Expressing myself by becoming someone else
Ever since I can remember, Halloween has been my favourite holiday. Some of my fondest and most vivid memories stem from this time of the year.
I remember my sister and I getting scared half to death by a motion-censored bat on someone’s porch and barreling down the hill as fast as we could. That was the last time we’d attempt to get free candy from that house.
I remember passing out in a pile of sleeping bags and candy at a friend’s sleepover only to wake up in the morning and eat the nearest KitKat for breakfast.
I remember being fascinated, but also slightly terrified of Professor Orbax, who used to perform magic tricks and breathe fire on his front lawn for all the trick-or-treaters in the neighbourhood.
There is one necessary component, however, that stands out the most in all of my Halloween memories: the process of creating and wearing a costume.
In my house, there were no such things as store-bought costumes. Looking back, I can’t even fathom the number of hours my mom must have spent making costumes from scratch for my sister and I. Even if we decided that we wanted to be a witch, or a vampire, or something that could have easily been purchased from any costume or department store, my mom would instead make a trip to Len’s Mill and sift through dozens of sewing patterns and hundreds of different fabrics to make our costumes extra special and unique.
Though over the years we have had to part with many of these homemade creations, my parents still keep a trunk full of costumes at their house—because you never know when you might need a pirate costume.
Weeks would be spent in preparation for Halloween, whether we were decorating the interior and exterior of our house, carving elaborate jack o’ lanterns, or trying to resist dipping into the Halloween candy. When Oct. 31 finally came around, there was always a rush of excitement in waking up early and getting to put on that snazzy one-of-a-kind costume. The morning would be spent getting our faces painted and our costumes perfected before proudly parading to school to show them off to all our friends and classmates.
The seventh grade was when I really started to get serious about my Halloween costuming. This was when generic and traditional costumes turned into very specific movie characters, requiring more accuracy and attention to detail than ever before. Naturally, this was also when my preteen obsession with Tim Burton films started. As a result, in order to fully transform into the character of Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas, we had to find a way to turn my entire body a pale shade of blue. Thanks to some ingenuity and patience on my mom’s part, we actually pulled it off quite well and it’s still one of my favourite costumes to date.
While trick-or-treating was the highlight for most kids, for me, getting to wear my costume all day at school was the best part of Halloween. In recent years, an increasing number of schools in Canada have banned kids from wearing costumes at school, instead opting for a black and orange dress code on Oct. 31.
While I can understand that not everyone is comfortable celebrating Halloween and that costumes are not always appropriate for school to the point of being disruptive and unsafe, I can’t help but feel sad for all the imaginative kids who are missing out on the festive excitement and creativity that I experienced growing up. When kids’ costumes are restricted to maybe an hour or two of trick-or-treating in the dark—likely with a heavy coat over top—I can’t imagine many parents wanting to put in any extra time or effort. It’s no wonder the number of trick-or-treaters we get knocking at our door in full costume keeps plummeting each year.
Halloween costumes always provided a massive creative outlet in our household and I honestly think the memories that go along with making them have a lot to do with who I am today. In making costumes from scratch, I was taught to problem-solve and be resourceful in my work. In paying close attention to detail, I was taught that anything worth doing is worth doing right. In walking out of the house as a completely different person for a day, I was taught to feel confident in my own skin—whatever shade of blue it might appear to be.
Photo courtesy of Disney/The Nightmare Before Christmas
Yes, I agree, thanks Dana. 🙂