Barbara’s Story
A recent TV segment about the most popular Halloween costumes brought back memories of Halloweens past. A week or so before Halloween was a certain kind of pandemonium in the Radtke household. That was the “season” when we five Radtke kids were always scrambling to pull together our Halloween costumes. I remember Mom always helping us with ideas and Dad doing any “construction” work required. For example, one year I was one of a pair of dice. I trick-or-treated with a partner whom I now can’t recall. The costume concept was Mom’s idea because we had some big boxes from appliances that had been delivered. Dad cut holes for our head and arms. My unknown partner and I made the boxes white and pasted the requisite number of black dots on each side.
My most memorable Halloween costume was when, at 8 or 9 years old, I came up with my own costume idea. I was going to dress as the Spirit of Christmas. I assembled my red tights and a 1950s, kid sized, red felt poodle skirt, minus the poodle. I chose a white blouse with puffy sleeve and found a wide ribbon that could be a sash like Miss America. On my sash I wrote “Spirit of Christmas” and pasted some glitter. I cut out paper snowflakes and fastened them to the ends of my two braids with bobby pins. When I arrived in the kitchen for my mom’s inspection of my impromptu dress rehearsal, I recall being greeted with delight. I told her that this was just like I imagined it except for a ruffle round the skirt and the sash. My mom, not one known for impulse, turned back to the kitchen sink where she had been doing the dishes. Above the sink was a window with curtains that had ruffled panels and tie backs. “Here,” she said, “We can use these curtains for your ruffles.” To my total astonishment, she took down the curtains and we cut them up!
The following weekend the little movie theatre in our town was showing a kids’ matinee. The management invited kids to come in costume and be in a costume contest before the movie began. Off I went, ruffles and all – AND I won a $3 gift certificate to a gift shop that sold very grown up, expensive items. To my surprise there was a little book corner in this gift shop and it sold books from the Nancy Drew series. I was able to buy two. I was off on a new adventure. My imagination shifted gears from creating costumes to driving around with Nancy Drew in her roadster solving mysteries.
My favorite part of this story is that Mom pulled down those curtains to make my costume just as I imagined. I never asked her later in life what prompted her to sacrifice the curtains for that costume. I still have a warm feeling in my heart when I see a house that has curtains with ruffles. I also credit that Halloween with the beginning of my love of police procedural and mystery stories!
Kathy’s Story
Barbara, I love your stories about Halloween costumes, especially the one about cutting up the kitchen curtains! In truth, I don’t remember many of my Halloween costumes. My mother was not one for creating them. Instead, she took my brother and me to Woolworths where we scoured through boxes of flimsy outfits with masks that barely provided enough eye-hole space to see where we were going. Rather than being based on TV or film characters, the costumes were mostly generic – clowns, princesses, witches, and goblins roamed the streets in abundance. One year, the rage was costumes consisting of a huge face that covered most of our faces and torsos. These not only impeded vision but also movement and to this day I can’t recall what they were supposed to depict. Even so, we loved them.
The homemade costume I do remember was my sister’s. A few days before Halloween we were jumping on the beds in our room and broke the ceiling light. She got a small sliver of glass in her eye and had to wear an eye patch for a week or two. This made the perfect segue into dressing as a pirate. Necessity was truly the mother of invention.
Being devoid of the more creative aspect of costume creation makes it all the more entertaining to accompany our two grandchildren as they trick-or-treat. They, of course, look adorable with whatever characters they choose to be and their parents figure out how to make it happen. As we make our way up and down the streets, I am continually amazed at the ingenuity behind some of the other get-ups. Last year, I saw a little girl dressed as a bowl of macaroni and cheese. In addition to costumes, the elaborate decorations around the houses rival those at Christmastime.
So, readers, how about you? Do you remember a favorite Halloween costume from your childhood? What creative costumes have you seen as you hand out treats to the children in your neighborhood?
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