Adults can dress spooky on Halloween too

I love Halloween.

Each year just as the leaves begin to fall off the trees and the scent of autumn takes over the air, I start thinking about Halloween costumes.

This year, my family is going to be the spookiest or cutest or most unique on Halloween, I routinely think.

And even if we end up going to some event where there is no costume contest, I want to be able to observe other peoples’ costumes and declare myself winner in my own head.

And then all of a sudden it’s in the October 20-somethings, and I realize I had done it again. I had postponed planning for Halloween. I remind myself that it’s silly, that I have much more important things to worry about like a job and a family.

But the kid in me still feels disappointed and a little like I wasn’t included in a birthday party.

Last year, the day of a Halloween party we planned to go to, I realized yet again the same scenario had occurred. I searched Web site after Web site for ideas. Some ideas were too elaborate or expensive; other suggestions were too common and repetitive; and some of the ideas, especially when going as a pair or trio, were super clever.

As great a few of the examples were, I had to find an idea for my husband and I that I could fully create during our two-year-old’s nap time. Talk about deadlines.

I decided to go take a peak at the local thrift store, even though I figured most of the merchandise would be pretty picked over by that point.

I was right. They didn’t have much for a selection, but the store had a huge section of scrubs for dirt cheap. I got a set for me (in blue) and my husband (in green), and I think I paid a total of 50 cents. I decided we were going to be evil medical personnel.

I stopped at a retail store and grabbed some plastic meat cleavers in the seasonal aisle, some elastic band -attached breathing masks from the home repair aisle and some spooky head wear— black, fuzzy horns for me and red, battery-operated light-up red ones for my husband.

I still had an hour of nap time left to go.

I spattered red food coloring onto the white breathing masks for a possible surgery gone wrong and set them aside to dry.

I ripped up an old t-shirt and thought I’d make some name tags. Then I came up with names for our personas- “Nurse Payne” for me and “Dr. D. Cease” for my husband.

I sewed them on the scrubs with ragged and crisscrossed red thread. For extra spookiness, I splashed some additional food coloring onto the front of the scrubs.

I made deadline. I sighed as I wiped sweat and fake blood from my brow, ready for my own nap time.

I was pleased with myself. We probably wouldn’t win any contests (and didn’t), but at least I felt like we were participating in the party.

This year I plan to be prepared for Halloween, and so I’ve come with a list of what I think are award-winning costumes.