Halloween Parties

Halloween is one of the greatest holidays, for the sole reason that you get to dress up and pretend to be your character. I remember as a kid, my mom usually made our costumes and I hated taking them off at the end of the night. I also remember when I got to that age where it wasn't "cool" to dress up anymore. Remember that? What a bummer.

When Troy and I started dating, we talked about how each of our friends could take a holiday and host a party so that we would have more excuses to get together and celebrate. We decided that we would take the next closest holiday, Halloween, since we didn't want to come up with this idea and then force our friends to do all the work for it. We sent out invites and informed our friends that they better show up wearing a costume - or else! The party turned out to be a hit and last night was our fourth annual Halloween party at the Carlson Crypt. Our friends' costumes have gotten better and better every year . . . . partly due to the fact that we make fun of the folks who wear lame costumes. They have to put up with the ridicule for a whole year until they can correct their mistake at the next party. We have also thought about buying mustaches and making the lame-os wear them, but we thought that mustaches are really cool and then we might make the problem even worse.

I start thinking about my Halloween costume months before I ever get it. Usually my number one concern is humor. Is this costume funny? Next, I contemplate the comfort level. Since I am also rocking the role as hostess, I need to be able to pull the hot dog mummies out of the oven and refill our guests drinks without a costume that is too cumbersome. Finally, I think about the appropriateness of my costume. Unfortunately, women's costumes tend to be very suggestive and even if I wanted to go that route, I don't have the equipment to fill the top part of the costume. Plus those costumes aren't funny therefore negating my number one costume requirement. Troy on the other hand, only thinks about the funny factor, which is why his costumes are always ridiculous and awesome.

This year, we almost did not have a party. We usually plan our party on the weekend closest to Halloween, which would be next weekend, but Troy got tickets to go see the Chicago Blackhawks since they are up in the Twin Cities to play the Minnesota Wild. We decided that we had to have a party. Our friends were counting on us. (When I told my friend, Shari, that we almost didn't have one, she was very disturbed and made a comment similar to the effect of not wanting to hear that kind of talk again.)

After the party, Troy and I almost felt kind of sad, not the day-after-Christmas-sad, but sad because we have to wait a whole year before we can wear a new costume and party with our friends. Until then, we have our fabulous photos to look at and if that doesn't work, I know the it is only a matter of time before it is time to put the Christmas decorations up around the house.