It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, and I got my usual chuckle thinking of Halloween in Anchorage. We generally see a parade of Disney princess, zombie and superhero costumes obscured by winter garb.
Nothing like the sight of an Ariel or Rapunzel wearing a down coat and moon boots.
Last year, long before “Suicide Squad” hit the theaters, one of my great-nephews dressed as Harley Quinn. His makeup was great, his hair was stiffened in pigtails – and his homemade costume, thankfully, had long underwear as its base. It was plenty cold last Oct. 31, too.
Apparently we might see some election-themed trick-or-treaters this year. An e-mail from the Savers group of thrift stores noted that the presidential election has affected costume sales. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump accessories are flying off the shelves.
Here’s an excerpt from the press release:
“Our annual Halloween survey shows that 70 percent think Donald Trump will be the most popular political costume this year, followed by Hillary (19 percent), Melania (6 percent) and Bill (5 percent). Also, 52 percent of Americans say Republican candidates would have better costumes than the Democratic candidates.
“Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton costumes are selling at twice the rate compared to other Halloween merchandise. There has also been a noticeable uptick in both men’s and women’s professional clothing from the secondhand section (e.g. pantsuits and blazers).”
Specifically, the Savers stores (which also includes Value Village) have already sold more than three-quarters of the Trump and Clinton masks they ordered. Bill Clinton paper visages are moving briskly, too.
Halloween horrors
Although I’ve avoided doing any political posts this election, I will say Donald Trump gets my vote for Most Terrifying Costume. That’s because he scares the hell out of me in real life.
But the entire political process has me twitchy, frankly. The idea of li’l election 2016 reminders ringing the doorbell on Halloween makes me want to not be home.
But DF has bought four boxes of candy from Costco, so we’ll leave the porch light on. We’re one of the good houses because we hand out full-sized rather than fun-sized bars. If we weren’t at home to receive the neighborhood ghoulies we’d wind up eating a lot more candy than we should.
So we’ll have the bowls of bars at the ready, starting around 4 p.m. (The cul-de-sac has a bunch of little kids whom we’ll probably see earlier rather than after dark.) I’ll pretend to be terrified by elementary-aged zombies and toddler devils. Won’t have to fake a visceral reaction at the sight of junior Donald, though.
At least business suits and pantsuits are warmer than superhero tights and princess crinolines. They hide the presence of long underwear, too.
Readers: This Halloween are you dressing up? Giving away candy? Going out drinking?
I won’t be dressing up, but I do have a costume from years past. I doubt I will hand out candy or drink. I may eat candy. What is your costume and costume of DF? Do you put up orange lights or decorate outdoor or in?
He used to wear a floor-length dark garment with a hood, and answer the door with a plastic sickle in his hand: “Hello, children,” in a sonorous voice and voila! The Grim Reaper is handing out Snickers bars!
Don’t know if he’ll dress up this year. I definitely won’t. And our only decoration is “Harvest Harry,” a scarecrow figure hanging by the front door.
I agree that the Trump costume is the scariest:)
My daughter is going to be a Panda at a Halloween house party. The costume is a pajama, add face paint its a costume. Nov 1st it’s a pajama again.
We are going to put out candy on the porch stairs and use spider webs to bar access to the front door. While the candy is being taken by ghouls, we are going to do the usual evening stuff.
We give out candy but don’t dress up, unless you want to count my Incredibles tee shirt. I’ve been meaning to use my embroidery machine (50th b-day present) to sew some Halloween-themed sweatshirts. We’ll see if I get around to that. I think they’re both scary, but The Donald is more so.
Taking the Fire Engine up to a neighborhood where all the kids go. Taking candy. Not going to get creative with a costume. I can just put on my turnouts. (Good in the chilly weather)
Firefighter/first responder is a perfectly acceptable costume. Good for the little girls to see a woman involved in this calling, too.
We will hand out a little candy and do the neighborhood party. Our neighbor goes all out…food, decorates the entire house inside and out..it is a good time.
No dress up for us this year! Especially political ….. could not be a killer of tiny humans or big humans, a person that has more sex outside the marriage than in it, could not be a model and I am not as outspoken as some…..
I’m horrible… I give out Halloween themed pencils. I guess that it is slightly better than toothbrushes. I got tired of buying candy and then not having anyone come by (and then I have to eat the candy or make other arrangements for its disposal). So, about four years ago, I bought 10 packs of 10 pencils (for $1 each). I give out a couple to each kid and then store them away at the end of the evening.
By my calculations, I have enough to last about 15 years…
I gave quarters one year. We don’t have but a few come by, so rather cheap.
Those things are even cheaper in the post-Halloween sales — but it sounds as though you’re all set. And yeah, better than toothbrushes in terms of not having your house egged.
I am in a rural dark area where no one comes to our house, so I don’t buy any candy. Halloween aside, this is one scary election, in which I would rather have neither as the candidate!
We always give out candy… I buy varieties that we don’t like much, so we don’t feel obliged to eat the leftovers, LOL.
That’s what we should do. But we don’t. We’ll keep a few upstairs at a time and put the rest in the basement storehouse. If I recall correctly, the leftover candy lasted us for months and months. My nephews are always glad to help us finish it when they visit.
Donna, you just lost a long time reader here. I’ve dismissed your semi-political remarks in the past because I appreciate your writing style and what you’ve done to help so many, including me. The Trump comment really wasn’t necessary. But, I know. Your blog, your opinion.
Take care.
I’m sorry to see you go. Your following up the “wasn’t necessary” statement with “your blog, your opinion” shows that you understand what I do: Write about various things in my life.
If the fact that you don’t agree with one of those things is enough to chase you away for good, well, I really am sorry to see you leave. Wishing you continued success on your money journey.
I applaud your graciousness to InsuranceGal, but not surprised by it. You posed the question at the beginning of the piece, “Which Halloween mask is scarier: Trump or Clinton?” You stated your opinion and she was free to state hers, right? That seems more than fair and I would like to think that I would find it fair whether I agreed with you, or not. By the way, I do agree with you.
Thanks, ma’am.
For the record, there are a few PF bloggers who sprinkle their political views — and I disagree with at least half of them — in posts from time to time.
It’s not what I came for. I don’t love reading it. But it’s the extreme minority of points they make, and I enjoy the rest of their content. So I stick with them and try not to get rankled by the occasional differences in expressed political views. (Which for me, is incredibly difficult, so that should tell you something.) I hope you consider doing the same.
I have to agree with your comment: Trump is downright scary.
Eight years ago my daughter dressed up as Sarah Palin. She borrowed a suit and bought glasses that looked like hers. She carried a stuffed polar bear on a rope over shoulder.
I won’t be giving out candy at the front door, but I’m strongly considering leaving candy in a bowl at the garage side door. I can’t do the front door, because my cat has feline leukemia virus, and so can’t have contact with other cats. But he loves being outside, so I have a cat fence around the house so he can wander in and out of the house. Here in the desert Southwest, that’s still possible at the end of October. But if he’s out, then trick or treaters can’t be coming and going in case he gets out of the fence.
My favorite costumes are either animals or a gypsy. I always thought a gypsy’s life would be interesting. You get to travel, but you take your home, friends and family with you. Kind of neat. Plus, you get to speak a language others don’t know (Romany).
Our neighborhood used to be pretty busy on Halloween, but these days we get very few trick-or-treaters. I think they all go somewhere else – maybe another neighborhood or a local church’s trunk-or-treat? So we didn’t buy any candy this year, and we’ll leave the porch light off. 🙂
We did go to a Halloween party yesterday (Saturday). MrH wore a steampunk outfit, and I rocked a Greek chiton, because it was quick, comfortable, and easy. I wanted to carry scales scales and a sword and wear a blindfold, representing the Roman goddess Iusticia, but didn’t get all the accessories ready in time.
Clinton has by far surpassed Trump in the scary category. How anyone could vote for this criminal is beyond me. She and her hubby will be the first ever impeached husband and wife US Presidents.