The Lush Life: You Can't Forget the Costume

Hey everyone, Annaleigh here with the second in a series of Halloween articles meant to make your holiday a little easier, a lot more fun, and awesomely geeky.

[Images from Gl!tchCon and Osfest]

Today’s article is simple enough: you can’t forget the costume.  It’s a Halloween sin , in my eyes.  So, in order to give you a jump start, here’s some ideas for the holiday where you get to be anybody you’d like to be.  (Remember to check out Part One of the series for the party themes and what the heck the bold initials stand for!)

ATU:

Whereas there are multitudes of alien races in the realms of SciFi, some are a little easier to pull off than others.  You can use your own creativity when coming up with more costumes, but here are a few ideas which revolve around a pretty basic human form (with a few notable differences).

• Nebari (“Farscape”)
• Vulcans
• Borg
• Jaffa (Stargate)
• Thermian in Human Form (Galaxy Quest)

VGD:

The best part about this one is the variety of forms of death you can go with…there’s explosions, lacerations, freezing, burning, and so much more.  You can even reuse old costumes (a friend of mine is pulling his old Mario costume out of retirement) and breathe new life into it.  You’ll need makeup at most…a fresh store-bought costume and the makeup at worst.  Use your creativity!

CB

Do I really need to give you suggestions?

HEW

You could always dress up as the Shade of the Horseman (pumpkin head, shadowy clothes)…but to go true Hallow’s End style all you need is a printout of an oddly stretched face from any of the races and a length of yarn…VOILA!…flimsy paper mask.  Your guildies will be proud.

GHP

Do a little research and I’m sure you can find something fun.  Whereas not everything is as recognizable as Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, and Nicola Tesla can always be fun!

Other Fun and Geeky Costumes:

Captain Hammer (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog)

You will need:

• A dark blue t-shirt
• A pair of work pants similar to E.M.T. pants
• A pair of black leather work gloves
• A piece of paper or fabric
• Something adhesive

Print the Hammer symbol on a piece of white paper, or, you can alternately trace it onto fabric.  Stick it onto your t-shirt and voila!  Alternately, ThinkGeek has some charcoal grey Captain Hammer t-shirts available.  Go now and you should have a ready-made costume in time for Halloween.

Link (The Legend of Zelda video games)…Alternately, Neil (The Legend of Neil webseries)

You will need:

• A large green t-shirt
• A pair of light colored long underwear (top and pants)
• A brown leather belt
• Extra green fabric
• A pair of black knit gloves
• A pair of scissors
• Optional- A pair of “ears”
• Optional- Two small light brown colored pieces of vinyl or leather
• Optional- Cardboard pieces
• Optional- Black and silver paint
• Optional- A paintbrush

Take the large green t-shirt and cut two diamond shapes in the neck (to be somewhat of a star shape).  You will now have a notch in the front and back and darts on each shoulder.  Take the extra green fabric and sew two triangles together and a small band all the way around the base for a hat.  Again using the scissors, snip the fingertips off of the knit gloves.  For the optional accessories, you can cut cardboard pieces into a shield and a sword; painting both.  When you’re ready to dress up, layer the long underwear first, then the green “tunic” t-shirt, and then secure the belt.  Put on your gloves and, optionally, attach the light brown colored pieces of vinyl or leather as “bracers” with a length of lace.  Top yourself off with your nifty hat and you’re good to go!

Some other fun and geeky costumes can include such variety as a Tsurani Warrior (from The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist), any of the Doctors from “Doctor Who”, a Trekkie (seriously or jokingly), or even a Lego figurine!  Let your imagination go wild!

And so…onward with the history!

One of the prevailing questions I get from people is “why do we dress up for Halloween?”  Well, if you want a historical look at how the tradition has evolved, you need look no further than the old Gaelic customs associated with Samhain.  People, usually young men, would dress in an attempt to either disguise themselves as or appease the spirits prevalent in the world on the day of the festival.  These people dressing up evolved into the youngsters of the community going from door to door dressed in costume, often performing some sort of entertaining act such as a song or dance (thus a “trick”) in exchange for food or coin (the “treat”).  The tradition carried over to the US in the form of immigrants from Celtic nations such as Scotland and Ireland.  The first store-bought costumes were not actually available until the 1930s!

Stay tuned for the next installment where I’ll be sharing fun craft and decorating ideas for the holiday!

The Schedule

October 17th: Party Ideas
October 19th: Costumes
October 21st: Decorations and Crafts
October 23rd: Recipes (Food and Drink- Alcoholic and Non)
October 25th: Jack-o’-Lanterns
October 27th: Last Minute Makeup Tips
October 29th: Halloween in Geek Culture
October 31st: An Extra-Special look at Halloweens of this Lush’s past…yeah, I’m going to bare my costumed soul for you all!