I had almost once again given up. The team had let the ball drop on a group costume and never being one to believe I could pull off a worthy last minute costume, I was ready to just play the role of old foagie. And then the Wednesday before halloween, Kelly came up to me at Taco night. ''So, you ready to host Karaoke this Saturday?"
"Uh, wait...isn't this Saturday your halloween party?"
"Yup! Its gonna be a blast."
Hence, the hasty need for a costume.
So that saturday, after a morning of planting popcorn and playing scrabble with some seniors at the nursing home (hows that for some sterotyping?) Mary and I spent the afternoon hopping from home supply stores to thrift stores and marketplaces in a last ditch effort to garner some inspiration. I was leaning towards an elk but by the time we got home, I had the making for three different outfits. After trying on the "Cowgirl" and "RetroDisco" looks and realizing these were clothing items I would probably wear on a regular day, I returned to the Elk idea. With my brown pants and shirts, I didn't feel to hopeful but once I had started shaping out some antlers the costume bug took hold. Smudging a black nose onto my face and wrapping a fuzzy brown scarf around my neck really pulled it together but what topped it off above all, was when Mary handed me a towel and a sewing kit. "Here, make yourself a tail."
Mary pulled together a very black and white ghoulish thing and decided she was whatever people wanted to call her. I suggested Monster High Barbie.
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| Ain't we a cute couple |
The party was a blast, although a cannot speak from the perspective of everyone I kept hitting in the face with Elk antlers. I couldn't even walk straight through a door with those things. They made for some comedic form on the Karaoke stage when Kelly, who was donning a big blonde wig would come close to help with the machine. I'm surprised I never pulled it clear off. The antlers also started a collection of cobwebs, grabbing them from the low hanging ceiling where I had to stand to work the machine.
I probably sang more Karaoke that night than I ever had in my life. Anything from the good old Beatles and the Time Warp (which almost no one knew so I did practically alone) to ridiculous contemporaries like Beyonce's Single Ladies. Even though the same 5 or so people performed throughout the entire night, we didn't call it quits until about 1 am, just enough for one round of pool.About half way through the night, Kelly called a costume contest. placing first was a couple dressed as road kill with tire tracks up and down their face and t-shirts. Second was a diva. there was a couple dressed as a leprochaun and pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that I thought should have won. Mary had thought about dressing as a hunter and I said if she did that, we probably would have been contenders also.
The next Wednesday was the day before halloween and I decided to try and get a last-minute halloween activity together for the kids at Open Gym. I gave a pathetic attempt at decorating the front table with frustrating spider web clumps and bought supplies to make paper bag luminaries. I was surprised with how many of the kids took to making one...or three. Even a couple of the older kids became intrigued near the end of the night and made one. Of course, I also got candy for them and wore my elk costume, sans black nose. My antlers had really taken a beating at the party and I had to take them off shortly after because they were flooping in front of my face but the kids enjoyed seeing them.
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