| I entered into my first Halloween costume | | | | but I have seen many great homemade |
| contest at the age of five, alongside my two | | | | Halloween costumes over the years. Groups of |
| sisters. We were dressed as crayons thanks to a | | | | people seem to be a contributing factor in great |
| touch of craftiness from our mother. To make | | | | homemade Halloween costumes. A group of |
| the homemade Halloween costumes, she | | | | costumed people creating a Halloween theme |
| measured around our bodies, cut out tubes of felt | | | | together just compounds the cute, just like with |
| and affixed Velcro at the back. The tubes | | | | puppies. One year, a group of my friends went as |
| covered from chest to feet with short and simple | | | | Tetris pieces that actually fit together. A series of |
| suspenders sewn onto the felt. Crayon point hats | | | | cardboard boxes and paint provided all the |
| were created with the help of a cardboard | | | | materials. Painting and assembling those boxes |
| triangle glued into a funnel shape and covered with | | | | might have been more fun than the Halloween |
| felt. Black felt supplied the “Crayola” and | | | | party we wore them. |
| squiggles at each end. | | | | Another year, we decided on a rather dark yet |
| The brilliant thing about our homemade Halloween | | | | nerdy Halloween party theme, Dead Authors. |
| costumes is that they were so easy to make but | | | | With such a specific topic, homemade Halloween |
| looked quite adorable (if I do say so myself). The | | | | costumes were absolutely essential. We had a |
| felt tubes were quick to toss on over coordinating | | | | prize for the best costume, a collapsible ping-pong |
| clothes and were quite comfortable, important | | | | table made out of scrap wood salvaged by my |
| requirements for impatient trick-or-treaters. | | | | engineer roommate. Extra points were given to |
| Requiring only felt, Velcro, scissors and glue, they | | | | dead author costumes incorporating how the |
| were also cheap for Mom. Any kid or adult could | | | | authors died. The best and winning costume was |
| immediately identify our costume, which indulged | | | | Sylvia Plath who constructed an oven around her |
| such a pinnacle kid favorite. While we did not win | | | | head with a clear, swinging door and knobs. I |
| the costume contest that year, we still have | | | | dressed as Virginia Woolf, filling my cardigan |
| these homemade Halloween costumes made so | | | | pockets with rocks. |
| many years ago. | | | | Sure, our dead author homemade Halloween |
| No one ever wins a Halloween costume contest | | | | costumes were dark, perhaps even a touch |
| with a purchased costume, no matter how | | | | disrespectful, but they were also funny. They |
| intricate. Homemade Halloween costumes are | | | | commemorated the darker side of these authorial |
| simply superior. Those winning homemade | | | | geniuses. More importantly, they were creative |
| Halloween costumes demonstrate superior | | | | and encouraged everyone to make something |
| creativity, crafting skill and most of all, effort. The | | | | with their hands. For students accustomed to |
| costume can even be quite simple, as long as the | | | | reading and writing all day long, the homemade |
| idea is clever. Homemade Halloween costumes | | | | Halloween costumes were strangely therapeutic. |
| based on puns score extra points. | | | | Make your own homemade Halloween costume |
| Those crayons will always be first in my heart, | | | | this year! |