My Halloween Experience

Note: while this column is coming out a week after Halloween, please don’t go assuming I actually spent all of the past week working on it. I could say that between family crisis stuff and my bronchitis that I thought was a cold and job crisis stuff from last week I had started it and gotten distracted. But honestly the idea didn’t really come to me until today.

I think Halloween is far more fun as an adult[1] than it was as a kid. Think about it, when you were little you maybe got to wear your costume two times: to school and on Halloween night. This year alone I wore three Halloween costumes and passed up on chances for more.

Thanks to UGA’s Fall Break there was a Halloween costume party the weekend before the Georgia-Florida game (it was still warm that night and I got to trot out my classic Tom Cruise from Risky Business costume consisting of a white dress shirt, socks, sunglasses and tighty whiteys that lived up to their name), then, because Halloween was on a Monday, you technically could have gone out to downtown or costume parties Wednesday night (night before fall break, for many UGA students the equivalent of a Friday), Friday night (I went out, in Atlanta, as Zoolander), Saturday night, Sunday night and then Monday night. That’s up to six nights of costumed fun. You don’t get that as a kid.

A few highlights and surprises:

Apparently very few people watch Scrubs: my J.D. (Zach Braff’s character) was assumed by all to just be a doctor costume unless I told someone who I was. Upside: this did not deter a few young ladies from paying my ass the high compliment of grabbing it. I expect the random butt-grabs when I wear a costume with no pants, so to know I have a cute butt in scrubs was a nice surprise.

Pirates everywhere: far more guys in particular seemed to be Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl this year, and given that Pirates came out a while back, I guess I thought last year would have been the year to see half a dozen would-be Johnny Depps. Downside: maybe a lot of girls read Maxim, but only a few actually went as “sexy pirates”.

Best ensemble Costume: the group who went as the cast of the Family Guy. The only thing I could fault them with was that Peter wasn’t fat enough.

Best twist on a theme: the girl who dressed up as a “reverse cowgirl”—basically cowgirl outfit worn backwards with a mask and a sign that said “reverse cowgirl”. Sadly, she said that several people not only didn’t get it, but that several guys claimed to not even know what a “reverse cowgirl” was. However they can be spotted by their sexually frustrated dates.

Most Creative Costume that would only work in a college town: The girl (I believe her last name was Cohen) who went as a Facebook profile.

Costume gaining in popularity: the Hunter S. Thompson (Johnny Depp from Fear and Loathing) costume. I saw a few this year, but was the only Hunter two years back—and I still got a kick of the bartender at Last Call sniffing the baggie of oregano because she though it was really pot.

---

[1] Yes, I consider myself an “adult” even though some folks have said my reluctance to join the minivan-driving humdrums of suburban life is a sign of childishness.