Scareapalooza

I have always wanted to celebrate a 'real' Halloween. It's such a cool concept - dress up, revel in the mysterious vibes, frolic around the neighbourhood, receive junk food, consume junk food. Unfortunately, it is not a holiday with an established tradition in Australia.

Despite this, throughout my childhood my friends and I maintained the faith, and did our best to trick-or-treat year after year.

And year after year, the experience was kind of depressing.

Firstly, it was always freezing, and there really isn't as much warmth in a lycra catsuit as you might think. Secondly, thanks to the endless scaremongering regarding razor blades in apples and poisoned lollies (was there any basis at ALL for those urban myths?) combined with the unfortunate spate of high profile child kidnappings that plagued Melbourne during the early 90s, our parents were terribly anxious that trick-or-treating would see us meet a grisly end. So we were only allowed to trick-or-treat at the houses of people we knew, and this, of course, meant forever turning up at the houses of local Lefty academics, artists and social workers who would inevitably react with: "*suspicious look* Isn't this an AMERICAN celebration?" or "Never heard of it. Can you share one Malt-o-Milk between the 6 of you?" or "Chocolate is bad. Here, have some carob!"

It was kind of crushing, especially given that television, books and movies from overseas had given us such high hopes.

I had another crack at trick-or-treating when I was about 13. My girlfriends and I hit up a rich suburb where a much older boy, on whom we all had massive crushes, lived. We found his address in the phone book, disguised ouselves sufficently, worked the rest of his street with some success and eventually rode the sugar high to his front door, where we were nearly savaged by his severely pissed-off dog. Would have served us right if we had been bitten, creepy little band of stalkers that we were. Yikes. The boy looked confused and slightly afraid of us - I can't remember if we got decent lollies from him or not. I do remember that the guy in the preceeding house had shut the door in our faces ("Trick-or--" *SLAM*), and the one in the next house along freaked us out by exclaiming earnestly, "I love the Mexican Day of the Dead! I've got some shrunken heads, do you want to see them?" Again, not exactly what Peanuts, episodes of Roseanne or (in my case) 'Meet Me In St Louis' has led us to expect.

Last year, I was still overseas in October. I was in the States, the UK and Europe for the Halloween lead up, and witnessed the shops busting out their special decorations and the papers featuring spreads on costumes and decorations. Finally, I thought, here was my chance to experience a real Halloween! Yes! Rock! Orright! Except-- not. Sadly, due to a scheduling conflict I spent the night of October 31st sleeping on the floor at England's Stansted Airport, wrapped in some newspaper to keep warm. Memorable - for all the wrong reasons.

The good news is, this weekend I will actually be attending a Halloween party. Belated, yes - but still. Sweet! What to wear? (I've totally planned well in advance, as you can see.) I was thinking about going as Wednesday Addams, but I'm getting my overly long, oboe-playing virgin-esque hair cut before the bash (finally!) and that was half the reason for the choice. My younger brother, the Boy Wonder, is coming too and we had thoughts of a duet. I have a snobbish reluctance to 'hire' a costume. The Fish Family tradition has always been to make one, or adapt an existing outfit. But having failed to get our shit together we might have stoop to the rubes level and sub-contract to a professional. Suggestions are welcomed.

While sourcing ideas I found this site, which (as well as actually good ones) has costume suggestions like:

Ceiling Fan: Write "Go Ceilings!" on the front of your shirt. And don't forget to cheer!
Blinghis Khan: Dress like Genghis Khan (armor, mandarin mustache, etc.), then add "bling," fur trim, etc.
Cardiac Arrest: She dresses up as a big red heart (cut out of cardboard or cloth) and wears handcuffs. He dresses like a cop.
Peace and Quiet: One person dresses like a hippie (jeans, flowered shirt, peace signs, beads, headband, etc.). The other person dresses up like a mime (striped shirt, black pants, suspenders, white facemakeup, etc.). [heh. I quite like that one.]

Also here's some photos of dogs in costumes because I can't help myself when I see them. (Thanks to Snaz for links)














"I could really fucking use some Force rite now kthxbye"

Your further reading for today - Stateside author and blogger Maureen Johson has her own Halloween stalker story - and it's a ripper. Ruth has also blogged some Halloweeny goodness - extra points for the 'Worst Witch' reference. (By the way, if you need to feel inadequate, consider that Ruth has only just turned 21. Freaky genius.)

The Jelly Verdict
I know many people consider Halloween to be just crass US cultural imperialism. I could muster some well-argued rebuttals - for a start, the origins are Irish - but what it really boils down to is this: I simply can't disapprove of a holiday that encourages the wearing of zany costumes in public. I'm sure you'll find some affection for this campy supernatural event in your own heart if you dig deep - it's probably buried under your Christmas spirit or beneath the horseradishy smell left over from Pesach.



Support the underdog. Celebrate Halloween.