Tag Archives: costumes

finally, a pinata.

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when i woke up on halloween morning

and finally, finally, i am a pinata

even cocoa the sweet dog joined in the fun

no candy in here

but luckily my kind colleagues

were the candy to my pinata.

“i feel like a human pinata. the disappointing thing is, no candy is going to spill out.”

-katie couric

tell a story.

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Mack Elementary School Students in Halloween Costumes
For All-City Party, October 1941
Photo by The Ann Arbor News
All decked out in costumes,
these lads and lass are determined to win prizes
in the all-city Halloween party to be held in West Park.
Between 500 and 1,000 children are expected to attend the annual event.

happy halloween!

“clothes make a statement. costumes tell a story.”

— mason cooley

hot stuff.

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i loved wearing the costumes of my childhood era

and happily ‘suffered for my art.’

recent neighborhood nextdoor comments on the halloween costumes are wonderful:

They were so ugly but if you made your own costume, it wasn’t cool. We had to buy these things…jumpsuit tore easily, and elastic snapped off mask. And the sweat…and trying to breathe through the tiny mouth hole!

Those masks were so HOT! Didn’t hold us back tho! Was so safe then and went out by ourselves.

You couldn’t see out of them, sometimes the parts that touched your face were sharp, the elastic that held it on got tangled in hair. It is a wonder we survived Halloween in these masks!

then the elastic broke so your mom tied it and was even tighter and hotter! 

 and tangled it whatever hair was still left!

I’m surprised there weren’t thunderstorms inside the mask with all the condensation from breathing too. My favorite was my Hot Stuff costume. I still have a picture of me in it!


I totally had one of these costume with the mask…but this…this looks like a Pink Floyd video.

It was miserable wearing those masks, but we didn’t care, we wanted that candy !!

Looking back at those costumes, they were actually a little creepy!!  

How about the little tiny slit near the mouth so that you could attempt to get air? Your parents couldn’t understand why you had to take it off before you went up the steps of the next house. Your face would be drenched with sweat but you would wipe it off and keep going.

Made of suffocating plastic but we loved them anyway.

happy halloween!

“when you’re wearing an animal costume and something bad happens,

your facial expression doesn’t change. the animal is deadpan the whole time.

if you’re skiing in a gorilla suit and you fall, you just see a gorilla who has no emotion.

it’s just a stoic gorilla wildly falling down a hill, out of control.”

-dimitiri martin 

photo credit: vintage pinterest

“well, i didn’t vote for you.” – peasant to king arthur (monty python and the holy grail)

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an adventurous visit to the michigan renaissance festival

way back when

in days of yore

i took my daughters

to this very shire

 all of us dressed up

now my grandsons

have picked up where we left off

 as brave knights

“look, it’s my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can.”

– Sir Galahad (Holy Grail)

people enjoying the day

being whoever they imagine themselves to be

villagers from far and wide are all welcomed here

no matter their dress or look or form

 and what could be better than spying a kilted warrior brave enough to pick up his own hot latte?

“live every day as if it’s a festival. turn your life into a celebration.”

-shri radhe maa

halloween story.

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the six-pack of giant grandies don costumes that tell a halloween story 

who is who and what’s their story?

 

“clothes make a statement, costumes tell a story.”

-mason cooley

walk like a dinosaur.

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The T-Rex Walking Club parades in Ferndale,MI

The T-Rex Walking Club takes a stroll to bring joy during the coronavirus pandemic.  A silly and secret club formed during the pandemic is on a quest to bring smiles to the faces of kids, and a few adults, while under Michigan’s stay home order.

On Friday, when Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended Michigan’s order, there was parade of a pink unicorn, followed by a gentle giraffe, a ferocious bear, a swinging stegosaurus, Scooby-Doo and a shark too, a tall pterodactyl, a trotting triceratops, a black-and-white penguin, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, a friendly T-Rex, another penguin, and a one-eyed Minion.

This motley crew, which calls itself the Ferndale T-Rex Walking Club, takes its unannounced strolls through neighborhoods. There are other characters, too, and a few members have costumes on order. On their next walks, you might see an additional unicorn, more sharks, a polar bear, a gorilla, a Godzilla, an alligator, a hippo, a flamingo, a zebra, and an upside-down clown.

Most members of the club are also members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.The point of the parade, is to cheer up the community during otherwise gloomy times and get children and adults to smile, said Oscar Renautt, who heads the Elks public relations committee.

The T-Rex club has its own set of rules. You must be invited; have an enclosed, inflatable costume; wear a face mask; and you can never, ever tell anyone where — or when — the group is going to go walking.

The founder, Ms. Ignash, received her pink unicorn costume one Christmas, has had it for years, and she’d occasionally show up somewhere in it for a laugh. Then, she posted the article in Facebook for local residents and they thought it was a good idea. Folks asked her to organize an event, so she did. It was right after the stay-at-home order, and within two hours, close to 200 people were interested. 

Ignash decided that it was a totally crazy idea, and irresponsible to create crowds of people during a pandemic, so she canceled the event, and started over. Instead, she created a private group and invited just a couple of friends to join her. They went on a walk in costume, and then another, and another, adding a few friends — and characters — each time. 

The costumes are so big that they naturally require the walkers to space out about six-feet apart, a social distancing requirement of the governor’s order. They also don’t want to spread the virus so they wear masks.Visibility inside isn’t so good either, and it can get hot inside the costume. So they don’t walk for too long. “But, it’s fun because kids really freak out,” Ignash said. “They see us coming, or they hear other people talking about us coming, and kids freak out. Its fun, just so much fun.”

credits: Frank Witsil- Detroit Free Press, Ferndale Elks Club

“a procession is a participants’ journey, while a parade is a performance with an audience.”

 Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

no real boundaries in a parade.

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this family of turkeys behind the line at the parade

may or may not realize 

that they have actually become a part of the parade.

 

“in general, costumes are the first thing in life

that let other people know who we are.

they indicate who the person is without saying anything.”

-molly parker

 

 

 

 

at the 2018 macy’s thanksgiving day parade – new york, ny, usa

costume.

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always wanting to make sure

they have their costumes on in time,

alice and walter proudly sit around in clever disguise

 ready for the big day.

“take care of your costume and your confidence will take care of itself.”

― amit kalantri, wealth of words

the rule of three.

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happy halloween from paper and her team.

‘knife, fork, spoon. rock, paper, scissors. 

it’s the rule of three.”

-stephanie meyer

law and disorder.

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when baby j found himself on the wrong side of the law.

“i promise you a police car on every sidewalk.”

-marion barry