Happy Halloween

This is the type of costume I wore when I was a child.  They were inexpensive and came in almost every beloved character you could imagine.  They rarely fit well.  If you were too tall, the crotch of the costume basically cut the circulation off to your ass and never seemed to stay tied in the back.  But you were always excited at the idea of wearing one.  Well, until you actually had it on and were dragging your cheap plastic bag filled with apples and peanuts along behind you.  I think the two things that were most memorable about these costumes were the rubber band that kept the mask on your head and the actual mask itself.

Imagine, if you will, a thin rubber band strung across the back of a lightweight plastic mask held on by two "made in china" staples.  God help you if you were a girl who chose to wear your hair down that night.  This rubber band created split ends and tears.  It would be a constant battle of trying your best not to move your head to far to the left or to the right in fear that small clumps of hair would be pulled from your scalp.  Seriously.  The staples held their own brutality.  Brushing your hand across the side of the mask could easily get you a quick trip to the hospital in need of stitches.  

The mask held its own troubles.  Lets start with the eye and mouth holes...or should I say slits.  The eye holes were about the size of a quarter and had very sharp edges.  This also kept you from wiggling around too much while trick or treating or once again, God help you...in the car (trust me, I pinched and snagged eyelids on many occasions and often this mask covered tears of pain streaming down my sweaty face.) The nose of the mask had 2 slits the size of rice grains and the mouth was the size of a good n plenty.  Basically, you suffocated and your face sweat horribly.

I remember getting back into the car  and being asked if I was having fun.  If I remember correctly, I leaned back with my Snow White plastic cutting, suffocating, hair tugging and tearing, mask and quietly said yes. I was torn.  I wanted to wear the costume because everyone else on the street was wearing either the same one or some version of a super hero like Batman or Spiderman.  I no longer thought Snow White was pretty.  As a matter of fact, I thought that it might be possible that she was sadistic and only wore a smile to sell costumes and movies.  What is Dopey was dopey because Snow White secretly kicked him in the head while the animator wasn't looking???  Was that even possible?  I don't know, but at the age of 6 or 7 anything was possible.

The following year my sister and I decided that we wanted my mom to make our costumes.  I was a scarecrow.  I had a 6 foot pole stuck in one sleeve and pulled through the other and there I stood...an eye poker to anyone who came near.  My sister was the Statue of Liberty.  I don't remember how it was rigged, but I do remember that her arm was hoisted upward and stayed that way throughout the evening. My mother was so proud that we were entered in a Halloween Costume contest at a local school.  Wow...that was freaking fun.  I think my sister actually won some prize.  I didn't.  I was asked not to come back due to the fact that I had injured so many during the walk through.  

Note To Self:  I've always loved smarties...even back then.