The day after...

Our Halloween party broke up around midnight last night, and what a party it was. We started at 6:00 -- because some of our friends live downtown and the later the party starts, the later it ends, so early is best for our group.

The costumes were amazing, but we say that every year. First place couple went to our friends C & L-- they dressed up as Gomez and Morticia from the Addams Family... C went all out with her knee-length black wig, black fingernail polish, white-white makeup, and the cut-fringe on the hem of her long black dress. Her husband L used spray-on black hair dye to cover his gray hair, plus he grew a mustache and sideburns and sprayed them black as well. They always go all out for our parties-- C's covered dish was a witch's cauldron filled with chili-- the black cauldron sat on a huge platter covered with spider-webbing, spiders, eyeballs that lit up, and tiny black bats. She also made cornbread fingers and buttermilk rolls in the shapes of bones.

Sexiest Costume went to D, who dressed up as Liza Minelli-- complete with black sequined short dress and black feather boa, black stockings and heels, false eyelashes trimmed with glitter, loads of rhinestone jewelry, plus she had her hair cut and styled like Liza's. We also gave a Sexiest 2nd place to L, who was dressed in a red flapper dress, black feather boa, flapper hat with a feather, and lots of faux jewels and pearls.

Miss C got a prize for the Funniest Costume-- she came dressed up as a bag of jelly beans. She took a huge clear plastic bag, made slits for her legs, arms, and her head, then filled up the bag with loads of multi-colored oval-shaped balloons. She wore a red sweatshirt and red slacks underneath all of that, but with so many balloons covering her, you could hardly even see the red clothing. She squished when she walked, and it was hard for her to sit down-- she had to keep re-adjusting all the jelly beans.

Our friend J from the antique shop came dressed up as Dracula... long black cape, white gloves, white shirt and black vest. J has had his heart surgery (pacemaker) up in Austin, which is where he was evacuated to just before Ike hit-- he had been in a hospital in Galveston, awaiting surgery, but found himself up in Austin when they had to evacuate the Island. Austin was the best thing that could have happened for J--- they did his surgery, didn't make him wait, and took such good care of him that he now looks better than he ever did.

Another friend came dressed up as a 1950s nurse.... complete with that triangle-shaped hat they used to wear (which she made herself) and a vintage nurse's dress that she found on the Internet. She bought a fake stethoscope and had an RN nameplate made up for herself-- so we gave her a prize for the most authentic costume.

L's husband came dressed as an astronaut; J was also Morticia, but not as elaborately dressed as C was; V was a witch (with her black and orange-feathered hat that she won here at last year's Halloween party); S came dressed up as a football referee and kept blowing his whistle to get everyone's attention. (V told S that she was going to "bury that dang whistle in the bayou" first chance she got.) Those were the more elaborate costumes... everyone else had on Halloween colors and/or Halloween-themed shirts or tops (holiday themes are big here in all of the clothing stores).

My husband's costume was an idea he got from the Internet..... he made himself a large horseshoe-shaped magnet-- cut out of poster board that was about 1/4" thick. Then he printed out the magnet-shape on his computer-- a red magnet with silver ends, just like those vintage magnets. He glued that colored shape onto the board... then glued about a dozen of those small yellow fuzzy Easter baby chicks to both ends of the magnet--- he was a "Chick Magnet." Great idea, very funny, and everyone laughed at the great costume.

When my husband decided to be a Chick Magnet, he asked me if I would consider dressing up like a little yellow chicken, to go with his costume. Are you out of your mind? That is definitely not me. But then I got to thinking.... no way would I dress up like a yellow chicken..... but I could dress up like a "chick" wearing yellow.

So off I went to all the thrift shops and resale shops in the area, looking for yellow clothes. I didn't want to try the department stores because I didn't want to spend a fortune on a yellow outfit, since I usually don't wear anything yellow and knew I wouldn't be wearing those clothes again. I did look on eBay, and found a beautiful yellow gown, but the bidding went up too high, plus I wasn't sure about the size.

In one consignment shop, I found a pair of yellow capris-- perfect. In a thrift shop, I found a cute yellow top. At another resale shop, I bought a yellow sweater, just in case the weather got cool-- which it didn't... it was 85 degrees yesterday. When I got home, I tried on the yellow top with the yellow capris, along with a pair of beige-y gold heels. Perfect.... except for my hair--- all those yellow clothes with my dark hair just wouldn't do. The next day, I went to the costume shop and bought a blonde wig..... long blonde waves, on sale for just $16. Plus, I found an orange/yellow feather boa-- more than perfect. Back home I went, to try on all the yellow clothes with the wig and the boa.... really chick. I added a long orange-beaded necklace, long dangling orange and gold earrings.... My idea of a little yellow chick.

I didn't tell my husband about the outfit, and surprised him yesterday afternoon when I got dressed up for the party. He laughed out loud, absolutely loved the costume.... and asked me "Where did you get that hair?" At the party, my husband went to the door every time our friends came, so after they laughed at his Chick Magnet costume, they laughed harder at me dressed up like a yellow chick. So of course they told him that his magnet really worked.

Half of our friends told me that the blonde hair just wasn't me (I agree).... the other half said I should wear the wig when Gary and I go out (not going to happen). Just about everyone said I should let my hair grow longer (I'm thinking about that one), but keep it my own color (most definitely). The wig is now in the plastic bin along with all the costume stuff we've collected over the years. I'm sure I will wear that wig again, but only for a costume party.

I told my husband that blondes really don't have more fun..... I still had to clean up after the party, even with the blonde wig. Our dog didn't seem to notice the change in my hair yesterday, but our cats surely did. Mickey Kitty wouldn't come near me when I had that wig on, and the two older cats just gave me wide-eyed looks that seemed to say She has really lost it this time.

The party was so much fun that it was worth all the work, all the decorating, all the attention to the countless details that go into such a large party. Last night felt like the real Halloween..... the 31st will feel like an after-thought, unless we get a lot of Trick-or-Treaters coming round. There were very few last year, and the number of trick-or-treating kids seems to decrease with every Halloween.