The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.
~Benedict Cumberbatch
Halloween. Not my favorite holiday. But one year, my son Mike and daughter-in-law Crescent decided they were going to have a party. A multi-generational, family-and-friends party for about forty people. Come one, come all. Bring your parents and your kids. Aunts, uncles and cousins… Everyone was welcome. There was only one requirement: Everyone had to be in costume. Everyone. No costume… no party. Stay home! And that meant everyone, including my husband Ebenezer — I mean Frank — had to dress up. I only call him Ebenezer because when he heard he had to wear a costume, he said, “Bah, humbug!”
What to wear? And how elaborate do we get? Crescent is the most creative of all of us, and she had just the solution. She decided that our immediate family would come as some of the cast members from The Wizard of Oz — family-themed costumes that would all go together!
Mike was the Tin Man. He wore a silver shirt, silver cloth pants, and silver gloves, and wrapped his shoes in tinfoil. He wore a huge silver funnel upside-down on his head, and he carried an oilcan just in case he had trouble moving. Very much in keeping with the Tin Man in the movie.
Crescent would be Dorothy. That was a no-brainer. She pulled her hair into two cute pigtails tied with ribbons and wore a white blouse with ruffles and a perky blue-and-white pinafore. She finished off her costume with white socks and glittery ruby red slippers. Very authentic.
Eli, our four-year-old grandson, was really into this costume thing. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be Toto or the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow won out, and he made the cutest scarecrow ever, complete with straw sticking out of his floppy clothes, shoes, and floppy straw hat. Although not exactly true to the movie script, the Scarecrow carried a stuffed dog that he named Toto.
As for me, who else would I be but the Wicked Witch of the West? Perfect casting! I wore a black top, black pants, black pointy shoes, a black cape, a long black wig and a very tall, black, pointy witch’s hat. To complete the ensemble, I wore long striped socks, just like the Wicked Witch did in the movie. And I put on lots and lots and lots of make-up. My lips were bright red, and my eyes were rimmed in black. My long false eyelashes were a thing of beauty. Fetching! And I got to cackle, cast spells and say, “I’ll get you, my pretty,” all evening in a rather witchy voice. Crescent and I wear the same shoe size, so I also kept trying to steal her ruby red slippers so I could get my powers back. I was not successful and just wound up melting in the corner.
So, our family was all set except for one person — the most difficult of all. What would Crescent decide to do with Ebenezer… I mean, Frank? He didn’t want to wear weird clothes or a full-face rubber mask — too uncomfortable and confining to wear for the entire evening. He wasn’t ready to cross-dress and come as Glinda, the Good Witch. And he was too big to be Toto or a Munchkin. He decided he didn’t want to be the Wizard because he’d have to stand behind a curtain all night. What’s the fun of that?
So, with very few other characters to choose from, Frank came as the Cowardly Lion. On his head, like a hat, was his mane — golden in color and curly — and his lion ears on top of his head. His mane came down the sides of his face, covering his own ears, and wrapped around his chin like a long beard — a full, curly, golden beard. Crescent found a tiny lion’s mask that was just a little bigger than one of those funny clown noses, but this one looked like a lion’s nose and open mouth, complete with teeth. It met his criteria for a small mask. He wore his own golden color shirt (to match his mane, of course) and jeans. We pinned a cute lion’s tail to the back of his jeans to complete the costume. He looked amazing!
As we arrived at the party, we all had to walk through a graveyard that Mike had set up in front of the house. Spooky music was playing, mummies were hanging from the trees, and containers of dry ice were placed all around the yard, giving the whole place a very haunted feeling. People really went all out on their costumes. It was so much fun to see how creative and talented people could be, but we were the only people who came dressed as a group with a theme. Ironically, even though Frank’s costume was minimal, no one recognized him behind his mane and mask! And he knew everyone at the party. People would come up to him, look into his lion’s face and try to figure out who he was. They couldn’t — until he talked. Then they recognized his voice. Man, he really got into playing the part and decided to only roar for the rest of the evening. He was loving it and milking it for all it was worth. He was even awarded the prize for best costume, and there was a lot of competition.
We had all kinds of scary and spooky foods: appetizers galore (including curly cheese straws that looked like crooked fingers); witches’ brew (fruit punch) for the kids complete with black ice cubes and chunks of dry ice for that steamy effect; Bloody Marys with Devil’s Eyeballs (green olives) on toothpicks or blood orange martinis for the older kids (adults); green goblin salad with toasted fingernails (almonds); intestines and monkey brains in blood (spaghetti and meatballs); garlic ghost toast; and spider leg, lizard tongue, diced tarantula, and haunted house ghost cookies, among other delicacies for dessert.
The party was a complete success. Naturally, we were the last to leave because we didn’t want to miss anything. And Frank, the person who used to be known as Ebenezer — the one who complained the most and the loudest about going to a Halloween party and having to go in costume — had the best time. Ever. We even have the pictures to prove it!
~Barbara LoMonaco
