As an adult, I have grown to appreciate how important Halloween is for children. The costumes (a healthy medley of spooky monsters, princesses, and superheroes) and the candy (I mean, ALL the candy) make it such a unique and celebratory day.
I am currently thinking back on my earliest memories of Halloween and my favorite costumes from that time. For some reason I remember painting my own face to be a scarecrow in 5th or 6th grade. The memory sticks because it was my first time really painting my face with a purpose without the help of anyone else. Surprisingly I did a decent job and I looked legit while also cute and freckled with a triangle nose and a smile that extended up near my rosy cheeks. Oh! How could I ever forget my all-time-favorite ballerina costume when I was 4 years old that doubled as an everyday dress up and dance party outfit! My parents have a ton of ballerina pictures to prove it… complete with the princess crown and boom-box too. The ultimate adult costume was in my college days when I was a “Candy Corn Witch.” It was such a hit that it still randomly gets brought up! That same year, I definitely went all Martha Stewart and handed out decorated individual bags of candy corn to all my friends and even had more baggies of candy corn with me downtown where I proceeded to dump piles of loose candy corn into people’s hands or candy bags… I am pretty sure that would be frowned upon in this COVID era of life.
As much as I have enjoyed my fair share of Halloween dressing up over the years, nothing fully prepared me for Halloween at the office. I currently work for a company that CELEBRATES Halloween to the extreme; every department gets decked out and there is major competition for the #1 title and bragging rights throughout the rest of the year. The office hallways get decorated, the themes discussed MONTHS in advance… I thought it was a joke when they mentioned it in my job interview. I am serious… one of my interview questions was “How do you feel about dressing up for Halloween?” Thankfully I saw my soon-to-be bosses wall of Halloween archive outfits and knew I had to say, “I feel great about it” (to be clear I wasn’t lying). Last year my department theme was “Monsters in Paradise”, our entire department was decorated with beach backdrops, flamingos, blow up pool toys, grass skirts, palm trees, and for bonus points we even had tropical food and kool-aid type drinks to stay on theme. The winner last year was the Marketing Department who created their own Netflix (I feel like it’s cheating to have access to the graphics and large printers) and had different sections as different popular shows like Stranger Things and more.
This year, my team and I still discussed Halloween and decided to do something more fitting for the season. Stay tuned for the big reveal of my department’s virtual Halloween this year. I will share it in our Instagram stories on Saturday, October 31st.
Technically, I have already dressed up for work this year and am still unsure what I will actually wear as a costume on Halloween but I have to say I am the most excited about my oldest stepchild’s costume. He always wants the DIY costume crafted from Value Village. I like his style and I know we don’t have many more years of creating these awesome custom outfits for him so my husband and I jumped at the opportunity to design his Captain Jack Sparrow costume from scratch. I highly recommend this to anyone who is creative enough to DIY a costume… just use your imagination. It’s the most rewarding process to see the end result actually match the picture!
Here is how we did it:
– We found a picture we all agreed on
– Looked around the house to see if we had any items at home or if we had to order anything (like a wig)
– Decided what details mattered most and made those a priority to find at the thrift store
– At the store we picked up any and all items that looked similar to the picture
– We gave ourselves only 30 minutes to rush around the store (Value Village) to find it all, I am telling you – you just grab and go when you have a time limit
– At home we layered on each item, cutting the arms off a jacket to make it into a vest, tucking in oversized shirts and rolling the sleeves, strapping belts over the shoulder to match the photo, ripping up a striped scarf to tie around the waist, and for the final touches – pirate boot gaiters! Tah-dah, we did it!!!
– We ordered a wig, a mask (Hey there- COVID Halloween), and I will do his makeup 🙂
– Enjoy a custom and probably way more cost effective and authentic costume
If you made a custom costume this year (or ever) please share below, I’d love to hear ways in which you have gotten creative!
Happy Halloween!
The Salty Exchange 