Halloweens of Yesteryear

So with Halloween approaching way too quickly, I thought I would spotlight some of my favorite parties and costumes I've had over the years.

Growing up, we didn't really "do" Halloween--my mom is not a fan of the evil, creepy part of Halloween, so we didn't really "celebrate" it. I've never been trick or treating. For years I didn't even know how to do it. I'd never even had people come to our door to get candy--we lived way too far off the beaten path. To make up for it, Mom usually would by us a couple of small bags of candy to share and Nana would make us some kind of treat and we'd hang out as a family. The fun part was that we did dress up and go to Ward Halloween parties because those were safe and fun.

Here is an awesome picture of Me, Steven, and Caitlin dressed up for Halloween when we were little, probably about 1989.

Weren't we just the cutest? I was a ghost, Steven was the "Joker" from Batman, and Caitlin was the most adorable 2 year old hobo in the world. :)

Then I went to college and re-discovered the glory of Halloween. Let's be clear though, I only like the fun, light-hearted side of it. I hate scary, creepy movies. The only "scary" movie I'll watch is Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn. It's soooo good. It's more of a thriller that has a couple of scary moments. I definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it. :) Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes, college. My last year in college, Bishop Taylor was my Bishop--so awesome! He and is wife, especially his wife were WAY into Halloween. Sister Taylor converted their entire house and yard (which was large) into a haunted house. It was AMAZING! She inspired me. I wish I had pictures just to show how awesome it was. Every nook and cranny in the house and yard had lots of little Halloween surprises-Sister Taylor said that it took her over a month each year just to get it all set up. They had a life size cardboard cut of their son who was on a mission at the time that they even dressed up in a costume. Each week they had a couple of FHE groups go over for a Halloween party. It was so much fun!! And then just before Halloween, Bishop and Sister Taylor dropped by to visit the apartments--all dressed up. Sister Taylor was a witch with her real-life pet boa constrictor! Coolest Bishop's wife, ever. :)

So I dressed up a few times in college. I even won the costume contest in my door my Sophomore year with my roommates with my Sheep costume (white shirt with approximately 1000 cottonballs hot glued to it. My roommates, Lois and Nicole were Bo and Peep, and I was the sheep. :)

Here is another costume I did: I was an "Italian" chef who ended up having Canadian Accent by the end of the night for my roommate, Candice's "fancy" dinner that I played waiter to. It wasn't really for halloween, but this did happen in October. My friends, Naylan, Ashley, Candice and Clayton are in the picture too.

Then four years ago, for Erin's 16th Birthday (which is close to Halloween), I threw the coolest halloween party for her and her friends. It was a murder mystery party. I think this is when I began "converting" my mom on her view of halloween-she now tolerates it. :) In our house, we have a big area downstairs that is a storage area/TV room/piano room/sewing area/washing machine area and I thought it would be perfect to change into a "library" to set the scene for the party. I used long sheets of butcher paper and Erin and I painted bookcases on them. In the dark lighting, it looked pretty cool for it being cheap and DIY. Upstairs I converted the living room into a crime scene that had clues (and fake clues). It was fun because the kids got way into it. Here a few pictures:

Two years ago, I developed an "alter-ego" named Cleadus. He's a Southern Redneck and extremely flirty. And he has a neck beard, complete with a nasty mullet. And he's very proud of his teeth. He has a great dentist. ;) I had a somewhat different costume planned the day of our ward party, but as soon as I put my nasty fake teeth in, Cleadus came bursting out. I think I should probably be ashamed at how quickly and easily my southern accent came back to me with the nasty hick teeth in.

Here is a picture of my friends and I at the party. Camie as Tina Turner, Trulie as a Rodeo Queen, Summer as "Winter" (such a clever costume!), and Cleadus.

Apparently Cleadus was a hit and a bunch of people didn't even recognize me. And apparently I won the costume contest by a landslide. Which actually surprised me because there were some great costumes. I guess it helps when you stay in character the whole night. This is probably my favorite costume I've ever done. It certainly was the funniest.

Last year, I was a mad scientist. Complete with a hunchback lab assistant known as Igor, who went around calling me "Master" all night (Funny side story: Erin went as a hunchback named "Igora"--completely unbeknownst to Steven and I! She looked great!). Who doesn't love it when their brother calls them Master? My hair took over an hour to do. I made it wavy and then teased the heck out of it and then hairsprayed it with lots and lots schelack so it would stick out. Then Steven and I wore goggles and made "scorch" marks on our face so it looked like something blew up in our faces. It was intense. :) Steven and I won scariest costume, though I think it was just because Steven was so creepy. ;)  I have pictures somewhere, but I don't know where they went. I'll have to track them down. :)
And this year? I don't know yet. I've got plenty of time to come up with something, like 48 hours or something--but I'm a little nervous, I've got this reputation now for awesome costumes. I need to come up with something good. Maybe Cleadus will make a reappearance. I don't know. I don't really like spending a whole lot of money on costumes so we'll see what I can come up with. :)