Every year we read about the worst sexist and racist Halloween costumes. And get really angry or bummed out about what should be a fun excuse to play dress-up.
So let's discuss some alternatives, shall we? Most of these ideas can be thrown together last-minute -- because how many of us really plan our costumes that far in advance? (Warning: Some ideas may contain shoulder pads.)
Radical, Militant Librarian
Need: Books, beret, sash, "shushing" skills.
Related ideas: Radical Doula (heeeyyy Miriam!), Radical Cheerleader, Radical Zombie
The Ghost of Health Care Bills Past
Need: White sheet, stethoscope
Related ideas: Ghost of Immigration Reform Bills Past, Ghost of Equal Rights Amendments Past. (Or apparently, given the image I've selected, Ghosts of Stevie Nicks Past.)
A Photoshop Disaster
Need: A t-shirt with a body drawn on it that's less than half the size of your own. Or something (Haven't really figured out how to make this one work yet...)
Related ideas: This is part of the grand Halloween tradition of just drawing some shit on a T-shirt... Could also be done with a Death Becomes Her Halloweeny twist.
Kanye West
Need: These, microphone, and a willingness to repeatedly make the "Imma let you finish" joke.
Related ideas: Taylor Swift (Couple costume!)
Nancy Pelosi
Need: Suit (preferably w/ skirt, not pants), gavel, shades, funky-but-understated jewelry.
Related ideas: Condi Rice, Hillary Clinton.
Dolly Parton
Need: Blonde wig, lots of sequins, guitar, falsies.
Related ideas: Leslie Hall
John Waters
Need: Garish-patterned suit jacket, drawn-on thin mustache, bowtie, drag-queen pals.
Related ideas: A dandy, Steve Buscemi (but only if you've got the looks for it.)
Judy the Talking Embryo
Need: Garbage bag, helium (to either inflate the bag or inhale to make your voice embyro-like). More info here.
Related ideas: Betty the Talking Blastocyst, Ollie the Talking Ovum.
Rickie Vasquez (from My So-Called Life)
Need: Drum-major jacket, hair gel, earring, shoulder pads, a buddy to go as Angela Chase.
Related ideas: Thriller-era Michael Jackson, actual drum major
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Need: Lacy neckerchief thing, black robe, clip-on earrings, bun, glasses.
Related ideas: Sonia Sotomayor
Heathers (Group idea!)
Need: Blazer with serious shoulder pads, croquet mallet, AquaNet, white tights.
Related ideas: 90210 (the original, obvs)
Richard Simmons
Need: Short track shorts, curly wig, thick white socks, tank top.
Related ideas: Evil aerobic clown
Werewolf Bar Mitzvah
Need: Fur, face paint, friends who like 30 Rock and will get the joke once you start singing.
Related ideas: Vampire Bar Mitzvah, Goblin Bar Mitzvah
Bea Arthur (RIP! This is an in-memoriam costume idea, one that I will probably use this year.)
Need: Gray wig and/or curling iron and gray spray-in hair color, a serious silk tracksuit, shoulder pads. Gratefulness for being a friend.
Related ideas: Other Golden Girls, obvs.
Last-minute cop-outs:
Shark: Tape a cardboard fin to your back
Unicorn: Tape a cardboard cone to your forehead
Narwhal: Tape a skinnier cardboard cone to your forehead.
Other costume ideas? C'mon I know you've got some good ones, so leave them in comments (including instructions on how to put it together). I'll keep adding to this post as good ideas pop up.
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I'd go with the classic cool costume and dress as a zombie.
In a similar vein, I'd love to get a group of people together and dress as the survivors and special infected from Left 4 Dead. And then we can run around and pull hella shenanigans.
I had that same thought last weekend, but we're now all committed to our costumes already, I would have suggested we go as the survivors. It would be fairly easy and it's a great group costume.
intramural zombie hunter: http://www.seibei.com/shop/intramural.html
Watch out bzzxz!
Swine flu (or flew): pig mask, wings, and a pink t-shirt w/H1N1 painted on it.
That's my costume idea! Swine Flu Incarnate. I'm wearing a spooky long black dress, a pig snout, and a pig's tail. I also want to construct a large syringe prop so that I can carry it around and poke people with the cure. I've already debuted a less sophisticated version of this at my school's LBBTQ masquerade ball a few weeks ago.
LGBTQ*
Ann, you're a fucking spooky genius. You should become a costume consultant.
The Shamwow Guy: Blue polo shirt, blond tips, headset, Shamwow draped over shoulder.
Calvin and Hobbes: Red and black shirt, spiky blond hair, black shorts, red Converse sneakers, stuffed tiger.
Also, I always thought it'd be fun to gather 11 friends and go as the signs of the Zodiac... that'd be really hard to coordinate though.
I'm making my son be Calvin! He's just the right age and the right amount of naughty. Also, I love the zodiac idea (even though you're right, it would be impossible to coordinate). You could also do some of the tarot Major Arcana figures.
Calvin is cute till there's a naughty kid in the family. Then, he becomes the scariest character possible!
Calvin is cute till there's a naughty kid in the family. Then, he becomes the scariest character possible!
I went as Libra two years ago! It was a FABULOUS costume, though the only people who got it were two older lesbians at the bar. They picked up on it immediately and I spent the whole night hanging out with them, making fun of the frat boys who had NO idea what I was supposed to be and were all dressed either as molesting priests or wangs.
Aluminum foil also works well for creating a unicorn horn.
Hot tip!
"because how many of us really plan our costumes that far in advance."
I do. I was done before October. I'm Luna Lovegood. I'm working on a costume for my dad who is being Xenophilius Lovegood.
Hahaha--I've been planning (and accumulating the pieces of) my Hermione costume for years! My friend is coming up to visit, and she just so happens to have a Luna costume planned! I'm so excited.
I'm hoping to get a set of scrubs and a stethoscope, then write "I think therefore I am" on myself. I also really want to carry around a poster of Rasputin, but I don't think any of my friends would get it.
That's what I'm doing! I have some scrubs from when I interned in a surgery center, and found my mom's stethescope from her nursing school days. Got a pen at a Grad School fair that's shaped like a syringe...should be a fun night.
I've been saying this-- why is it so hard to figure out a costume for Halloween? Halloween is all about ghosts, zombies, witches, goblins, trolls, serial killers, etc...
racial and ethnic identities have NOTHING to do with Halloween! So this is a helpful post for clueless people who can't figure out a costume.
me, I'm gonna be a ghost. I'll throw a white sheet over myself and puncture 2 holes in the sheet for my eyes.
There's always the old bag of jellybeans standby. Take a clear drycleaner bag, cut holes just big enough for your legs in the closed part, and armholes in the sides. Put it on (over whatever clothing makes sense to you), fill the bag with balloons, cinch the open part around your neck and tie off with a festive scarf (taking care not to choke, obv). Voila!
I've done both of these (not on Halloween):
for the 06/06/06 zombie march, went as ZOMBIE ANN COULTER. Props: LBD, long blonde wig, zombie makeup, fake blood, fake coulter book. My friend made awesome protest signs: "If George W Bush had a brain, I'd eat it"; "Ban Zombie Marriage: God Said Adam & Eve, Not Adam & Bllllrrrrrrgggh!"
for a friend's "Martyr Party," went as MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. Props: Plaid tartan skirt, short crinoline to go under it, gold tiara, gold crucifix, fake blood (I used viscous dark red lipgloss for ease of touch-ups) to get the sliced-neck effect. Red wig if you're not a natural.
For this year, my boy and I are STILL(!) trying to decide between Betty and Don Draper, postapocalyptic warriors (think Mad Max meets the latest Terminator film), or dead celebrities (Farrah Fawcett/Billy Mays).
Last year we went as Mia Wallace & Vincent Vega, which was basically the easiest "stuff-that's-already-in-your-closet costume EVER.
The Zombie Ann Coulter is pure genius! My favorite part is the sign - "Ban Zombie Marriage: God Said Adam & Eve, Not Adam & Bllllrrrrrrgggh!"
On a similar note, I was thinking of going as Elizabeth Bennet from "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", but am lacking in appropriate ninja weapons.
She really only gets the katana out a few times, though; usually her weapons of choice are a musket, a pistol or an ankle dagger. I'm sure you could find a steak knife or something that might work for that last one. :)
That's what we're doing, but I wanted to gore it up a little bit, so I'm going as Mia Wallace post-OD: fake blood and white powder under my nose, mussed-up hair, a fake syringe sticking out of my chest (haven't quite figured out how to make that one work yet - any ideas?). Considering whether he should go with the traditional suit-and-bolero look or the much funnier shorts and UC Santa Cruz shirt...either way, I'm excited.
I just want to say that Blackface is NEVER appropriate. So, if you're white, do not attempt the Kanye West costume.
I was going to go as the Wicked Witch of the West, but now I'm rethinking that. If I do decide to do something else, it will have to be pretty simple to make.
Happily Greenface is ALWAYS appropriate. (For Wicked Witch of the West, that is.)
LOL! This is true.
I think I WILL go as the Wicked Witch. I have more respect for her after listening to the score of Wicked enough times to get a general idea of the story.
Maybe not racist or sexist, but good job on continuing the stereotypes. As a librarian, I'm sick of the shushing stereotype. Learn what a librarian actually does.
If you want to see a really militant librarian, shush, and you'll see my response.
Sorry -- thought the scare quotes were sufficient to indicate I was joking.
I read that as Militant Libertarian.
Thanks, Cherie!
Quotation marks do not make jokes that continue stereotypes ok.
As a librarian, I find this costume to be badass and awesome. It is based on the long history of our profession (which has always been a female dominated profession). Librarians of the time period represented here really did shhh people. It's a historical reality. Acting out a historical reality is REALLY different then acting out a stereotype. I don't know of any stereotype of librarians wearing berets. This is a specific costume based on a specific picture, not a referendum on librarianship.
And if you want to see what a real librarian does, then come to my library and you'll see me having to tell people to keep it down. Yesterday I had two screaming fighting children, a man snoring, and three teens working on a poster project. In my tiny library of less then 7,000 square feet, they all had to be told to be quiet. I embrace both our shhing past and our "Sir, I'll need you to keep it down" reality.
Sexy Clitoris:
Pink dress, pink tights, pink heels, pink eyeshadow, pink lipstick, pink blush, pink gloves, and of course... a pink shrug top with a pink hood.
How I love the weirdo variations on "sexy ____." A friend is dressing as a sexy Gandhi this year.
How 'bout a sexy Jesus?
rock me, rock me, rock me, sexy Jesus....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LyKxzw6cjg
haha, one of my housemates is "sexy bacon." as I understand it, this involves a skintight brown-and-white striped dress and a stuffed pig.
I got my idea from a picture here (I can't remember of who or when, Sorry!). I'm going as Rosie the Riveter and drawing "We Can Do It!" on my bicep.
That was Chloe, I think!
That was the one!
Recently I came up with what I think is an awesome costume idea, but soon I realized I have feminist issues with it. I would love any other feminists' takes on it.
The costume: Rosemary from Rosemary's Baby. It would involve a thrifted frumpy nightgown, a large knife, some make-up to make me look sickly, a necklace with a teaball attached to it, my own hair (which resembles Mia Farrow's in that movie) and -- best of all -- a homemade devil baby as I imagine one would look. This would probably require a baby doll, some fake fingernails/claws, horns and spray paint.
It only occurred to me a few days later that this could be a really bad idea because of the fact that this month's most infamous rapist made the movie. Make no mistake, I like the movie, despite its troubling treatment of marital rape and, well, Satan rape. And I also think Roman Polanski is a disaster of a human being who should spend decades in prison.
So would a costume based on his movie appear implicit rape apologism? Maybe more practically, do y'all think that if I dress as Rosemary, I'll have to fend off questions about Polanski all night? (My friends are hardly as feminist or politically engaged as y'all, but who knows...)
And I'll be Dr. Charles Grodin!
Maybe you could put a t-shirt on the "devil baby" with a reference that would clarify how you feel about the Polanski situation? Like put it in a onesie on which you have written "Rape apologists are another kind of evil". Or make it look super-demonic and have the shirt read "Rape Apologist". Or give the demon baby Polanksi's face.
Or tape a copy of the petition to its chest.
If you made the baby represent Polanski, you could make terrible excuses for it all night Or have a friends accompany you as Woody Allen and others who have signed the petition and THEY could make the excuses. . .
Or, make the baby look like one of the people who signed the pro-Polanski petition, and have the onesie read "Demonize rape culture."
OR, if you want to keep in subtle, but reserve the right to make a point if given the opportunity, just carry around your little demon baby, but have IT represent "rape culture" or "rape apology". . .just have the phrase written subtly on the butt of its diaper or something. It wouldn't be asking for confrontation, but if you get into a conversation with someone about it, you can use that to show them where you stand.
These are all awesome ideas. I think I'll try for something like that. Thanks so much!
Me, I'm thinking of throwing on one of my grandmother's old dresses and going in drag as a femme. Either that or putting on a REALLY fancy one and going as a Billionaire for WealthCare. Happy Halloween, Ann!
Coraline!
I'm going as Dr. Horrible. I needed welding goggles (that I'll probably spray paint silver), welding gloves, white rain boots, and a lab coat that I'm modifing to look more like the side close coat he wore. You could also probably get away with buying a generic 'mad scientist' costume for the lab coat.
I'm trying to convince my roommate to go as Captain Hammer. All that's needed is a pair of black gloves (already own) and a tshirt with the Captain Hammer logo. I'm just going to print out the logo on some iron-on transfer paper and put it on a cheap tshirt.
Other costumes that will be making an appearance at our geek-tastic Halloween shindig....
Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank from MST3K.
Dr. Forrester just needs a pair of green rimmed glasses (already purchased) and a green lab coat. We'll be dying a used labcoat green this weekend. TV's Frank only needed a black chef type coat and some hair gel. I'll be printing out the Deep 13 logo on iron-on transfer paper to put on their coats.
The Master from Manos: Hands of Fate
I sew and one of my friend's specifically requested this costume. It's basically a big piece of black polar fleece folded in half with a head hole cut out of it. I then cut out giant hands from red polar fleece and sewed them on.
Eek! Random misuse of apostrophe! Sorry about that. That's even one of my own personal pet peeves.
Holy cats, I can't believe your friend thought to go as the Master from "Manos Hands of Fate"! That's gotta be one of my favourite hilariously bad movies of all time!
We've been trying to convince another friend to go as Torgo. There will be no women rolling around in see-through nighties, though. One, that's just not going to happen, and two, more importantly, we live in Vermont and it's cold this time of year. We'd have to wear long johns unnder everything, and that would just ruin the effect.
This year I've been getting an education in truely bad movies. I am now familiar with the works of both Ed Wood and Andy Sidaris.
Holy cats, I can't believe your friend thought to go as the Master from "Manos Hands of Fate"! That's gotta be one of my favourite hilariously bad movies of all time!
1) White shirt with big yellow spot in middle + devil horns = deviled egg
2) white shirt with "I ::heart:: ceilings!!" + baseball cap + pennant with "Ceilings # 1!!" = Ceiling Fan
3) (group) a whole bunch of people dress up in all green = Gangrene (Gang Green)
I'm going as Tank Girl and my boyfriend is gonna be one of the Reapers from the video game Infamous. :D Gonna be an awesome Halloween!
Also, both of which are easy because it pretty much just means thrift store + scissors + paint. The Reaper hoodie requires a little sewing but pretty much just sewing a hood to a pea coat. And I bought an old army helmet for the Tank Girl costume. :) I realized people were kinda saying how to make the costumes, lol, figured I'd do the same. :P
1) White shirt with big yellow spot in middle + devil horns = deviled egg
2) white shirt with "I ::heart:: ceilings!!" + baseball cap + pennant with "Ceilings # 1!!" = Ceiling Fan
3) (group) a whole bunch of people dress up in all green = Gangrene (Gang Green)
I'm going as Carmen Sandiego. I found a red hat. I'll probably shop around at thrift stores for a long red coat. Aside from that, I'll wear jeans, boots, a black shirt, and gloves. I might make a fake mona lisa or something that I can carry around as well.
AWESOME!!!!!
Oh, and more ideas, mostly movie-based, that are fairly easy if anybody's interested:
Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window: Pajamas, a giant leg cast (maybe made out of poster tubes or papier-mache), a camera with a zoom lens. Would that I could convince my boyfriend to do it.
Also on the Hitchcock kick, Tippi Hedren from The Burns. Mostly you need an early 60s skirt-and-sweater outfit, a blonde wig, fake birds attached to and pecking at you, and some blood drippage. There's no mistaking this for somebody else; my aunt did this very well.
Michael J. Fox from Back to the Future (you pick which one). Short hair, tight jeans, suspenders, retro sneakers, puffy vest, goggles, skateboard (or Hoverboard) and perhaps the DeLorean controller (a video game controller?).
Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka. I thought about doing this because I have a coat that looks like his long purple one. In addition, you'd need a top hat, bow tie, ruffled tux shirt, cane, frizzy hair, lollipops and candy bars. And maybe the skill of somersaulting from a standing position. And an Oompa Loompa.
The guy from Alien who has the alien burst through his stomach. Alternately, Sigourney Weaver in that movie. I believe she wears some sort of jumpsuit. Or, you know, just underwear and an undershirt. And a flamethrower and a cat.
A head on a platter on a table, like this. A sturdy cardboard or wood box with a hole cut in the middle for your head, plus a tablecloth, plate, silverware and food. I'll warn that it's awfully hard to move in comfortably.
Um, obviously I meant The Birds; I don't know why I typed Burns instead. Weird.
I'm going as a crossword puzzle. I found amazing crossword fabric and I'll probably make a crown of mini pencils.
Once I saw someone dressed in a toga with a crown of lettuce and various vegetables stuck in her belt... She was Caesar Salad. It was beautiful.
A bunch of my friends went as Tetris pieces - boxes in various Tetris forms so they could fit together when people sang the music. Interactive costumes = awesome.
Last year I tried to go as Gloria Steinem... let's just say no one guessed that one.
For halloween this year, i'm going as the Captain AND Tennille simultaneously. Captain's hat and some ridiculously awesome 70s dress...can't go wrong with that! Also, i'm all for subverting the gender roles of 70s pop duos. :)
You should add The Chief from the Josie and the Pussycats movie!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorsner/2984626938/
THE COOLEST LITTLE KID EVER.
or you know..a wobbegong.
How about Hermione Granger? Or another cool Harry Potter character?
I'm going as Little Red Riding Hood, but I'll have the wolf's head in MY basket and my Very Own Axe. I'm considering painting the plastic axe pink and basically writing on it "Her Very First Axe!" but I don't think people will get it.
My girlfriend went as the board game Opperation one year. It took a little time but was cheap and easy.
We used:
Pink sweats for the body, preferably with pockets in the pants
Old red t-shirt
old white t-shirt
small cooking tongs
a buzzer (we used the one that came with the game taboo).
Superglue or tape
Yarn or heavy string
Cut out the organs/bones shapes out of the red shirt and a slightly larger version out of white shirt and glue or fasten them onto the sweats in the appropriate places. We used a red organ with a white background to simulate the hole you'd pull the organ out of. Tie the tweezers (tongs) to your waist using yarn or string. When someone tries to pull out an organ, hit the buzzer hidden in your pocket. It's awesome and also kid friendly and everyone seemed to enjoy the nostalgia.
I love the Harry Potter ideas! Last year my friends and I did a Harry Potter theme and one was Moaning Myrtle (we covered her in baby powder), one was Hermione Granger, one was Harry (of course), one was Luna Lovegood, and I was Ron Weasley, which was great fun since the little kids who were trick-or-treating at the college kept asking me questions like "Are you Ron or Ginny?" because I have short red hair but am pretty obviously a girl. Hooray for gender-bending costumes!
Not to keen on the whole kanye and taylor thing. I wouldn't want to give him more attention then he already tried to get.
personally, i'm going with buffy for my costume.
easy, fun, cute, nonsexist.
For other 30 Rock fans, I am dressing up as Liz Lemon when she tries to get attention for "That's a Dealbreaker, Ladies" by doing silly photos for the magazine with Jenna. Pink T-Shirt, dark jeans, suspenders, silly mustache glasses, and a rubber chicken! If only I could find a way to birth the chicken on the toilet...
personally, i'm going with buffy for my costume.
easy, fun, cute, nonsexist.
all i need is a minidress or just jeans, some boots and a tank top plus a stake. lazy person constume done.
Depending on who you are, dressing up as a black celebrity or as a "militant lesbian" might indeed be racist or heterosexist. I'm disappointed that you would list those as alternatives to the appropriative costumes you're encouraging people to avoid, without saying IN the actual post that a white person dressing up as Kanye, or a straight person dressing up as a lesbian, is not okay. You all must be at least as aware as the rest of us that your readership is largely white women, right?
Did you misread the "militant librarian" idea? Otherwise I do not see any lesbian (at least militant) ideas here.
Did you misread the "militant librarian" idea? Otherwise I do not see any lesbian (at least militant) ideas here.
Also, I don't see the problem with being Kanye West as long as no blackface is involved.
First, doh! I totally did misread that. Which is ridiculous given how many times I read it. Mea culpa!
But as to Kanye... I do still see a problem with a white person dressing up as a black person - wearing him as a costume. It makes me profoundly uncomfortable. And I have a hard time envisioning a way to carry that out that wouldn't involve a sort of metaphorical blackface - a performance of blackness that wouldn't necessarily involve actually painting one's face but would still be co-opty and offensive.
I really don't agree. Who says performing Kanye is performing blackness? I think a white person can dress up as a black person without degrading, humiliating, or mocking black people. Black face is NEVER okay, but I think it's fine for people to dress up as public figures/icons, etc who have a different ethnicity or race. I was considering being Coraline for Halloween. I don't think that wearing her blue hair and boots, starry sweater, and button eyes without changing my brown skin color would mean I were "performing whiteness." She's a cool character. I like her and would want to embody her for a night. As with any costume, just be conscious of what you are invoking and think twice. After that, have fun and enjoy the one time of year when you get to be someone or something other than yourself.
Yeah. I don't think that dressing up as a specific person of another race is racist. It can be done in a racist way, of course, but as long as your costume focuses on the person's individual characteristics and not characteristics of their entire race, you're probably OK (even if the costume is uncomplimentary to the specific person in question).
Dressing up as a generic member of another ethnic group, on the other hand, I would say is almost always problematic--even if the person doing it doesn't mean to be racist, the costume would almost have to reflect unconscious and/or institutionalized racism.
I was "Green with Envy" one year. I just wore green pants and a green shirt and had an "N" and a "V" on my shirt.
ah! sorry for the weird double post
Similar to the zombie Ann Coulter idea...I'm gonna be Zombie Michele Bachmann. I'm from Minnesota so I think it works best for us since maybe she's not QUITE as infamous as Ann. I'm wearing a suit, pearls, tousled curls with twigs in my hair (from when she crouched in the bushes at a gay-rights rally...gulp), under-eye circles, bleeding mouth and wrists (from the whole slit-our-wrists-to-defeat-healthcare bit...jesus christ is this woman real?). It's going to be...amazing.
I am going as American Health Care Victim -- zombie make-up, patriotic decor I picked up after 4th of July on clearance tacked to my dress, and moaning "COOOO-PPPAYYY...."
Would it be bad if I went as Michelle Duggar? I'd be wearing a housedress, stuff my belly, carry baby dolls, and wear a fright wig. I'd carry a bible and would "tattoo" "I am the Lord's (Jim Bob's) babysitter." Feedback anyone?
im not sure how that's not sexist, mocking a woman for her reproductive choice.
or maybe im just tired of the duggar's being everyone's favourite hate-on family.
I almost had a meltdown in the costume store (warehouse) in which I couldn't find one single non-sexualized costume for women out of the probably 150 options. So I decided to be a Crayola crayon instead and its cheap and easy too...wear all of the same colour from head to toe and add a children's party hat and you are good to go. i am gonna deck it out with some black lettering just to be sure i put some effort in.
Also: bad-ass strong women rockers!!
Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde, Janis Joplin, Courtney Love, Patti Smith, and Tina Turner are all instantly recognizable, and easily pulled off with a wig plus clothes you likely already own.
Plus, a few years ago I went as "Prince songs":
I wore a thrifted Raspberry Beret, Gold jewelery, scads of fake Diamonds and Pearls, a Paisley [Park] skirt, a tanktop I painted a Little Red Corvette on the front of, a Pink Cashmere sweater, etc. And carried a Purple [Rain] parasol.
Spent a LOT of time explaining myself, though.
My friend Patrick's creative costume that year was a "My Name Is... JUDY" sticker on his shirt, and a string of christmas garland looped around his neck.
One year my friend and I went as Ann and Nancy Wilson from Heart. Black and blond curly wigs, 80's type clothes, and we carried our guitars. Not a lot of people got it, though.
My favorite costume ever was when I went as a Bible. Very easy costume, black cardboard front and back covers. Sheets for pages. and!
My finishing touch was finding three feminist Bible verses and putting one on each page. This was a huge party, for a Halloween wedding, and people were amazed when they learned the verses were genuine.
I have this idea in my head I'm going to be Artie, The Stongest Man In The World for Halloween, but the chances of me being able to pull that off with my gender/body are slim. Also, hardly anybody born after circa 1987 would know who that is.
AN ARTIE COSTUME WOULD BE SO EPIC.
(I'm a 1989er here, but Pete & Pete was one of my family's fave shows when I was young.)
A good idea for couples would be the very feminist couple of John Lennon and Yoko Ono (which, since the two were both kind of androgynous, could be easily managed by any gender couples, depending on willingness to crossdress). John needs the round glasses, long brown hair, and a snazzy white suit, Yoko requires long black hair, a white dress, and a matching hat or some of those giant bug-eye sunglasses with the white frames. Season to taste with acoustic guitars, protest signs ("WAR IS OVER if you want it" works well), and witty remarks for both parties.
As for me, this year, as a satire on the inavailability of any costumes for women that aren't "sexy noun," I am going as a sexy velociraptor. I've got the walk down pat already.
"I am going as a sexy velociraptor."
This is the best thing.
I'm a little cheesy and doing a couple's costume. My boyfriend is a talented piano player, so we're going as Lucy and Schroeder from The Peanuts!
He's getting one of those children's pianos, and I have some great black and white shoes, I just need a blue dress.
He is preforming at a Halloween themed party and I'm contemplating propping myself up on the end of the keyboard and staring at him with a dreamy look in my eyes.
Haven't decided yet if I want to make a psychiatric booth out of cardboard, we'll see!
Two involving little more than cardboard:
1) "Magnetic" Poetry: about 100 words (and endings) written in big, black letters on bits of index card, then stuck with masking tape to an all-black outfit. Invite people to rearrange the words. This was a hit last year.
2) Can of Spam: Cardboard Box, pair of suspenders, and half an hour with the crayons. I'm doing this one if I don't get my shit together to make the dress required for the Squid costume I really want to do.
Judy the Talking Embryo? Because the idea of embryo personhood doesn't get enough traction?
My best friend is going as Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus books, and I am going as the Magic School Bus itself.
She will be wearing a red wig, a purple dress with cut outs of planets and stars on it, and purple shoes, and a toy lizard. I will be wearing a box painted yellow with wheels and windows painted on.
Can't wait!
I've been debating between the bunny from Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Vagina Warrior (super-hero type thingy)...
I'm going to wear all black, attach two white cardboard rectangles to the back of my forearms and wear a headband with a white pingpong ball attached above with some sort of thin support rod.
raise arms above head in showing-off-biceps position, tilt head from side to side while moving arms up and down.
voila.
Pong.
I saw WTWTA today, so I'll be Max (white hoodie that mom has offered to add ears to, white sweat pants, crown).
My boy and I were going to be Wall-E and Eve (from the movie, of course), but stylising the costumes rather than actually trying to look like robots.
Wall-E: yellowish plaid or checked work shirt with a dark vest or overalls, add some largish buttons. Also, print out a Buy-n-large logo and stick it to your front. Goggles, work gloves, work boots, look scruffy - five o'clock shadow. Get some portable speakers and download the soundtrack to Hello Dolly! and play at random intervals.
Eve: form fitting white shirt (like that lycra stuff maybe?), white shoes. Lots of blue eye shadow OR because I already have black framed glasses, get some blue cellophane and carefully affix to said glasses. Tie hair back, carry a toy space gun type thing.
Props: carry around a boot with a plant in it and/or a fire extinguisher
We ultimately decided on being farmers from Harvest Moon: overalls, long sleeved plaid, plastic kids gardening toys = already in my closet, lol.
Smurf would be pretty easy if you're willing to paint your face blue.
How exactly do you see the Kanye West one playing out without racism?
Wear the trademark Kanye glasses, some sort of ridiculously hipster clothes, carry a fake microphone, and say make Kanye West jokes. No racism required.
Sounds like an offensive caricature of stereotypical young black men.
I was gonna go as Rosie the Riveter, but instead I'm going to be a Purple Parrot from Legends of the Hidden Temple. I even have a gold helmet =)
my fiancé and I are going as a dead fifties couple. It's mocking the traditional fifties style of marriage, and the gender roles that it plays off of. Plus it has the added benefit of telling all of our friends that we are indeed getting married (we have been dating for eight years now and they have been asking for the last three if we ever intended on doing anything with our relationship at all). It should be a hell ton of fun. Oh and since I happen to like dresses that are fiftiesish I don't have to worry about buying a dress either.
I'm going all out this year, fingers crossed, I'll be a female Wikus with gangly bloody alien arm from District 9.
Failing that I would love to go as a Photoshop disaster, but can't see how I can alter myself enough to make it look striking.
Plan Z is to go as a Silent Hill nurse. They actually look very frightening, but err a little too much on the 'sexy' side for my liking. If you can call deformed murderous nurses sexy. :]
i didn't know the narwhale was feminist-friendly? jokes.
i'm going as dorothy from the wizard of oz, pretty "normal" costume.
a few of my friends are going as the "slut-justice league", dressed as superheroes, with backpacks full of sweaters, tights, and mid-length skirts to hand out to girls who are accidently (or not so accidently) exposing themselves in public. i think it's hilarious. maybe a little offensive, but hey, it's usually around -5C on halloween here, far too cold to be half naked.
Just to be clear here: Your feminist objections to a woman's costume do not give you the right to harass her about it. Nor are you and your friends the god-given arbiters of whether or not it's too cold to expose skin.
There's an awful lot of slut-shaming and paternalism that's painfully evident in this stuff.
Want to debate whether or not the sex-ification of Halloween hurts women generally, OK. But walking around a party telling women to cover up is not at all cool.
I think my main squeeze and I will be going this year as Buster and Lucille 2. I've been listing to Liza with a Z! for weeks in preparation!
My 5 year old daughter asked to go as Abby from NCIS several months ago. We've been having tons of fun making that costume. It's such a geeks dream!!
My husband is going as Captain Hammer :)
I wanted to go as Doctor Horrible, but I just didn't have time to put the costume together this year. Instead, I'm going as a taco, store bought foamie costume. I'm even drawing little hot peppers on my face and making a necklace out of Taco Bell Fire Sauce packets. There are so many other things I'd rather go as, but I'm not purchasing a "sexy" version, which is about all you can find in the ladies section, and I don't have time this year to go all out.
I'm not dressing up this year, but I think I could probably make a pretty good Tonks from Harry Potter (book version). I already have short hair, I'd just need to get a one-night pink hair dye, patched jeans, old sneakers, and I'd probably make my own weird sisters Tshirt and perhaps buy a wand. Would be fun to do that.
Eh, the talking embryo and Kanye West suggestions are kinda iffy, just saying.
I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this (maybe I'm just personally a little obsessed with the movie), but my friend and I are planning to go as roller derby women in the style of "Whip It". We are both trying to settle on cool names.
You can buy roller derby outfits, or if you have one of those pleated skirts plus a tank top (or a girl scout looking dress or shirt), all you really need are roller skates, and depending on the look you want, knee/elbow/wrist pads, helmet, probably some fish net tights and knee high socks or a pair of hot pants. Then just do the hair as funky as you want: pig tails, dye it a funky color or put interesting color highlights in, put colored extensions in, whatever you like. I plan on also doing my makeup more outrageous than usual.
This costume can easily get expensive, but if you already have a couple of the items, such as the skirt/tank plus skates, there's only some accessory type items you have to hunt down unless you really want to go all out. In any case, I'm a roller-derby woman wanna-be, so I plan to use Halloween as my outlet.
Marie Curie!
I shall be zombie Marie Curie for the Zombiewalk, and my partnet miiiight be Pierre Curie.
Yay!
(This occured to me > 30 mins ago, and I'm still very excited.)
this is probably my favourite "feminist parenting" children's costume.
http://www.wubblog.com/wubby/2008/11/connor-rocks-widget.html
that's pretty great, especially since the character is female in the show. Makes me happy to see that parents will bend the gender roles with their kids
I'm going as Medusa! Black sheet + lots of green eye makeup + a bag of those plastic snakes they sell in the kid toy aisle at any grocery store. Reclaiming, indeed!
how is the kanye costume any more racist than the richard simmons costume? are they not equally famous?
I love that you have narwhal on here. I've talked to too many people who think they're mythological and I love it when they're mentioned.
I'm dressing as Mary Wollstonecraft.
Last year, in a flurry of geeky genius, a bunch of classmates and I dressed up as life-sized contraceptives. We're all in a public health program, focusing on sexual/reproductive health issues, so it was appropriate.
We all wore white t-shirts, and put the effectiveness rates of our methods on the back. Methods represented included latex/barriers, nuva ring (involving a hula hoop), IUDs, sponges/spermicide, abstinence pledges, the rhythm method, a pill pack, and more. It was dorky fun, though not very many people understood. We brought condoms and dental dams along with us and passed them out throughout the evening.
There are many interesting costumes out in the market today, even your babies can join you too! And they will look very cute on those little costumes.
On the other hand, some people may opt to "extend" their creativity to the next level by creating costumes that might make your head spinning.
View all the adorable and hilarious halloween costumes here
http://pinoytutorial.com/lifebytes/cute-halloween-costume-ideas-for-babies/
http://pinoytutorial.com/bestandworst/most-embarrassing-halloween-costumes