Halloween Roundup 3: CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA COSTUMES

OK, it’s officially October now, so it’s time for another Halloween post! Childhood nostalgia costumes are always fun, because everyone usually knows who you’re supposed to be. I was partially reminded to do this post by the Where the Wild Things Are line by Opening Ceremony in collaboration with Spike Jonze; the onesie below is the most literal interpretation in a line of clothing and jewelry inspired by the movie (I’d say book, but it’s not like they collaborated with Maurice Sendak, and he’s alive and well doing sweet collaborations all over the place).

Weirdly enough, the $610 Max Suit, which is by far the most widely circulated image of the line, has been pulled from the site and replaced with a little NOT YET AVAILABLE image. Does that mean someone bought them out?

Anyway, that one’s for my little sister, who expressed interest in making a Max suit this Halloween. For the rest of you, here’s a few more costume idea based on childhood nostalgia. I skipped ones along the lines of G.I. Joe and Transformers that have been recently adapted into Hollywood blockbusters; matching the neighbor kids is generally a big Halloween Don’t.

COSTUME: Power Ranger

FROM: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

YEAR: 1995

GENDER: Either (although it looks like you can only be the pink one if you’re a girl, surprise)

NOSTALGIA: I hear this is actually still around but has mutated so much that it now involves time travel and werewolves and purple rangers, but the one they market to adults is the old costume from 1995.

IF YOU WEAR IT: Exaggerate all your gestures to an absurd degree, especially head motions. I’d imagine you can drill a hole in the helmet for a beer straw. If it were me, I’d probably shout “It’s morphin’ time!” a lot.

More after the jump…

COSTUME: Bee Girl

FROM: Blind Melon’s “No Rain” video

YEAR: 1992

GENDER: Either (I suppose it would be easier if you’re a girl)

NOSTALGIA: I still get a little misty every time Bee Girl opens the gate and finds her bee friends.

IF YOU WEAR IT: You’re going to be expected to dance for people’s amusement, so refresh your memory:

COSTUME: Animal

FROM: The Muppet Show

YEAR: 1976

GENDER: Either (I suppose it would be easier if you’re a boy)

NOSTALGIA: Yeah, I wasn’t even a twinkle in my mama’s eye when the original Muppet Show was on, but I think many people my age watched it growing up. And Animal has always been my favorite one.

IF YOU WEAR IT: There are many Muppet costumes available, but if you’re at a party where alcohol is going to be consumed, I feel like this is the one you can utilize to do fun, loud, destructive things the most.

COSTUME: Pippi Longstocking

FROM: Pippi Longstocking series by Astrid Lindgren

YEAR: 1945

GENDER: Female

NOSTALGIA: Arright, this one’s back from when most of the Baby Boomers were still gestating, but a nine-year-old with the strength of ten policemen who lives alone with her monkey and her horse? Still kind of my favorite book. Yeah, that’s me back when I had hair long enough to do this sort of thing.

IF YOU WEAR IT: You can thread a coat hanger through your braids to make them stand up, but it takes a long time to get used to the wide load, so be careful you don’t poke anyone in the eye. Remember to put on freckles with brown eyeliner, it’s important!

COSTUME: Mega Man

FROM: Nintendo game

YEAR: 1987

GENDER: Male

NOSTALGIA: 8-bit? Yeah!

IF YOU WEAR IT: This video made the rounds a while ago, but it still makes me really happy. Watch it to learn what noises you should make (also, the father behind the camera in this video made the kid’s costume, he was nice enough to post it on instructables and says it can be upsized for people older than 3.)

COSTUME: Jem

FROM: Jem and the Holograms

YEAR: 1985

GENDER: Female

NOSTALGIA: This one’s a bit before my time, but many women have shared with me their love of this show back in the day, and I think the costume is pretty easy to make yourself and kind of awesome, so I’m including it.

IF YOU WEAR IT: I feel that outfits like this one could be created fairly easily and cheaply and would still be recognizable as long as you do the big-ass hair and crazy-ass eye makeup as seen in the video below:

OK, that’s enough Halloween for this week! More as we get closer to the end of the month, but if you missed them, here’s the previous costume roundup posts:

Unnecessarily Sexy Costumes

Nerd Reference Costumes