Cynthia’s Thoughts on Halloween Costumes
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Loading ...October 30, 2009 by Admin
Filed under Opinion, Weekly Columns
The types of costumes one wears for Halloween have changed so much since I was a kid. In the mid-80s, when I first started to trick-or-treat, those ugly plastic numbers with the muu muus and masks still abound, especially for kids with two working parents, ones who didn’t have time to make them anything. I even had one – Cinderella (or maybe it was Snow White – she had dark hair). And it was nasty. Princess it certainly wasn’t!
I think my mother started feeling badly for me, because I soon wore a costume made out of patterns. I remember the costume. I was six years old, and wore a lime green and magenta butterfly princess outfit. Or rather, a 1980s butterfly princess costume. However, I don’t remember if I had a side ponytail. That would have probably made it extremly 80s!
My first store-bought, ready made, non muu-muu costume came when I was nine. I was an angel. It consisted of a white robe, one which resembles something members of a church choir might wear, wings and a halo (prior to that, my costumes were made out of patterns). It was great – the robe was big enough to wear over a winter jacket, which is often needed in Toronto. Of course, my costume was probably closer to “geeky angel” than “angel,” since I wore glasses. Other store-bought costumes I wore included one which was a cross between Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson (aptly called “Paula Jackson”). Both these costumes were a far cry from the plastic muu muus and masks, but not necessarily as elaborate as ones one might find today.
Yes, costumes in 2009 are probably more creative than those in the early 90s when I decided that I was too old to go out to get candy. I was watching a morning TV program this week where they had a segment regarding costumes. One of the most interesting pieces involved the chaperoning parent dressing up as a tree, with the kids as apples. This never happened when I was growing up. None of the parents dressed up – they just came as regular people. Actually, I’m not even sure if we would have wanted our parents to dress up. We would probably have considered that embarassing. Shows how things change.
It’s interesting how costumes have evolved through the years. Today, I’m not even too sure you see people with anything simple. I used to read books with kids wearing ghost costumes made out of sheets. I’m not sure if anyone does that anymore – like masks, it’s probably for safety reasons. Costumes are rarely nasty-looking today and whether they are hand-made or store-bought, much more elaborate and definitely not ugly. Very different from what one saw in the 1980s.
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