How Old is Too Old to Dress Up for Halloween?
And what will you dress as this weekend, if you do? An open thread...
I want to hear what you think of celebrating Halloween as an adult, and what you might dress as.
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Confession: I donβt love Halloween. I wish I did. I often pretend I do. But I donβt.
Iβm blood-and-gore-averse. I grew up in the North East, where most of the time it was too cold at the end of October to trick-or-treat without your coat on over your costumeβso you had to stop and explain to every single person you encountered what you were dressed as. (This was especially frustrating the year I dressed as Mary Hartman, and people already mistook me for Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.)
And as an adult, Iβve always put so much pressure on myself to come up with a clever costume concept that Iβve tended to either throw together something at the last minute that was so embarrassingly lame, I wanted to hide, or skip the party altogether.
Still, I defend my right to dress up for the holiday on the rare occasions I feel like it, no matter how old I get. I like the idea of liking Halloween, and not putting any age-limits on participation. And I donβt mind checking out other peopleβs clever disguises, even if I donβt dress up.
I like the idea of liking Halloween, and not putting any age-limits on participation. And I donβt mind checking out other peopleβs clever disguises, even if I donβt dress up.
This weekend, my husband, Brian, and I are attending two Halloween parties (for grownups). We basically have 24 hours to get our shit together. What should we be??? Better yet, what will you be?
Donβt tell anyone, but weβre considering revisiting some of the get-ups weβve worn before. Maybe βsoftware pirates.β (Itβs hard to tell from this low-res shot, but there are floppy disks in the mesh bagsβget it?) Thatβs what we were our first Halloween together in 2003, two weeks into knowing each other:
Or, we could be Dr. Joel Fleishman and Maggie OβConnell from Northern Exposureβone of our favorite shows, from the late 80s/early 90sβlike we were on Halloween in 2012. Of course, no one had any idea who we were that night, and they certainly wonβt this weekend either, butβ¦does that matter? Maybe weβll win a prize for Randomest, Most Out-of-Date Concept.
One of us could be a nun and the other a rabbiβa set of costumes so old, weβve even switched roles a few times.
Alternatively, we could just wear the monster and devil masks we wore one year to give out candyβ¦until we realized Brianβs mask was making toddlers cry. There wonβt be any toddlers at the parties weβre going to.
I want to hear from you whether you think thereβs an age limit on dressing up for Halloween. And if youβre planning to dress up this weekend, what youβll be dressing as. Plus any other thoughts you have on the holidayβ¦
PS Happy 50th (!) birthday today, to Winona Ryder, inspiration for a lot of Halloween costumes since 1988.
Halloween always looks like so much fun! Thatβs only half the story. For me, it is fraught with pressure. One needs to have a clever, original costume. Will I measure up? Will my character be recognized instantly? Maybe I will feel like I half made it . So much for looking like fun.
I can relate to having mixed feelings about Halloweenβ¦ not always loving it and sometimes dressing up. The older Iβve gotten I think the more permission Iβve given myself to be creative and dress up.
A few years ago I went to the Halloween parade in Woodstock dressed as a day of the dead skeleton