Halloween and the characters I played.

With Halloween only a few days away it made me think about all the costumes and characters I've played over the years. If I remember correctly, almost every one of my costumes were homemade. Halloween USA wasn’t around yet and store bought costumes were not all that glamorous. I mean, if you wanted to have an awesome Halloween costume you made it. For me it was almost like Christmas because my mom wouldn’t show my siblings and I the end result until it was finally ready to go. She had to hem different parts of the costume here and there but it was only a section at a time. When it was finally done it was like opening a present on Christmas morning.

I remember one year I was the headless horseman. To make the costume work my mom cut a hole out of an old Pampers box for me to wear over my head. There was a liner around the bottom so that my neck wouldn’t get shredded and holes up top so that I could see and breathe. I wore one of my dad’s button-up shirts and a cape wrapped around the top to give it that “headless” effect. It turned out great and my mom received a lot of compliments for it too. I was also Spot from the old 7up commercials, Dracula, and many more but the best homemade costume I ever had was the year I was Raccoon Mario from Super Mario Bros. 3. I was around 10 or 11 and the game was epic. I was addicted to it and that’s what I wanted to be for Halloween. The costume had everything! I was the happiest kid around with the coolest costume. Many years later my eldest son was Luigi from Super Mario Bros. We were both around the same age and what gets me the most is that we have not seen each other in years and that's what he chose. I have not had any interaction with him, which if you have read my previous posts you would know why, since he was almost 2 years old. He would have had no knowledge of me being Mario when I was his age. What are the odds huh?

Homemade costumes just seem to complete the fun of Halloween. Sure you have the candy and the parties but making your own costume just tops it off. Retail stores offer some fancy costumes now but some of them are just too expensive. It almost takes away from the creativity of it all but it’s the convenience that sometimes gets the best of us. One of the best costumes I’ve seen comes from my wife. One year she made a costume for our son and my eyes exploded when I saw the end result. I was seriously jealous when our son had it on because I wanted a costume for myself. Now if you didn't know from my previous posts, I’m a huge Mega Man fan and if you don’t know who that is then Google it or dust off your old Nintendo and go buy the game. When Mega Man 3 came out a new character named Proto Man was introduced. I told my son Logan about this character and after we played the game he was hooked. When my wife asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween he chose Proto Man. It was a tricky costume to complete but Rebecca did an excellent job with it. It was complete with an arm cannon and helmet and like I said before, I was very jealous.

So what were you growing up? Did your parents make your costumes or were they store bought? I think the only one I had as a kid that was store bought was a Charlie Brown costume and although I probably thought it was great back then, it looks pretty cheap to the standards of today. I guess it was cool either way but it would have been even more cool if I had put a sheet over my head and cut out several holes like Charlie Brown did in the cartoon. Comment below and let me know what you were growing up. I’d like to read about how creative everyone was back then and today. Have a great time Trick or Treating and Happy early Halloween to everyone from Jabber Log!