All Hallow's Eve...er...Eve...

[charliesmum]

Hey guys.

I made a post two years ago asking what everyone's earliest Halloween memory was, and got some fun responses, so I thought I'd do it again.

You could substutute 'favourite' or 'worst' for 'earliest' if you'd like.

My earliest memory is on the post I made two years ago. My worst was probably the year I got sick. I forget how old I was, 10 or 11, maybe younger and I was really sick. It was one of those illness that just sap your energy, but I really wanted to go out. I remember putting a costume together - a dress and a hat or something, and I made it about halfway down the block before having to give in and go home. I was so sad, and my mom was very sympathetic.

So, what about you flist?

Comments

[placeboweek.livejournal.com]

I have a funny Halloween story:

I think I was 9 at the time. Me and the neighborhood kids were going door to door, trick-or-treating. We knocked on our neighbor's door and this young guy answered it. There were moving boxes in the hallway behind him.

"Trick or treat!" we shouted gleefully.

He blinked. "It's Halloween?" Then he started panicking. "Oh crap, it's Halloween! I forgot!"

He told us to hold on a minute and went down the hall, then returned with handfuls of change for each of us. "I'm so sorry, kids, I just moved in yesterday, I forgot to get candy." We didn't mind, because he was giving us money, which is better than candy, but we found it very amusing. How could someone forget it was Halloween? I guess you can if you've just moved!

[chavvah.livejournal.com]

My earliest memory of Halloween is the Pierrot costume my aunt made me when I was about four years old.

My aunt always used to buy me expensive souvenirs when she travelled, and one of them was a French porcelain Pierrot doll, which I was forbidden to touch. But sometimes, when she wasn't home, my mother would take it down from the top of the dresser and let me cradle it in my arms. Its outfit was black satin, and it had a single silver tear painted on its cheek.

My aunt would always design and sew these super elaborate costumes that would go on over my snowsuits (Canada, remember). That year, I had a black-and-silver snowsuit, so she made me a Pierrot costume out of a black satin-like material with white and silver trim. My mum painted a fat silver tear on my cheek, just like my doll. I was very pleased with myself.

My worst Halloween memory is Grade Four. I had another elaborate costume that my aunt had made (a witch), which I wanted to wear to school, but my aunt didn't want it to get ruined or lost. Finally, to put a stop to my whining, my mother told me I could take it, but she said that if I lost or damaged any part of the outfit, I would have to stay home from trick-or-treating and hand out candy. Well, you can probably guess how that turned out: I forgot my cape, and by the time I ran back to school to get it, the teachers had left and the school was locked up.

My best Halloween memory is from the year I dressed as a Jedi. J. and I went to a costume party, and we had a ride there but took the bus back. It wasn't until we were on the bus that we realized neither of us had brought bus fare. So I turned to the driver and I did the Obi-Wan Kenobi hand wave, and I said, "We don't need to pay the fare." He must have been a Star Wars fan, because he smiled and repeated, "You don't need to pay the fare," and let us on the bus for free.

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

I remember very fondly my grandmother wearing my Bugs Bunny mask to hand out treats. It's something she totally would do, and something my mother would never in a million years do. I've always been happy when I remember that.

Another year my mom and I decided to see what would happen if we knocked on the door of the VFW next door. I got gleefully pulled in and fussed over by a room full of semi-drunken ex-soldiers and their lady friends, and everyone there gave me a handful of change (a big handful too!) The next year I tried it again, but the door guy wouldn't let us in. :(

One not-so-pleasant memory was the year I found my skeleton costume sometime when it was nowhere near halloween, and I thought it would be funny to scare my grandmother with it, so I put it on and I actually did scare her. She didn't fall over or get hurt or anything, but I do still feel kinda bad about that. I didn't mean to scare-scare her, just startle her a little bit.

[wrestlingdog.livejournal.com]

The first Halloween costume that I can remember was being a dinosaur, but I know I was a flower and the Campbell's kid before that. I'm a big fan of obscure, geeky Halloween costumes. They kind of act like a shibboleth for me: if you get them, you are awesome. They're also not particularly attractive, but whatevs.
Some of my favorites in recent years have been Elizabeth I, Henry VIII, and Mrs. Lovett, but probably my best one was Groucho Marx. (My little sister dressed up as Harpo. No Chico, Zeppo, or Gummo, sadly.) That was the one I remember the most, because it got the best reactions. I remember one of my friends, who's a huge old movie buff, suddenly got it halfway through our Social Studies class and got up and screamed,"Oh my God, you're the guy from Duck Soup!"

Oh, and one year I was a little old lady. That was fun.