It was Very Orange
Woman in the Middle | October 31, 2012
Sometimes something another blogger does inspires me to write my own post. Today’s post was inspired by Leann, the Ironic Mom. She asked about the best/worst, weirdest Halloween costume you have ever worn. Just seeing that questions instantly made me hearken back to Halloween 1970. It is actually one of only two Halloween costumes I remember from my childhood.
For some reason my Mom decided that year that I would be a pumpkin. I can’t imagine that my nine year old self actually came up with this idea. I wonder if my mother was inspired by the roundness that was her little daughter at that time? Hum, I guess I will never know. We had a costume contest every year at school and I think my mother was feeling particularly competitive that year. Several yards of bright orange fabric were purchased and my mother whipped up a big orange sack for me to wear. It had leg holes and a hole for my head, but no arm holes. I guess pumpkins had no arms. I stepped into the big orange sack and my mom stuffed it with crumpled newspaper to make me look nice and round. The stem was a bit of a problem but mom’s eyes finally landed on the box that held a Barbie head, you know, the one whose hair you could style? it was a perfect hexagonal shape and mom covered it with brown paper bags and cut two small holes for me to see out of. We completed the ensemble with green tights. I remember standing on the pavement on the playground with my mom and trying to point out my third grade teacher to her. It is a little hard because my arms weren’t available and my head was in a box.
That night, for trick or treating, Mom ripped a hole for each arm in the seams for me. And, for safety, I wore a witches hat, not the stem/box. Oh, and I didn’t win any prizes in the school costume parade in spite of Mom’s effort. But she did create an indelible memory. I still have the pumpkin sack/costume. I didn’t make either of my children wear it, though.
The other costume I remember was the year I was a bunny. I was much younger and mom attached a pair or bunny ears to a little white hat I had. She glued a white fluffy power puff to a large campaign type button and pinned it to my pants. I think the reason I remember this costume so well is because she pinned the button on my pants while I was still wearing them! I am happy to report that she didn’t poke me but I do remember the concern I felt while it was being pinned on!
Tell me about the memorable costumes of your childhood Halloweens!
Since I am Australian and we didn’t do Halloween at all when I was a kid yeah back then it was something we saw on Americian tv shows but never had anything remotely to do with it in our stores and trick or treaters no way……………not like that now days……………………..anyway my point I never had Halloween costumes
I remember making m & m costumes with my ex-husband. We made our own patterns, cut them out, and sewed them by hand. We bought teddy bear stuffing at a sewing store and filled them. He was a green m & m, and I was a red one. Finally, we stitched together little green and red beanies. Then, we went to a fabulously fun Halloween party with all of our friends. The costumes were really warm and cozy – it was like wearing a sweatshirt with no sleeves. The thing that stands out the most to me is that neither one of us knew much about sewing, let alone creating our own patterns. I cannot believe we were able to figure it out with no help!
The best kind of contumes (I think) are the comfortable ones. Yours sounds wondrful!