If you haven’t figured it out from the past couple of posts, about Halloween and my monster cupcakes, I absolutely adore Halloween!!! Each year I decorate my home and entrance, hoping to give kids a bit of a scare when they come trick-or-treating.
And I wear a scary costume to give out treats to everyone who come to our door. I’m usually disguised as a witch or a zombie, so I’ve gotten very good at doing my make-up for these characters over the years. So good, in fact, that it’s a running joke in my family that it takes me longer to put on my regular make-up than it does for the scary faces!
Most years I’ll wear a costume to work as well, although I take into account what I’ll be doing at the office. Last year there was no way that I could do any costume make-up, because of the rare neuro-inflammatory disease affecting my right (dominant) hand and arm; Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).
So I wore my green M&Ms costume, along with a bright green wig, to the office. I had a meeting, also attended by some international colleagues from within the same firm, at which I was the only person in costume. It was a great ice-breaker, for these visitors!
Once home, I threw together a scarier costume to scare the trick-or-treaters; a person being attacked by a giant spider ‘-) That costume worked really well… because we just happened to have a very furry giant spider at home, as a Halloween decoration – of course!
This year I decided to wear my witch costume to work, as well as for the trick or treating tonight. Unfortunately I had a really tough time doing the make-up properly. My hand is still affected by CRPS, so completing everyday tasks is often a struggle. My goal, for this costume, is to do my make-up so that I end up looking like a dead person. I suppose you could call it a zombie-witch creature.
Even though I couldn’t get the make-up the way I wanted it, my costume was so good that many of my coworkers didn’t recognize me. In part due to a long black-haired wig. But I still wasn’t happy with how my witch face turned out. It just wasn’t as good a job as I’d usually do for my hand-made costume; like so many other things since I’ve had CRPS, I had to give up about halfway through.
On the positive side, I scared a few of the kids who came to our door tonight; and that’s the most important part of Halloween for me! Making it a fun evening for the kids, and entertaining for many of the parents as well. And I’m still proud of this costume; I made it myself, back when I could still sew; prior to being afflicted with CRPS.
Years ago I’d embroidered spiders, snakes, and other creatures onto the long black skirt with silvery thread. Then I’d sewn 3-dimensional glow-in-the-dark spiders onto the skirt, and onto my pointy witch hat.
Today my husband re-used the costume that I’d thrown together last year, when I got home from work, because my green M&Ms candy disguise just wasn’t scary enough for the local kids. He went to work dressed as a person being attacked by a giant spider, and came in second in the Halloween costume contest at his office ‘-) He also scared a few people – even some adults!
Happy Halloween everyone – have fun!!!