Comments on: Contest: It’s “Halloweek” on mental_floss!

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:32:04 +0000

This is late (Nov 8th already) but I just saw the thread…
In 8th grade, my friend and I dressed up as doctors (basically, we just wore scrubs). However, we were nerds, so we didn’t call ourselves ‘doctors’. No, we were ‘a paradox’ – we appeared to be one thing (doctors) but were really something else. Get it? Paradox…pair of doc’s…yeah, we were weird 14 year olds.

By: Erin

Erin — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 06:04:56 +0000

I had an idea for this Halloween party that hosted by two of the engineering societies on campus. The theme was Nerdy Costume Party and they said to ‘come dressed as your favorite binary number or scientist’. So I came up with Deep Blue. The costume: wear blue clothes, have a name tag that says “Hello my name is Deep Blue”, and use some masking tape to write IBM somewhere on the back of your shirt.

By: Janel

Janel — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 07:28:57 +0000

My favorite costume is the one I was at the party I was at tonight-Captain Crunch. I just wore my double-breasted coat and made a hat and a mustache out of construction paper. I have never had so many comments about a Halloween costume in my life.

My friend once wore a suit and made a sock puppet monster that sprang out of his stomach a la Alien. That was pretty funny too.

By: squeedunk

squeedunk — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 13:42:07 +0000

Many creative costumes here; mine seems oh so lame now. But here goes anyway: Black tights and an exercise leotard with wide black and yellow stripes was the inspiration for this particular costume (oh, and poverty helped, too). Extra-large cable ties and a sheer from an old set of draperies made my wings, a stuffed black trouser sock stitched up to make it pointed was my stinger, and a little girl’s headband, wire coat hanger, and two glass Christmas tree ornaments taped up nicely with electrical tape made EXCELLENT antennae. Put all this together and stuff a big pillow in the front, and voila!! A bumblebee!

By: Cindy K

Cindy K — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 22:48:06 +0000

You do have to be around people you know for this one, and do a whole bunch of pre-work (i.e., losing a whole bunch of weight) I had lost 90 pounds and for the Halloween party that year, decided to paint myself black from head to toe. Hair, face, teeth, hands (including finger nails, arms, legs everything….the whites of my eyes were the only non black body parts on me… and I went to the party as “A SHADOW OF MY FORMER SELF”. Fun and easy….

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:39:53 +0000

After seeing the documentary, Hell House, a few years ago, I decided to go as a girl fresh outta an abortion clinic. I’m not one for being all up-in-folks’-faces about anything at all, so I thought it was doubly funny: I’d prolly offend lotsa people but have no interest in an argument! Awesome!

I took a pair of sweatpants and sprayed the crotch down with fake blood. Then I took a small baby doll, applied some red nail polish (Ruby Slippers by Chanel) to the corners of its mouth, and shoved the hook end of a clothes hanger through its head. I carried it over my shoulder all night, like if I were a hobo with a rag tied to a stick.

Some folks got mad but that just cracked me up harder. Me? I thought it was pretty dang clever.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:58:33 +0000

My best costume I made was a Grim Reaper. I made it from my high school graduation robe. I happened to have a pair of painters stilts (the kind that strap onto your leg), so I lengthened the robe, and lengthened the sleeves. Then I made long arms by putting rubber skeleton hands on sticks. I made a hood and I wore a glow-in-the-dark skull mask. I wound up being about eight feet tall, and it was quite effective.

One year, I made a suit of armor for my seven year old stepson out of metal flashing. I made a shield out of a sheet of copper I had laying around from a design school project, and I milled out a sword out of a bar of aluminum left over from yet another project.

The saddest experience I had with a really cool costume, though, happened when I was about six. The movie “Jaws” had come out a year or two earlier, and, while I hadn’t seen it, the commercials made it seem like the coolest thing ever. So I found a shark mask at the store and begged my mother to make a shark costume for me. She obliged, creating shark-like outfit complete with dorsal fin and the word “JAWS” on the front in six inch high, blue glitter letters. I was a god. Right up until some old raisin at the mall came right up to me and said “Ooooo. What are you, a ghost?”

By: twistedclaw

twistedclaw — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:46:00 +0000

When I was about 10 years old, the church I attended at the time got on a “Halloween is evil” kick, so they sponsored a Bible themed party. Come dressed as a Biblical character. I wore a construction paper covered box (with a head-hole) over my shoulders. On top of the box (also with a head-hole) was a silver platter (made from foil). My neck was dripping with fake blood & my face was painted like a corpse. I went as John the Babtist’s severed head.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:51:44 +0000

One thing I forgot to add about my superhero is that his name isn’t “SuperBob.” It’s just “Bob.”

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:49:43 +0000

I have a standard costume that I have been wearing the last few years. It is really, really stupid, but everyone loves it. I’ve won contests with it.

So, I used to have an obsession with my name: Bob. I even had a shirt made with the name Bob on it. A navy blue shirt with big white letters. Somehow “Bob” turned into a superhero.

At first I would wear the Bob shirt with a cape my girlfriend (shocking, no?) made for me. Every year I add something to it. The costume now consists of tights, long white socks, a small white mask, and an atheletic supporter (which replaced a pair of tighty whiteys). It is really absurd.

Now I’m starting to create a backstory for my super hero. So far what I’ve come up with is that he has no actual powers. Because of this, he has to carry a gun.