. That is my best and only arguement.

I am, however, the owner of one pathetic, lazy and absolutely spoiled beagle by the name of Newman. Newman hails from North Carolina. My oldest son and husband found him online on a Humane Society website and he was about to be put down.

Enter mom - the savior of beagles named Newman in NC. Because my "boys" were absolutely set on having this particular dog I called the Humane Society and inquired about getting this dog to Kansas. Let me tell you, this was no easy feat.

First of all, Newman needed to be "fixed". (Ya know, the whacking off of his maleness.) $$ [cha ching].
Then I had to purchase a crate. $$ [cha ching]
Then I had to purchase a plane ticket, but animals can only fly in cargo and it was summer and it was hot so the flight had to be in at night. $$ [cha ching]
Then I would have to drive to the airport and hour and a half away to retrieve him. $$ [cha ching]
Oye!

So, the night of Newman's scheduled midnight arrival I packed my then 6 year old son into the car at 10pm and off we went. To pick up his new dog.

It was a dark and stormy night. No - really it was. There were some terrible lightening storms and my hubby was calling every 10 minutes to see if we were ok. (freak)

We arrived on time only to find that the flight was delayed due to storms. The flight would be in around 2 am. Ok, back to the car to listen to the radio and rest a bit.

2am - no flight - no dog. Flight has been diverted....to Dallas/Fort Worth. Back to the car.
3am - no flight - no dog. Flight was actually diverted to....Houston. Back to the car.
5am - the eagle, errr, beagle has landed!!

Our family loves this mutt and, as far as I can tell, other than the ability to do absolutely nothing useful - he is without fault. (Here's the mutt, without costume and few years younger)




And here are some pets decked out in their Halloween garb:

Check out the animals in costume at Joe-Ks. com. These hot dogs were somewhat predictable but too damn cute to ignore:

Even a white kitty will look wicked with this witchy cat costume found on TheCat'sMeow:




Snuzzy.com offered two great pets in costume. A miniature version of Harry Potter's Fluffy and a puny pirate:

If you have a pet with an attitude that won't let you dress him up then pop over to Feline Fido Pet Designs and pick him up a festive Halloween collar. We also found a great selection of doggie costumes and collars at Trendy Puppy.

Hmmm Newman may be getting a makeover.

Instructable

I'm certain that you are all familiar with a little site called Instructables.com. A wealth of tutorials on how to do, well, most anything. The great thing about it for us haunters is that there are quite a few Halloween how-tos on the site.

Today I'm going to share a few I have on my favorites list but we're always hungry for more. So - drop us a comment and let us know your faves.

First up is the Bubbling Halloween Cauldron from our good friend Goldie. Goldie is a very creative spirit. Not only is she capable of banging out some great props she also makes some awesome costumes.

Nicemag's tutorial on her Death Becomes Her Costume is amazing! Allow yourself plenty of time to pull this one together.

We're just dieing to try out the Creepy Bubble Halloween Cocktails posted by DotatDabbled!

The Joys of Duct Tape

Faster than a a hammer and nails, more powerful than Elmer's Glue, and able to leap tall projects with a single wrap. Duct tape.

Here's a little history according to Wikipedia:

...duct tape was originally developed during World War II in 1942 as a water resistant sealing tape for ammunition cases. Permacel then a division of Johnson and Johnson, used a rubber-based adhesive to help the tape resist water and a fabric backing to add strength. It was also used to repair military equipment quickly, including jeeps, firearms, and aircraft because of these properties...

Ok, if it's good enough to repair military equipment, it's good enough for me! And, it was good enough for my dad. I swear that man would never not have duct tape around. It was the bandage for anything he didn't have the time deal with properly. A temporary fix in desperation that sometimes became permanent.

I don't know too many haunters that don't sing the praises of duct tape. You can use it to build props, hang decorations and even make costumes. I'm telling ya it's the wonder invention of the 20th century. No longer limited to battleship grey, it now comes in a plethora of festive colors including a glow in the dark version. Nirvana!

The Duct Tape Guys have written several books and they have a duct tape costume picture gallery. (Duct tape knight shown below.)

Our good friend Susan convinced her son Josh to suffer through the duct tape body double and provided a quick Indestructibles.com tutorial on how to pull it off. Perfect for making a custom prop!

This kid cracks me up! From Parker's Tutorials we bring you this video on how to make a peg leg and parrot props for your pirate costume. (Get his autograph if you can - he's going to be a star someday!)


Want more inspiration? Drop by StuckAtProm.com where you can view high school prom goers who have constructed their entire ensembles from, what else? Duct tape!

And in closing I'm going to leave you with the zany Original Duct Tape Guy's video from their video collection on YouTube. Now that's a wrap.

Jeepers Creepers

They say that the devil's in the details and I couldn't agree more. There's an unlimited amount of little things you can add to your costume to make it unique. One of my favorite devilish details is the Halloween contact lens.

For years Halloween and costume fanatics drooled over the creepy contact lenses used only in cinema. But now we mere mortals can experience the special effects lens. There are contacts for nearly every character you can imagine.

Your first stop for choosing contacts should be to your eye care professional (aka your optometrist). You know you've been putting it off anyway so if this is what it takes to get you in for an appointment then so be it.

Federal Law requires all lenses, even plano, (that would be a non-prescription strength lens for those of you with excellent eyesight) obtain an eye exam and a valid prescription. You will undergo a contact lens fitting so be prepared to have someone sticking things in your eyes. (If you're gonna wear these you'll have to get used to it anyway.)

Once that is completed you can have your optometrist go over their selection of available lenses or you can shop for them on the web.

We really like the layout at ExtremesFX.com. Here you can shop by lens color or style. Some of my personal faves are LeStat, Manson, Creepers and Black Sclera.




The site also provides some excellent information on the wear and care of your lenses as well as tips and trends.

Another thing we like about EFX is that they require the eye exam. In other words they aren't all about the money. I'm sure you can find several sites that allow you to bypass the prescription but be careful - it's required for a reason. Remember your eyes are the only ones you've got. I'm sure Darry would agree.

Like Totally

80's retro hour. That was my first clue that I was "over the hill". When the music you listened to in high school is now dedicated to one late-night hour in the middle of the week your time has come...and gone.

The Halloween costume scene is riddled with remnants of someones youth. There's the 50's poodle skirt, the 60's hippie and the 70's disco queen. It was inevitable that the 80's would also join the ranks of the has-been.


I had to laugh (and then cringe) when I saw this costume hit the shelves within the last couple of years. God what were we thinking!?


We can roll our eyes at the male hair band example all we want but we Ghoulies weren't much better. No? Let me jog your memory - leggings, big hair (brought to you by Aqua Net), bat wing sweaters, leg warmers, neon, preppy, and of course, shoulder pads.


One of the greatest influences on the fashion scene was the pop singer who wanted to (and I quote) "rule the world". Madonna. The chameleon of reinventing her style had us all jumping through hoops. (Not to be confused with the Karma Chameleon of bad hair and makeup, Boy George.)

The material girl led us on a freak show of fashion with such classics as the layered look, skirts over pants, poodle perms and the infamous pointed bustier.


Unfortunately it appears that no lessons have been learned from the era of the fashion disaster. Some of these fashion faux pas are making a come back. [Cue: Iron Maiden's Run For the Hills]

The good news? It's perfect if you want to relive your youth and dress the part at your next Halloween party.

Well, you go ahead and reminisce. This former head banger is going to crank up the volume, fire up my concert flame and chill out. Yeah, totally.

Sharpen Your Halloween Nails

Being the Ghoulie Girl that I am I just love nails. I don't love my own nails which is why I trek to the salon once every 2-3 weeks for my acrylic nail fix. I love modern technology, especially the kind that makes me look better.

A few years ago I wanted something for Halloween besides the predictable black nails. My stylist came through and I had a candy corn look done with orange, white and yellow acrylic powder. (I love my stylist - waves "hey" to Christy!!)

There are so many fun things we girls can do with our nails from colored powders, to paint, to decals to nail jewelry. Makes me giddy just to think of it all!

With so many choices what's a Ghoulie Girl to do? We say try them all! Here are a few that may inspire you:

OPI is one of the hottest brands in nail color. Shown below: 2006 Ghouls Night Out! Collection (don't ya just love the name?!), 2007 Glow Out Nail Collection and 2008 Get In-Spider-ed. Each collection features 4 mini bottles of nail lacquer and a set of creepy decals. If you missed it fear not! OPI comes out the new collections every year and you can probably still find these (hint: think ebay).





Acrylic powders require a professional application but there are tons of options and your stylist can lead you in the right direction. If you look closely you can see my nails done with the powders (the crazy freak on the left is my stylist - see you become good friends when you get together over nails every couple of weeks):




















Last but not least there is nail jewelry. This is where it really gets wild. These golden serpent rings from NY designer Jules Kim will set you back $830 for the set (ouch).



Don't panic! If it's sparkle you desire pick up some rhinestones, glitter and charms which are a heck of a lot cheaper and very easy to apply.

So Ghoulie Girls now you've got an excuse to go get your nails done! (And if you spring for the nail rings send us a pic.)

Queen For A Day

My husband pretends he doesn't like hosting the Halloween party or getting into costume but come the big event he's fretting about details and what he's to wear. Men. He usually leaves his costume up to me and I usually have free reign to costume him however I see fit. Well, that's the way it used to be.

My right to choose his costume ended several years ago. Oh, it started out innocent enough. The conversation went something like it always does:

Me: What do you want to be for Halloween this year?

Him: Are we doing that party again? (Translation: "I don't wanna.")

Me: Just tell me what the heck you want to be so I can get it done.

Him: Whatever.

Me: No, pick something because I don't want to hear about it later.

Him: I don't care just do whatever.

Me: [sigh]

So be it.

The party in question had a theme were you needed to come costumed as a couple or a group. I worked through several scenarios but finally honed in one I really liked - Pimp and Hoe. Catch was I would be the pimp and he would be a lady of the night.

I hit every thrift store in town looking for the perfect pieces to complete his ensemble. By the time I was done I had: a hot pink mini skirt, dreadful pink/black/yellow splattered jacket, fishnet hose, red curly wig, earrings, heels and a black bodysuit. (Did you know that women's snap-crotch bodysuits don't work well with the male anatomy? Tip: think bra extender.)

The evening of the party I presented him with his costume and went about directing him on the ins and outs of dressing like a "lady". If only you could have seen him trying to navigate the fishnets - hysterical! I then did his makeup and off to the party we went.

My husband has the best legs and butt so from the back he could have passed for a woman but catch the profile and the Adam's apple and 5'o clock shadow turned him into she-male extraordinaire. I think he did manage to get a few butt pinches, numerous cat-calls and possibly even a couple of marriage proposals before the night was over.

There are few things that could bring my marriage to the verge of a divorce: hiding his remote, me barking out instructions as he attempts to assemble the newest widget we've acquired and dressing him as a woman. I've been told in no uncertain terms that his days of "dude looks like a lady" are over. So, keep this on the down-low - here he is in full drag. (Was kind of hard to get him to stand still for a photo op. Hmmmmm - wonder why???)

Halloween Rabbit?

Ok so it's October nineteen-seventy-something (there I go giving away my age) and the one thing on nearly every child's mind is "What am I going to be for Halloween?" Ahhh the dilemma of picking out a costume. I swear I could change my mind a dozen times in as many days. Halloween only rolled around but one time a year and I needed to give this some serious consideration. Or, at least, that's the way I remember it.

My mother recently sent a few childhood pictures of me and my sisters. (Funny, seems my parent's camera only worked on three occasions: Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Yes, Kodak moments were rare indeed.) Anyway, she sent me several with us girls decked out in our Halloween duds. Yes I said duds. What the hell was up with the plastic mask thing and why did we kids fall for it?

I bet the sales pitch at the local Duckwalls went something like this: "Hey lady, have your kid throw on this jumpsuit that has a picture of an astronaut on it, and top it off with this cheap, ubber fragile plastic mask with a thin elastic strap that will sever an ear if they make a wrong move. They'll feel like a real space explorer!"

Apparently my mother bought it because I am the proud owner of several vintage plastic masks. (Being the official Halloween freak in the family anything related to the holiday is immediately pawned off on me.)

Ok, and explain to me this... what the hell does a bunny rabbit have to do with Halloween? Shouldn't that be an Easter costume?

I know this picture is from Halloween because I (the oldest of course) am wearing some sort of green witchy mask with blood dripping down it. No, maybe that's a zombie gypsy? Whatever, I'm not sure what it is.

My middle sister created her own costume (nobody ever accused her of being a dummy). She's the creepy little old man.

It's my youngest sister that is the most disturbing (in the photo and in real life - hee hee). She's a freaking bunny! What the...??? Though I do admit, the bunny mask has a bit of deranged look to it so maybe it's a psycho bunny??? Yeah, we'll go with that - psycho bunny!