Halloween Costume Fun

Some of my past Halloween costumes

I love Halloween. I get excited in the weeks building up to Halloween, thinking of costume ideas, putting them together. Here’s a rundown of some of the more memorable costumes I’ve worn. I don’t have photos handy of all the Halloween costumes I’ve worn over the years, but I’ll share the few photos I have.

Group and/or couple costumes

Morticia Addams in the Addams Family—this was with my high school classmates and we won a prize at our school’s Halloween party. Our Uncle Fester brought Thing with him: a rubber hand with battery pack that he could move using a controller. He even had a red velvet box for Thing. I still remember how he freaked out one of the more annoying popular girls by putting Thing on her shoulder. Good times.

Pregnant Britney Spears and her husband Kevin Federline—I did this costume, replete with blonde wig, baby doll (she was then pregnant with her second son), and pillow under a maternity tank top, with a colleague at one of my office jobs in SoCal. We won a prize for our costume and that night walked around West Hollywood, where we ran into several other couples also dressed as Britney and Kevin.

Priest and man on death row—I wore a black mock turtleneck with a piece of white paper to make the priest collar, plus a black jacket, and I carried a pocket-sized Bible. My then-husband wore light blue denim shirt and jeans and made the head brace from an electric chair using cardboard, a wire clothes hanger, and aluminum foil.

Kid through Teen Year Costumes

Cinderella—this costume was from the 70s, when store-bought costumes came with a flimsy plastic mask that you slipped over your face, hoping you could see out of the eyeholes and breathe properly, and a thin rubber jumpsuit you put on over your clothes. I found the mask in the attic when I moved back to Maryland in 2016 and it’s pretty horrific.

The Cinderella mask I wore with a plastic jumpsuit printed to look like a ballgown. Unintentionally terrifying.

Fairy Princess—a flower girl dress was repurposed for a gown, and Momcat made me a cardboard crown, plus a wand with a dowel rod and cardboard star, all painted gold.

Ballerina—I wore a light blue leotard and tights, plus light blue tutu and ballet shoes, with a silk flower wreath in my hair. All of the costume was repurposed from one I’d worn for a performance of the Nutcracker with my ballet class.

Rubik’s Cube—probably the best costume I had as a kid, even if it was bulky. My parents and I took an oversized square cardboard box and Pops cut out holes for my arms and head, while Momcat and I took construction paper and created the colored squares, which we glued on all five sides of the box. (I was an unsolved cube, of course.) Momcat recreated the Rubik’s logo in the center square on the front. Deena* loved this costume and as we trick-or-treated in our neighborhood, she convinced several people to give me extra treats because it was so cool.

Ms. Pacman—the execution of this costume wasn’t quite what I hoped for, but it still worked. Momcat and I took yellow poster board and cut out a Pacman shape. I wore a big bow in my hair and she made me a “boa” using pink tulle and huge pink pom-poms.

Trivial Pursuit—the Rubik’s Cube costume was repurposed when this board game became popular in the mid 1980s. Momcat and I removed the colored squares and replaced them with solid blue poster paper. One of us recreated the golden Trivial Pursuit logo on the front of the box. I wore this costume to my high school’s Halloween party my freshman year, but got annoyed by the number of classmates who decided I made a great table for their snacks.

Adult Costumes

Queen of Cups; Queen; Targaryen Queen—I bought a medieval gown costume and added a tiara I’d found at a thrift shop, plus a rhinestone necklace, earrings, and rings. The Queen of Cups is a Tarot card that represents a woman full of emotional abundance and love—a very positive card—so I carried two gold metallic goblets with me for an office Halloween party. No one understood it, but I had fun anyway. In 2009 I used the costume for an outing with Rimi* to a club in DC, minus the cups.

HRH Queen Corinne in October 2009

Last year, I was inspired by HBO’s “House of the Dragon” to take that same costume and dress up as a Targaryen, my naturally silver-grey hair twisted and braided. As I handed out candy, I told people in a regal voice that “the true queen of the Seven Kingdoms thanks you for your homage and you shall be richly rewarded.”

The true queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Bend the knee and you shall be spared!

Diner waitress—I’ve worn this costume a few times because it’s so fun to get into character. Years ago, I bought a black knit Tommy Hilfiger dress with a white collar, which looked a lot like a uniform a waitress might wear, so when Halloween came around I added fishnet tights, a half-apron with pocket I found at a thrift store, an old name tag and put the name TRIXIE on the tag using a label maker, put my hair up in a frizzy ponytail and added heavy makeup (we’re talking blue eyeshadow and red lipstick). I had an order pad in the apron pocket and 2 pencils stuck in my hair. People got a big kick out of it. (Pro tip: don’t wear this costume at a party being held at a bar/restaurant, because people will think you really are a waitress and will get pissed if you don’t take their order.)

Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium—another costume that came together fast and didn’t require much work beyond teasing my hair and using spray dye to look platinum blonde, and putting on fake nails. I already had a wrap-front top that looked like her style, and I found some costume jewelry and a belt at a Goodwill that completed the look. I wore this costume to a Halloween party and had fun improvising a Long Island accent and telling people about their dead relatives.

Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium. I see dead people, wanna hear who they are?

And for this year’s costume…drumroll please…