Serious Jack-o-Lanterns

Back when I was a kid, making a jack-o-lantern meant risking cutting off your fingers (or your entire hand) using a giant carving knife to dig out rough triangles for eyes and a nose and adding a jagged mouth for scariness.

But with the current wide availability of pumpkin-carving tools, stencils, and on-line tutorials, even a non-artist like me can create a great-looking jack-o-lantern with minimal risk to my extremities. Print out a stencil, tape it to a pumpkin, use a sharp poker to outline each shape, then use the tiny jigsaw to cut from dot to dot, as if doing a child’s numbered dot-to-dot puzzle. It requires patience and accuracy more than it does any kind of artistic skill.

The first pumpkins I ever carved as an adult were for my husband’s college homecoming: his fraternity logo on one and his class year and the Dartmouth “D” on the other.

It was quick, it was easy, it was fun, and I was hooked. So in succeeding years, I’ve gotten a bit more brave and daring each Halloween, and this year I carved Tinkerbell for my daughter and Jake from “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” for my son.

I was pretty impressed with the results, and I dare say my kids were pretty impressed, too. And for an unskilled amateur, I have to say that those are two good-looking pumpkins. But they’re nothing compared to what a pumpkin can become in the hands of a true artist. Check out some of these amazing jack-o-lanterns!

Some art requires more than one pumpkin, such as this beautiful geometric snake.

Some pumpkin artists don’t carve holes in the pumpkin, but instead sculpt the pumpkin’s pale flesh into terrifying creatures.

Some replicate great works of art in a new medium.

Many are based on movies or other pop culture references.

But my favorites are the funny-and-just-a-tiny-bit-creepy ones that make Halloween fun but with a bit of an edge.

But if you think a jack-o-lantern like those is beyond your capabilities, there’s still one easy way to modernize your pumpkin without getting quite so complicated.

 

Cool Costumes for 2013

As I’m planning my kids’ Halloween costumes, I can't help but snoop through the internet for ideas. And there are some amazing, clever, and hilariously funny costumes out there. Most of these are beyond the skills or ambition of the average person, but those of us who can’t (or won’t) make them can at least appreciate their brilliance. Here are the top ten that jumped out at me.

Head in a Jar

Novelty Factor: A nice variation on the classic Headless Horseman.
Requirements: Long trench coat, ski gloves, large plastic snack jar with lid (VERY important to put holes in the lid), cotton balls
Overall Effect: Creepy and mysterious

Stick Figure

Novelty Factor: You’re not exactly likely to run into another stick figure while out trick-or-treating.
Requirements: LED rope, battery pack, toddler who doesn’t walk very well yet.
Overall Effect: Hilariously funny when in motion and still pretty funny when still.

Grumpy Cat

Novelty Factor: It’s easy (and timely) enough that you might run into a few fellow grumps here and there. Just give each other dirty looks.
Requirements: White face paint, lots of brown eyeshadow, an extremely grumpy expression.
Overall Effect: Funny. You know, in a grumpy sort of way.

Army Guys

Novelty Factor: In the unlikely event you run into someone else wearing the same costume, he can just join your army.
Requirements: Rain gear, helmet, boots, some kind of large weapon, large quantities of green spray paint and matching green body paint, a high degree of commitment, the ability to hold a pose without moving for a very long time.
Overall Effect: Variable, dependent on the last two requirements above.

Tetris

Novelty Factor: Much like the Army guys above, if you run into someone else wearing the same costume, he can just join your group.
Requirements: Lots of similarly-sized cardboard boxes, various bright colors of paint, a good sense of spatial relations.
Overall Effect: The more levels you can form, the more impressive the costume. Bonus points for recruiting some really tall or really short people.

Miley Cyrus

Novelty Factor: This costume will pretty much only work for the year 2013, so it’s fair to say it’s novel.
Requirements: Teddy bear onesie, large foam finger, complete lack of dignity.
Overall Effect: The response to your version will probably be as mixed as it was to the original. In other words, is it trampy or is it art? The answer is a resounding, “YES.”

The Human Anatomy

Novelty Factor: I guarantee you will not see someone else wearing the same costume, unless you happen to live in Heidi Klum’s neighborhood. (Yes, this photo really is Heidi Klum.)
Requirements: Paintable catsuit with bald cap, large quantities of red, black, and white paint, impressive knowledge of human anatomy.
Overall Effect: Shocking and amazing. In a good way.

Doctor Who

Novelty Factor: Even if you bump into another Doctor Who, chances are it won’t be the same incarnation, and even if it is, you can both shrug it off with the words, “wibbly-wobbly” and “timey-wimey.”

Requirements: Depending on your incarnation of choice, requirements may be a tweed blazer and bow tie (plus optional fez); double-breasted pin-striped suit, tennies, and overcoat; or a long knitted striped scarf and large felt hat. Bonus points for having the TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver along.
Overall Effect: Even a poor attempt at this costume will leave fangirls squealing, just watch out for those creepy weeping angels.

Minion

Novelty Factor: You’re pretty likely to run into another minion or two this year, but with a costume this cute, who cares?
Requirements: Bright yellow hoodie, overalls, goggles, ability to speak gibberish.
Overall Effect: Adorable even if the wearer isn’t under the age of 6.

Guy on Stilts

Novelty Factor: Unless you happen to not be the only guy in the neighborhood who’s seven feet tall, you’re pretty much guaranteed the unique vote for this one.
Requirements: Two tall cardboard boxes that fit over your legs from ankle to knee, spare pair of shoes, being seven feet tall.
Overall Effect: People who know you will do a double-take. So will people who don’t.

So if you don’t have your Halloween act together yet, maybe these will give you some inspiration! And if not, there’s always the old bedsheet with eyeholes costume.

Just be warned that you’ll probably collect a few rocks.

Halloween Costumes!

If you could make a chart of how much fun Halloween is during every year of your life, it would be anything but a straight line. When you’re very small, you have no idea what’s going on. Someone puts clothes on you – the same as every other day - then they carry you around the neighborhood and people exclaim how cute you are – the same as every other day – and then when you come home they don’t let you have any of the wonderful treats you think you should get – the same as every other day. Not very exciting. When you’re a bit older, you get to choose your own costume, usually some hero or cool guy that you desperately want to be, you get to stay up later than usual, and you get to eat candy. A LOT of candy. This goes on for a number of years, until you reach, say, high school age, and the costume is not nearly as exciting as the candy (unless you are female, in which case the costume is an opportunity to dress waaaaay sexier than you can get away with any other time). So the interest drops off again during most of your early adulthood. But then when you have children and you get to live vicariously through them, the excitement skyrockets off the chart once again.

Being both a theater performer and a seamstress, Halloween provides me with fabulous opportunities for creative costume-making. Since I’m an adult, I don’t have much opportunity to make a costume for myself, but now that I have kids, I can’t WAIT for them to pick a costume so I can let my creative juices flow. And I will admit, I have been known to direct their preferences a bit to echo my own.

My son’s birthday is just a few days after Halloween, so his first Halloween costume was actually this:

(My husband gets credit for making all three of these jack-o-lanterns.)

When my son was almost a year old, my husband beat me to the punch and got him an adorable tiger costume before I told him I wanted to make something. It was so adorable that I couldn’t say no.

My daughter was born a few months before my son’s second birthday, so she was not quite three months old on her first Halloween appearance, and neither of them had much say in their costumes. We had gone to the Big E in September of that year and my husband had bought fabulous cowboy hats for himself and my son, so when I found some fake suede at a good price, I couldn’t help myself: I made my son a pair of chaps and a fringed vest, and we bought my daughter a teeny-tiny cow costume.

Last year, my son was nearly 3 and my daughter was only 1. Which meant that it was pretty much my last chance to talk my son into going as whatever I wanted, and my daughter neither cared not even noticed what she was wearing. So after umpteen different changes, my son finally set his heart on being Mr. Smee from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and I decided that my daughter would obviously have to be Tinker Bell. (She was blonde, adorable, and barely mobile: it was perfect.)

  (I had given him an old pair of wire-rimmed glasses with the glass removed, and a pair of shorts and sandals like Mr. Smee’s, but it was all I could do to get him to wear the shirt and the hat. Sometimes, the hill is just not worth dying on.)

But this year, my son is nearly four. Four years old is the age when a Halloween costume is incredibly exciting. Pretending to be someone else is an everyday occurrence; hero worship is at its peak; dressing up is a highlight of not only the day, but the week, the month, and the year. And on top of that, there’s candy. Halloween is almost better than Christmas. And so his decision of what to be is of the utmost importance. And naturally, it changes from week to week, day to day, and practically hour to hour.

His first thought was that he wanted to be the red Power Ranger. But when he saw the costume at the store, he changed his mind. And after driving past the Halloween display at Ben Franklin Crafts, he decided he wanted to be a skeleton instead. Easy-peasy! I’d buy an articulated cardboard skeleton, tack it to a black sweat suit in a few strategic places, and done. But before I got that far, he decided he wanted to be a pirate instead. Or maybe a gladiator. Something with a sword, anyway.

So I’ve given up on making him a fabulous costume. I’ll just wait until the day before and punt. It’ll be a challenge to my creativity, but I’m up to that challenge! I come from a long line of fantastic last-minute costume creators. After all, my first Halloween costume was a bunny outfit made from a winter parka, an old pillowcase, and a bent coat hanger. And my all-time favorite was simply a white choir robe, a borrowed belt, and a few bobby pins.

 

 

Anyone can come up with a fantastic costume with a month or so of lead time. I can't wait to see what I come up with in an hour and a half!

Why I Celebrate Halloween

Halloween, like many other US holidays, has its roots in pagan celebrations and other celebrations that many Christians consider heretical, occultic, or, at the least, unsavory. Its true name is, after all, “All Hallows’ Eve.” It is steeped in folklore about witches, demons, zombies, and ghosts. In many cultures, it is considered a time to contact the dead. But also like many other US holidays, over the years it has taken on a different significance, and the traditions associated with it have come to have very different meanings than they originally may have. So let me share why I celebrate Halloween.

Halloween is a time to dress up and pretend to be something other than what you are. I love Halloween for the same reason that I love theater. It allows me to shed my mild-mannered, introverted persona and take on the personality of someone more exciting and more assertive. Instead of a suburban housewife and mom, I can be a pirate, or a gypsy, or a princess, or a superhero. I can shed my usual jeans and sweater and put on a tiara and chandelier earrings and suddenly become glamorous. I can take a break from saving the change in the bottom of my purse by donning a mask and a cape and saving the world from evil.

Halloween is also one of the few times in our modern society when we go and visit our neighbors. Sure, I chat frequently with the people who live next door, but what about the family down the street or around the corner? I may see them when I’m out walking, but I never have the chance to actually introduce myself and my family. Trick or treating at Halloween gives me the opportunity to meet the people around me. And the neighbors with grown kids love to see how my kids are growing from year to year. Halloween can truly be a community holiday, if you let it.

Halloween is also a chance to splurge on candy. I don’t let my kids have candy very often, and when I do, it’s a very special treat. So getting a whole bag of candy and getting to eat more than one piece at a time makes Halloween a special, fun time for kids and parents alike. I have fond memories of sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace in my parents’ living room, sorting through my bag of Halloween treats and deciding which candy I would eat right away, which I would save for later, and which I would give to my sister. Kit Kats, Three Musketeers, and $100,000 bars were in the first category. M&Ms, Twizzlers, and Tangy Taffy were in the middle category. And anything involving coconut, nuts, or peanut butter always fell into the latter category. My kids aren’t quite old enough to be that discriminating yet, but I look forward to a few years from now when the careful negotiations begin: “I’ll trade you two packs of Nerds and a bite-size Baby Ruth for that full-size Snickers bar.”

And finally, because of its connection with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, Halloween is, to me, a holiday of remembrance. Celebrated by many branches of the Christian church, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are celebrated immediately following All Hallows’ Eve, with prayers for the souls of family and friends who have died. The Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is also a day to remember, pray for, and celebrate loved ones who have died. These holidays celebrate the dead, not with fear but with affection. So on Halloween, I remember those I have loved and loss. I think of my parents, my grandparents, my brother-in-law Glen, my friend Nancy. I recall all the love and laughter they brought into my life, and I am grateful that I was blessed by knowing each one of them.

So tonight, I’ll happily and without guilt dress my kids up in costumes, take them trick or treating, let them eat candy, and imagine my loved ones looking down on us and enjoying the holiday as much as we are. Because that’s why I celebrate Halloween.