Eric’s Trip Through Halloween Costumes Past

As Halloween approaches, I've never had such heated conversation with my wife, than over what our children should dress up as to Trick or Treat.  There are so many options.  Should they be home made or store bought?  Should they be matching or not?  Should they be classic characters or modern TV favorites?  It really made me wonder how my mom dealt with the issue.  So here are pictures I managed to grab from her photo album, not great quality, but all me at Halloween.

Now, look at that cute little devil.  This snazzy home made costume circa 1982, showed my mom's craftsmanship with some cardboard and paint.  It also showed that her favorite material in any costume was the sweat suit.  It made for an easy night for Satan to steal the souls from candy buckets all over the neighborhood.

Though it may be a tad blurry, you can clearly tell that my mom was all about the home made costume in 1983 as well.  That's right ya'll, this clown is wearing an old house coat/robe, that my mom cut up and sewed to make me this hit of the circus.  Add a lump of red yarn, and I could whip up a balloon animal by the time you could say, "It."

By 1985, I guess either Mom got tired of the costume making, or she just gave in to her son, who loved him some 'He-Man and The Masters of the Universe.'  I was always the fan of the cowardly sidekick, though.  It must've been the underdog story I liked.  What I didn't...the mask that you couldn't see out of, and the hot plastic smock you had to wear with these thrift store costumes.  FYI, Orko, was He-Man's wizard friend, and as I recall, my pre-school teacher used me to entice a frightened, 'He-Man' into the classroom on Halloween.  He probably wasn't scared, he was just lost, trying to get to school with his equally blinding 'He-Man' mask.  Nice sweatshirt underneath, by the way.

Here's where Halloween and playtime get really sketchy.  So, not only did I not have a home made costume, but I didn't have a store-bought costume either.  This is what happens when you wear a mask and accessories you find in the toy department, and have mom dress you underneath.  First keep in mind that Lion O of the Thundercats, looks like this.

Now, look back above and tell me what the heck I was supposed to be.  Of course, the old sweatsuit was back.  And, really?  Just because I wasn't going full-on singlet, why did I have to roll up the sweats to reveal the red striped socks?  This might have been the biggest loser of the bunch, but 1986 called and they want a Halloween do-over.

Now, Mom and I had an argument over this, but I have photo proof.  She says I never had the same costume twice, but here I have proved that I had the same costume twice...3 times!  They did however have their subtle differences.  This convict garb (once again made by my mother) surprisingly fit me after my 6-7 year old growth spurt, but I just added the mask between 1987 and 1988, I guess so the guards wouldn't find me, and I added shackles, well, because they looked cool.

Exhibit B, that I went down the same road two years in a row, the pirate costume from 1989 and 1990.  I love the differences here.  While sporting the same pose and scowl, I have traded in the stone washed jeans for something a little more contemporary and and blue sash belt to bring out my eye.  Oh, and speaking of the eye...it appears that my affliction has moved from one eye to the other in a year's time!

Here's where things get a bit morbid.  As a boy, there is a time that dressing up to go get candy is kind of below you, but since candy is yummy, you dress up with an exorbitant amount of blood on and scare the bejesus out of little kids.  I went this route two years in a row once again, however between 1991 and 1992, I lost my prop 'severed head,' it seems.  I also grew some grey hair, and sported a ball cap that said the murderer-appropriate phrase 'Just Do It.'  Oh, and who could forget, sweatpants!

Now that I've taken you through some of my old costumes, I realize, I shouldn't be arguing with my wife over my kids' Halloween costumes.  I should just let her be in charge, because the one recurring theme in my costumes, my dad only looked at them as I was going out the door to make his comment.  Otherwise, it was hands off.  Smart guy.