What are YOU gonna be for Halloween?

One of the reasons people love Halloween so much is because it's the one time of year when it's safe to dress up as anyone or anything you want. You can create a new persona, try out a personality opposite your regular one, meow like a cat, be a wallflower (literally - how would one make a wallflower costume?), go to the dark side ("Luke, I am your father!" - sorry, it's a rule, you have to say that every time), or maybe take a walk on the wild side.

When the kids were little, what they wanted to be for Halloween was the main topic of conversation in the household for at least six weeks before the BIG NIGHT. Of course they'd change their mind a dozen times, so I never actually created or bought anything until that last week, and then I spent the whole week putting together a half dozen costumes. Having no young children in the house any longer, nor invited to any costume party, we've only in the last couple of days started to give some serious thought to what we want to be for Halloween.

Joli already got to wear her costume to the football game on Friday night. It kept her warm and toasty and I think she got as much attention from the fans as the football players did (and it was a really exciting game - our team lost but William personally had a great game!)

Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home! They live in San Diego but fortunately the rest of the poem does not apply!

She thought it was great fun that the benches were just the right height for her to "sit".

Noel sent me a picture of Nonny in her costume - she's gonna be a pirate. Last year she was a baby witch and looked so cute, but I think this costume fits her personality even better. Watch out Keira Knightly!



Lisa brought adult footed jammies for her costume but yesterday she decided that sounded too boring and she'd rather be something witchy. I think I might have enough witchy accessories to help her out.

A few years ago I was a pirate. That was fun. Several years before that I tried to make a water spirit costume with some turquoise gauze-y fabric draped with shells and.... let's just say it was a serious failure and leave it at that. One year both Jeff and I dressed up in Star Trek uniforms. Balding hubby (aka Jean Luc) got far more attention than me. I was obviously dressed as one of those "extras" that beamed down solely for the sake of getting killed by the alien of the week. But usually for the last ten years I've been a witch. I tell everyone it's the one day of the year I can dress as myself and I DON'T have to wear my suburban mom costume. Ha ha.

This year I feel like being someone else. If I had thought about it (and been able to conjure up some extra time), I could have made my fairy costume for next year's festival early enough to wear it this year. The only problem is that costume will be designed for hot weather and we are definitely having mountain autumn weather for Halloween.

We watched a special about Halloween on television last night - sorry, can't remember the channel or name of the special. It was an hour show about different aspects of Halloween and the way it's celebrated in the Los Angeles area and it was really interesting and well balanced between the fun and the serious sides of it. Search your local listings, it was worth the hour. My favorite segment was about a big Dia De Los Muertos celebration and it showed lots of people dressed up as skull people. It reminded me of Kan'Nal's skeleton dancers/singers we saw on stage that I was never able to get a good photo of because I couldn't get close to the stage without pushing through people at that point. Anyway, I saw that segment and thought "That's what I want to be for Halloween!" Not sure if I can pull it off. For one thing, glasses get in the way of any sort of mask or face paint. But, maybe. Tomorrow the thrift store will be open and we're going to go see what we can dig up.

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? Do you dress up every year? Do you dress up all day or for another day (at work or school?) or just for the evening? Do you only dress up if you go to a party or trick-or-treating? What's your favorite costume you've ever worn? What's your favorite "genre" - scary, pretty, sexy, obscure, or unusual? I want to hear - tell me, tell me! Or blog about it and then give us a link in the comments.