We celebrated Halloween – or gay Christmas – on Saturday, donning our costumes to party with friends. Our participation in the ghoulish festivities has increased over the past couple of years, thanks in a large part to Canada, where the holiday is embraced. Last year friends’ threw a party that really opened our eyes to the level of commitment some people have for getting dressed up. And this year’s party was no different. Here are a few things I learnt.
You never have enough time to prepare
We knew Halloween was coming. We knew the party was coming. We knew we had a year from the last party to choose what we were going to go as and what would be required. You’d think we’d have sorted out our costume weeks, if not months, ago.
Wrong!
We only settled on Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf a couple of weeks prior and then it was a mad panic to get everything sorted. I picked up my costume on Saturday morning. I would have liked to have done more with it but I ran out of time.
Next year will be different!
Fake nails are fun but they can be a bit of bitch
I stuck on fake nails and then trimmed them to a point. They looked great. And then I painted them black. How long is nail varnish supposed to take to set? And why was it just one thumb that decided to take the longest to set? In the end I wiped the nail varnish off my thumb and used a black marker to colour it in.
Wish I’d thought of that first.
It was fun having them on during the night. I only lost one of them. Taking out contacts with what are effectively claws stuck to the end of my fingers was scary – especially after multiple drinks – and taking the nails off the next day was a total bitch. I soaked them in acetone for god knows how long. I’ve still got bits stuck to my real nails.
Don’t get hung up on the makeup tutorials
I wanted some sort of wolf-esque look about my eyes but not being at all handy with eye shadow I kind of just went for it. I did a practice run on one eye and it didn’t turn out too badly. Then I got lost in a vicious cycle of make-up tutorials on how to make ‘wolf eyes’.
I didn’t have the time, patience or skill to do even a fraction of what these people were doing. Hats off to anyone who has such artistry because it’s not easy and takes actual practice and talent. For a once a year requirement, I don’t think I need to dedicate much of my time to learning how to put on makeup. In the end I had dark smokey eyes and I was happy with the effect.
No one actually cares about your costume
Sure, it’s fun to dress up and if you’ve got the time and energy, going all out is a great way to mark the occasion. But if you’re not entering a competition, don’t get too worked up about it. It is, of course, a real confidence boost when something either a) immediately gets what your costume is or b) goes completely mental over what an awesome job you’ve done.
But after the first five minutes and occasional interactions during the night, you mostly forget you’re wearing a costume and so do others. Bits start to come off. The itchy fur gets really irritating and you start to shed. And before you know it, you’re in t-shirt and jeans again.
Still going to go crazy for it next year though 🙂
How was your Halloween costume this year?
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