Halloween Re-cap

I can't believe Halloween has already come and gone. I still had a ton of projects and recipes to try. My health wasn't cooperating and I simply ran out of time and energy. Oh well. There's always next year. Right?

Halloween always feels rushed-- even this year when my husband and I decided to just chill at home and hand out candy-- it was still a bit of a whirlwind.

I waited too long to buy a pumpkin this year. We live in a small town and after 11 months, I find myself still adapting or trying to adapt to its rhythm. So instead of driving to the next town on a great pumpkin chase, I picked out a squash and gourd. Carving said squash and gourd was a downright pain in the butt! I figured the gourd would present a challenge but I didn't expect the squash to be any different from a pumpkin. I guess there's a reason that traditions are traditions. As cute as they came out, I don't think I ever want to carve non-pumpkins again.

Shortly before sunset my husband suggested we dress up which surprised me since it's usually the other way around and I'm usually trying to get him to do something festive. After fighting with my imposter-lanters, I was an exhausted hot mess but dressed up just the same. My husband and I didn't have costumes specific to this year and just wore our favorite go-to costumes that we've worn before for events, comic cons, etc.

My homemade ghostbuster costume is pretty easy to do on your own. I bought the flight suit at an Army surplus store. They come in different colors so you could even get a darker one if you were going for the Ghostbusters 2 look. I prefer the tan costume. They also run cheaper if you buy it second hand (also carried by Army surplus store). I think this one ran 30 bucks 5 years ago and they can be pricey if you opt for a new one. I bought my patches on Ebay (5 years ago). The ghost logo and my name patch were both very reasonable and the name tag is customized with my maiden name. I like to buy Nickelodeon green slime at Toys "R" Us to apply to my suit to give it that "just slimed" effect. Since dressing up was last-minute, the slime you see is dried up from NY Comic Con 2012. I washed my flight suit since then and while a lot came off, what you see is leftover. So normally, I'd have way more slime and it would be brighter and shinier. My hair was a hot mess, as I mentioned, so I threw on a wig cap and red fantasy wig (which I also already had). It worked out well and made for a last-minute cartoony Janine Melnitz costume. I also safety-pinned the Slimer stuffed animal to my collar and shoulder for added effect. I picked him up at Comic Con last year and he instantly became part of my costume. I'm sure he's available to purchase from a hundred different places online.

We handed out candy, watched The Wolfman (1941), Dracula (1921), House on Haunted Hill (1959), Pet Semetary (1989), MST3K: Touch of Satan, and called it a night. I didn't get to watch the original Halloween this year and my husband didn't have nearly enough patience to sit through Manos but that's okay. Pretty awesome Halloween nonetheless. On a side note, we are the rare breed of people who have nothing in our garage aside from our car so we decided we're decorating our garage next year.