Halloween is a huge time of year in the Flavorpill Media office, but we’re just as festive after hours. We dug through our personal archives to find some of our favorite cultural Halloween costumes we’ve sported, ranging from childhood to college and beyond. Hopefully, our public embarrassment will help you pick a costume if you’re still stumped about what to be this year.
Laser Light School Portrait
I was a laser light school portrait about five years ago. I bought my floral dress at The Children’s Place, complete with turtleneck underneath (as a child my mother was big on layers) and patent leather Mary Janes with lace socks. For the laser light board I Google image-searched for the background and printed about 15 of them on the office printer and glued them to foam board, which I then attached to my back with straps from a kiddie backpack. Also, the costume would not be complete without a deranged smile on my face. I went to a house party and no one was happy with all the space I took up. — Lillian Ruiz, Social Media Director
Lil’ Wayne
I was Lil’ Wayne my freshman year of college. It was mostly because I’ve gone by Weezie my whole life and consistently get Lil’ Weezy jokes directed at me anytime I meet someone new. — Weezie Yancey-Siegel, Social Impact Program Manager
M&M
I was an M&M for Halloween. It was blue and my old roommate Laura Carter’s childhood costume. So hilarious! — Katie Youtsos, Director of Account and Creative Services
The Spiders from Mars
Two years ago, we dressed as The Spiders from Mars (who we all know as Ziggy Stardust’s backup band from Bowie’s most classic album). But instead of just dressing up like Bowie people, we dressed as Martian spiders. We had stockings stuffed as extra legs hanging from our lacy outfits, spider eyes, and alien antennas with Ziggy Stardust-inspired makeup! Most people thought we were ants, which is FOOLISH because ants don’t have multiple eyes. Obvi, we were spider aliens from outer space. — Alex Gamlin, Partnership Manager Emeritus
Harpo Marx
When I was in the fourth grade, I dressed as Harpo Marx for Halloween. This sentence explains a lot about my grade school popularity. — Jason Bailey, Film Editor
Bride of Frankenstein
I am SO sad that my mom couldn’t find a pic of my fifth-grade Halloween costume. I was the Bride of Frankenstein, which was inspired by a trip through her closet — I found her wedding dress from her first, hippie wedding and deemed it “terrifying.” In all honesty, it was this muslin medieval-looking thing with a gigantic starched collar that was PERFECT for Halloween. My mother didn’t find my selection nearly as entertaining, but she was still a good enough sport to let me trick-or-treat in it. — Leah Taylor, Senior Content Writer
Tura Satana
Near the beginning of college, I dressed up as a flat-chested version of #1 life inspiration Tura Satana in Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! I’m proud of the costume, but it didn’t exactly make me friends. Some drunk bro at a frat house called me Marilyn Manson, and that’s the closest anyone ever got to guessing it. — Sarah Fonder, Editorial Apprentice
Suzy, Moonrise Kingdom
Suzy from Moonrise Kingdom was kind of an obvious costume choice for girls like me last year. I saw the film a few times the summer before; Suzy became a little dysfunctional cool-girl role model, and then my friend Nathan found a fur hat to look like Sam, and then we had a costume. I carried scissors around for a while, a la Suzy, and my camera around my neck in place of her binocs. Pretty cute. Shockingly/not shockingly, not that many people got it. Wes Anderson is not as ubiquitous at a small liberal arts school as you’d expect/hope. — Ariana Mygatt, Event Coordinator
Janelle Monae
On October 30, 2010, I was going to see of Montreal play at the Hollywood Palladium and Janelle Monae was opening. I knew I needed a costume for a show like that, and decided Janelle would be an awesome (/easy) one. In the end, I opted to use the costume the following night on Halloween proper instead of being an awkward audience fangirl. No memory of where I got that cummerbund. — Ariana Mygatt, Event Coordinator
Reese’s cup
I’m wearing a Reese’s print shift dress/tunic-type number I found at Wasteland on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, which I paired with a matching custom-knit hat that I bought around the same time, but it wasn’t designed to go with the costume. But I think the two go together, just like peanut butter and chocolate. —Tanja M. Laden, Managing Editor, Flavorpill LA
Corky St. Clair, Waiting for Guffman
When I told people I was dressing as Corky in my senior year of college, most people replied, “…uh, the kid from Life Goes On?” We were all relieved when this costume came together and people actually recognized who I was supposed to be. I wish I didn’t throw that lunchbox away. — Tyler Coates, Deputy Editor
Captain Hammer, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
No one recognized us, except one gentleman on the street, who tipped his cap to my boyfriend and murmured a polite “Doctor.” As for myself, I spent rather a lot of time flexing my gloved hands and reminding people that the hammer was my penis. — Emily Temple, Literary Editor Emeritus