There’s always a great assortment of children’s Halloween costumes. In fact, I’m kind of jealous of the kids today because their costumes are so much better than the cheap licensed plastic masks with the rubber band and restrictive plastic bodysuits we wore featuring our favorite cartoon characters.
As uncomfortable as those licensed costumes could be, I was always excited to get one just so I could be Superman, He-Man, Chuck Norris or an officially licensed “G.I. Joe” (that’s right, no Duke or Flint, you were just a generic green shirt). But as I got older, those costumes didn’t really suit my taste. I wanted something a little more “real”. Probably around age 10 or so, I left the plastic behind and found myself pretty much trading off between these two themes besides the odd ghost or “skull guy” outfit:
G.I. Joe aka “Army Man” (when I got to be too cool to act like I still enjoyed G.I. Joe)
A real G.I. Joe! Forget the silly bodysuit with “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” plastered all over it. And the great thing about being an “army man” was that as a young male, you probably own the complete outfit and accessories already and maybe even use it every weekend when you play “war” with your friends. I never had to buy a single thing whenever I opted to enlist on October 31st. Toy guns, toy knife, army jacket, army helmet/marine hat, military fatigues… I had it all, baby! No wonder I played this role for so many years.
Dracula
Another fairly easy costume to put together (I’m beginning to think I picked these two themes so much out of pure laziness), but it required a few accessories to be bought initially. I had the wig (complete with a sweet widow’s peak), fangs, cape with the super cool collar, and even a medallion to wear. I usually would wear some black dress pants and a white button up. Add a dash of homemade blood around my mouth (with the option to buy some face paint to make myself a bit pale looking) and I was transformed into a classic, respectable Halloween costume.
What were some of your Halloween standards?
Standards? GI Joe Ghostbusters then as I got older Jason, Freddy and Michael!
I remember my brother dressing up like GI Joe every year for three years in a row. My nephew got to wear my brother’s military costume one year. It was so cute to see that it can go from generation to generation.