Halloween comes with the tragedy of trying to find/slash/make a costume. Every year I think that I will find a costume, do this, be that. This year I didn't have to do a lot of thinking. In order to provide some helpful anecdotal information on how to make your halloween spookier here are a few costuming tips followed by phantom tips.
Costume design:
1. Have someone else think of your costume for you.
(This extricates you from needing to be original or putting any thought into it at all. I was happy to see that this step has already been followed in many cases--see "Toad" next post.)
2. Know someone who was this character the year before.
(This is a great way to build on something already great. If you already know people are successfully dressing up as this character, why reinvent?)
3. Find the materials - formulate costume.
Fantastically this deletes any real thought on your part and only up to an hour or so of assembly if needs be. A friend of mine (fellow chemist) realized our access to lab coats made us equally eligible to be scientists. Luckily he further deleted any need for my original thought when he suggested we be Muppet scientists. I was able to complete the rest knowing that a grad student in the class above me had done a variation on the theme the year before. And -- voila!
Dr. Honeydew Bunsen and Assistant Beaker.
The Phantom!
1. Choose a house with many obstacles in the yard. (This will eliminate the opportunity to get phantomed).
2. Go before 9 pm. (This will be more challenging as more folks are at home -- consequently removing guilt from riling them up at a very late hour).
This being my first experience in a highly residential area with small children, I have been enjoying the wonder of my roommates who are not used to the family environment. As I'm sure utah readers are aware, during halloween a tradition including doorbell ditching, a halloween treat and a phantom, is common in many neighborhoods. This phantom (piece of paper with ghost embedded) is to be hung in the window and the deed is to be forwarded to two other non-phantomed houses. This is not novel --but extremely novel to my roommates.
I came home to see the ghost and was not surprised by it. They were very excited; we made cookies (1 working day past the 2 day limit) and found ourselves unfortunately doorbell ditching around 11 pm. Very bad indeed! Regardless, we prowled the neighborhood looking for houses with lights on and good escape routes. I spoke of doorbell ditching, and one asked, why would you run away? I then explained that in this case, we wouldn't have to run very fast because there were cookies, but in other cases, it's not very nice. With amazement, they then both exclaimed that this "door-bell ditching" act was mean, and why would anyone do that? We ended up phantoming a friend (who subsequently was not home) and tapped lightly on anothers door and ran without caring of the outcome.
The point: There isn't one. Except that I'm still a little shocked that traditions so mundane to me from my upbringing in the lovely deseret can be so novel and exciting from my roommates from minnesota. I guess they just don't door bell ditch. Minnesotans have guns.
2 comments:
Kara, that is one of the best costumes i have ever seen. and that is funny about your minnesotan roommates--brad makes fun of me for calling it doorbell ditching instead of ding-dong ditching, which is what he grew up calling it. but we have never heard of anyone not being familiar with the concept! what was jr high like for them? gunny?
I saw your Beaker costume on facebook, and I was going to demand hearing more about it. You claim simplicity, but it looks pretty darn complicated. And so completely appropriate.
Post a Comment