first off…i don’t like halloween. there. i said it. partly because i don’t like dressing up and mostly because every halloween when i was little i’d get my hopes up and have an awesome costume and them i’d get violently ill that day. sometimes it was the flu, sometimes allergies, sometimes a head cold. i remember one halloween when i had this kick-ass she-ra costume (crown and everything) and when my mom was driving me to another neighborhood to trick-or-treat i threw up all over myself and ruined my beautiful gauzy she-ra skirt. also ruined – my little 6 year old dignity. or however old i was.

that being said, i do have this one idea for a halloween costume that i’ve been kicking around for about 10 years and i thought of another cute/weird/whatever idea yesterday:

  1. Baked Potato – make a big lumpy potato-shaped suit out of brown fabric. make sure to cut holes for your head and extremities. stuff it with batting and let some spill out of the front of the potato suit, which should be slit open lengthwise. paint a square shirt box yellow. stick it to the spilling-out batting for a butter pat. stick curls of green crepe paper on the batting for chives. small black construction paper squares will do fine for black pepper specks. i have decided against sour cream because it seems that anything that could look enough like sour cream would just be too much of a hassle to work with. don’t forget a brown shirt and tights. voilà! baked potato!
  2. Friendly Squid – start with a pink or coral or orange bodysuit. make a pointy, flared hat and cover it with the same color fabric, making sure to attach it to a hood with a hole cut out for your face. make fabric spats and mittens that are flat and leaf-shaped. your feet are the squid’s two longer arms. cover 6 lengths of flexible tubing and attach mittens to one end of each. affix these arms around your shoulders and collarbone. stick suction cups to one side of all 10 arms or draw them on. smile so people know you’re not going to attack and eat them. voilà! friendly squid!