Halloweens Past

Halloweens Past

By Marilyn Mackenzie

When I was a kid, no one had enlightened our parents and grandparents to the evil of participating in Halloween festivities.  To all of us, it was just a friendly holiday.  We dressed up in costumes and went door-to-door saying, “Trick or treat.”  And we came home with bags and bags (or pillow cases and pillow cases) full of candy and homemade treats.  We usually went out for an hour, then came home and dumped our candy and went back out again.  And, yes, you read it right.  We received homemade treats.  That was back before there were evil people who wanted to poison kids or who put pins or razor blades in foods.

Back then, we would get homemade fudge from one neighbor, homemade popcorn balls from another, and homemade caramel or taffy apples from still another.  Some baked cakes and brownies.  And some gave away the usual fare – candy, lollipops and bubble gum.

I think the only store-bought outfit/costume I ever had was an Annie Oakley outfit, and that wasn’t for Halloween.  That was for playing.

When it came to Halloween costumes, my mother would not tolerate store-bought outfits.  I’m sure we could have afforded them.  And they certainly would have saved her time and aggravation.

Mom never used her sewing machine for making every day clothes.  But boy could she whip up a fantastic Halloween costume (or a play or skit costume).

My siblings and I learned to have the same attitude about costumes.  Who wants store-bought cheesy junk when you can have an awesome and unique homemade one?

I’ve seen pictures of me when I was a wee child, but, of course I don’t remember being a black cat or a cute little bunny rabbit.  But I was.  When I was real young, Mom used to visit the fabric stores to get real costume patterns to use.  But by the time I was half-way through elementary school, she was designing her own.  And they were all great!

I was the first in the neighborhood to have a pumpkin costume.  You’ve seen them.  Back then – in about 1958 – it was a costume others had not seen.

Then Mom took that basic pumpkin pattern and used it for so many other great costumes.  She made Mr. and Mrs. Snowman.  And she made Humpty-Dumpty (before and after) and the wall to go with it.  My brother and sister and one cousin wore those costumes in a Halloween parade when I was in high school, and they won all the prizes.

The one thing we were allowed to buy – if necessary – was a mask.  One year, my mom made a beautiful Cinderella dress, and I got a store-bought mask.

When I was a teen, even my Dad got into the act of helping design a costume, when I became a “modern witch”.  He made my broom…with an electrical cord attached.  (Hey, I said that we didn’t realize that Halloween was “evil” back then.  And, remember, for quite a while one of the favorite family shows was “Bewitched.”)

Sewing is not my gift, not even for making costumes.  But when my son was born, I had to follow the “make it yourself” tradition.  There was no other way!  (Okay, I admit it.  My son did have a Superman costume when he was about 18 months old.  But they were pajamas, and he wore them around the house…and tried to fly.)

One year, he was a clown (which was rather odd, since he later had a real fear of clowns).  That was simple.  It was just a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt with multi-colored felt circles glued on.  I made a neck piece – that was those plastic scouring pads for the kitchen sewn together with elastic.  (Poor dear.  That had to be scratchy.)  And my ex made the pointed hat to wear, and our son colored it and put stickers on it.

The next year, my mom joined in and made a Little Sprout costume for Derek.  Boy was that cute.  (You know who the Little Sprout was, don’t you?  The Green Giant’s friend.  Oh, you know…Green Giant vegetables?)

When Derek was older, he helped decide and make his costumes.  He loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and he and his dad made an awesome costume for that.  They spent about a week making and coloring the turtle shell for him to wear.

The next year, Derek was a “regular” ninja, and he designed that one himself.

All of this came to mind recently when I looked through the sale flyer for a local party store.

I saw the cutest costumes – a bottle of ketchup and a bottle of mustard – and thought, “I could make those!”  How, you ask?  Simple.  Long sleeved black shirt and black leggings.  Then a long red shirt (or maybe a red kingsize pillowcase?) with the word “ketchup” in black on the red shirt.  And a red pointy hat on top.  For the mustard, it would require a yellow shirt and yellow pointy hat.

So what are your Halloween memories?  Did your family make or buy costumes?