Halloween costume help!

[Seonaid]

So, I've been invited to a Halloween party for this Saturday night (very short notice, yes). I am horrible when it comes to "crafty" things and I have little time (obviously) and no real budget and am at a complete loss as to what I should be. A friend of mine suggested Chun-Li (I'm Asian and female), but I have nothing that would even remotely resemble her garb.

I'm 5'2", 21+, and currently have a bum knee that requires a brace (which is fairly unobtrusive, but nothing skin-tight will work). Ideally, it will be something that doesn't require much assembly. I'm willing to spend a bit of money, but not a lot unless it's for something I can reuse later. I'm not giving you a lot to go on, but any suggestions?

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

I love these questions! Anyway, is there a certain "dress code" for this party, i.e., it must look good; no hand me downs? Or are you putting pressure on yourself?

Anyway, Halloween make-up is cheap and with a few clothes items from your closet, etc. you can do really well. For example, I took an old pull-over, ragged pants, some old boots, got a walking stick which was a branch from the woods, and applied white make-up to my face, took green make-up and applied it around my eyes, put a towel to look like a hunch back and -- I was a hunchback. The only thing I spent money on was two tubes of make-up.

Halloween make-up can do wonders. One time my daughter and her frioends took make-up, dressed in black, and went around as a pack of ghouls. It ddoesn't have to be fancy and I think it looks a lot better than store-bought masks.

 

[Seonaid]

The only dress code is that we must be in costume. There will be prizes for best costume, etc. It's a house party held by a friend of mine and about 25 people will be there, probably.

Good idea with the makeup. Too bad I'm not so good with application. I guess I can play around with it and see what I come up with.

 

[Mycanid]

Many, many, MANY years back my dad went to a Haloween Party as a fountain.

On his head he had a bucket with a hole in it and 10 feet of blue cellaphane coming out of it and down to the ground. He wrapped his body in a sheet and had a stiff, wide ballerina looking thing sticking out wide and sideways for the "base" of the fountain.

He won the prize at the party, primarily because no one could guess WHAT in the world he was. Now I don't know if this kind of thing would be your "cup of tea", but your knee brace certainly would not get in the way!

 

[Pbartender]

Oooh... I have a fondness for well done costumes. If they're simple, but well done, so much the better.

Last year, I picked up a pair of prosthetic horns, a bit of black eyeliner, and some red grease paint. I stuck on the horns, painted by head and hands red, and added just a bit of black around the eyes and mouth. Then, I dressed up in my ordinary street clothes and took my kids out trick or treating. The highlight of the night was when we met a young preschool girl in an angel costume: I smiled at her and said hello... She burst into tears and hid behind her dad.

The variation on the demon costume is the vampire costume I've always wanted to do, but never quite had the money for... All black full-eye contact lenses, a set of dental-grade prsthetic fangs, and a pair of sunglasses, while wearing ordinary street clothes. You keep the sunglasses on, and your mouth closed until it's time for the big reveal.

This year I'm dressing up as Charlie Brown... A white sheet full of holes, and a paper bag full of rocks.


Finally, the best costume I ever wore...

What you need:

One serving cart of the sort used for room service -- It must have a lower shelf.
One large metal serving tray with a domed cover.
One table cloth long enough to entirely conceal the sides of the serving cart.
Green lettuce leaves, carrots, cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes, and perhaps a sprig of parsley.
A good friend in a chef costume.

Cut a hole about a foot wide in the top shelf of the serving cart, the table cloth, and the serving tray. If necessary, cover the edges of the hole in the cart and tray with a bit of duct tape in case of sharp edges. Put the table cloth on the cart, the tray on the table cloth. Line up the holes. Sit on the bottom shelf (a cushion or pillow is handy), and stick your head up through the holes. Have your friend artistically arrange the vegetables and garnish around your head (this conceals the hole). Cover your head with the domed lid, and let your chef-friend wheel you in.

When the time is right, your friend lifts the lid with a flourish -- "Voila!" And you wait a dramatic moment with your eyes closed, before you pop them open and with a big grin sing out, "I! Aint got no-body! Hotcha-cha-cha! Cha-cha-cha!"

 

[Hypersmurf]

Last year, I picked up a pair of prosthetic horns, a bit of black eyeliner, and some red grease paint.

Some years ago, I had a Halloween party to go to in the evening... and that day, I was working on the Fallen Angel episode of Xena Season 5.

I talked the lovely ladies of KNB EFX into letting me go home without removing the facial makeup and prosthetics (on the condition that I brought the horns back the next day).

So I went to the party as a demon in formalwear... everyone at the party was awed.

Lots of fun

-Hyp.

 

[Thikket]

Some years ago, I had a Halloween party to go to in the evening...

Hypersmurf, you continue to be the awesomest guy ever.

While this is perhaps not too pertinent for you, Seonaid, I figured I'd chime in with my favorite Halloween costume my buddies and I did. We always do group costumes, which I find to be tons of fun (provided everyone puts in some effort!), and in this case we went as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death.

I was Pestilence: I wore a tattered robe covered in fake insects and spiders and applied black and green clown makeup to my face and hands (the only areas showing) to give myself a sickly and diseased look. Makeup does wonders, as another poster mentioned; it's very easy to get a great (or in my case, revolting) look. I tossled my very long hair into a mass of netted strands and sprinkled liberally with fake spiders. In my case, I also applied spots of glue to my face before putting on the makeup, and by the end of the night my sickly "face" was rotting and peeling away. The effect was fantastic.

But the best part was that we all took the costumes very seriously, dressed in the most gruesome fashion ever, and carried pink-bridled hobby horses as our mighty steeds. Mine was named Princess, and she has beautiful blue eyes.

As I said, I doubt it's useful to you, but if you're going with three friends and want to make a big impression, try stealing this idea! I can totally imagine a "5'2", 21+" Asian girl making a fantastic War.

Hooray for Halloween!

 

[Aurora]

[off-topic] Thikket, your sig line is freakin' sweet. [/off-topic]

 

[Templetroll]

One guy I saw at a party wore white pants, a white shirt with a bar code on the back and white makeup. He was a generic person.

I once went to a larp and used green base makeup, red under the eyes and under my bottom lip and black on my eyelids and cheeks to make them look a bit hollow. I have long hair and pulled it up on top of my head, put a Boba Fett action figure there held on with those thin hair twists. I wore sweatpants, an old long t shirt for a tunic and a robe. I was the Goblin King from the magic cards, the thing in my hair was my Boba Fett-ish. The pun made it worthwhile to me, YMMV.

My daughter took her mother's black rain cape, a long black dress, we bought a nice funky balsa sword and what were supposed to be gloves with metal, kinda robotic, on it and that hood with the thin cloth over your face so it looks like empty blackness where the face should be. She put aluminum foil on her sneakers and went as a Nazgul. It was very entertaining how grim it looked to see the long dark clothes flowing around as these slender glittering fingers held that sword the way they did in the movie.

 

[MonkeyDragon]

Sock Gnome! Wear a tunic and leggings, and a big pointy hat, and pin left socks all over yourself. You are the gnome that steals the socks from the dryer.

I've never gone as a sock gnome, but I know someone who did, and I've loved the idea of that costume ever since he told me about it.

I'm dressing as one of my characters this year, a dioboli barbarian. I have a leather bodice, a rabbit skin cloak, and fabric to make a skirt and furry goat leggings. I just need to think up my tail. And I got horns from the renfest this year. I'm not going to paint myself, though, since facepaint drives me nuts.