It’s Halloween, so flex your creative muscles

When I was a little girl, Halloween was the most important holiday of the year.

More important than having eight nights to open gifts, shove my face with fried potatoes and, of course, do a bit of gambling.

It was the one night that I didn’t have to be “Carly” and could follow my dreams of transforming into whomever I wished to be.

Cinderella, Sailor Moon, Nala, I Dream of Jeannie; the act of putting on my costume and makeup meant so much that I thought that my changing identity would be convincing.

I couldn’t wait to go out and show everyone that Cinderella was in the neighbourhood, collecting candy for a little girl named Carly.

Then, something terrible would happen. It happened almost every single year.

As I would grab my plastic pumpkin and head to the door to begin my evening, my mom would march over holding my large, thick, Roots varsity jacket and say, “It’s too cold out; you need to wear a jacket.” Costume ruined.

I do not blame my mother for ruining my costumes, but it has had long-term effects on the costume choices.

When I was old enough to not have my parents take me trick-or-treating I’d go with my friends instead.

I ditched my coat when I was a Cabaret Dancer and paid the price of uncomfortably shivering from door to door. From then on I realized that my desired female costumes of exposing a bit of fun skin was just not suitable for a night of trick-or-treating.

If Halloween were in July, it would solve many problems for little kids just wanting to get into character.

Even in the present day, Halloween is still a favourite of mine.

Even if I am bound to stay inside at a house party, I never have the guts to do the generic bustier, fishnet stockings and little animal ears to mark my costume identity.

No one wants to just be that person who forgot to put their clothes on for Halloween, right?

There has to be at least some ‘dressing up’ element to a costume.

Therefore the selection of a full identity transformation goes beyond the appeal of being sexy and wearing a costume that is smart.

Smart, as in I am comfortable wearing it. I can rock the look, still feel good without having my chest or legs over- exposed and cold.

That could just be a personal thing, maybe I have this fear that if I choose a costume with minimal clothing, I will have to wear my Roots jacket, or put a long sleeve t-shirt underneath; something I was so used to and scarred from as a child.

Or, maybe, I realized that choosing a costume that didn’t appeal to “sexy” meant that I could be the only person in the room as that character and not worry about anyone else stealing that identity.

Not once in the past two years have I worried about another Mia Wallace showing up to a party.

A white oxford shirt, black pants, a wig to hide my long hair and some red lipstick to seal the deal.

That was it! And you know what? Being Mia felt way sexier and exciting than the spandex-inspired “sexy” costumes.

My creativity is emphasized in bringing forth a character that has some reference of cool that I always wanted to be, but still feel smart, safe and original.

No roots jacket, no questions, doubt or worrying about being cold.

So if you manage to see a kid trick-or-treating and they are decked out in their costumes but then have their thick, fall jackets to protect them in the cold, give them a special nod.

They are probably so mad at their parents for ruining their Halloween. The mini packets of chocolate, high fructose corn syrup and trans fat collection  is their only hope of temporarily restoring their happiness.