October is full of spooky stories, pumpkins, and customs. For many kids, it was a great time when you can dress up as your favorite crime fighter or hero or even a princess baby doll. When I was growing up, finding the right costume was kind of like a 16 year old beauty queen trying to find the perfect dress to her first prom (only manlier). My family and I would flock to a local store like Target or Party City to find that one costume that seemed to call to us. Usually it was a popular cartoon character, because if no one knew what you were supposed to be then you failed worse than a out of shape sumo wrestler at a yoga class. This was the time when all the watching of cartoons and popular TV shows paid off. If you were watching and knew what was in then your costume decision was just that much easier. Of course you had your cop out costumes. I mean you had your classics like vampires, ninjas, clowns, dolls, and skeletons. Classics were ok but not the ping that you wanted or in some cases needed. Looking back at some of the best TV and film inspired costumes of the 80s and 90s may just bring back some grand old memories of staying out until 10:00pm and coming home with a pillow case full of candy, or help you get some ideas of what you want to be for this Halloween. Whatever you get from this article I just hope that it will remind you of a time when the worst part of Halloween was the stories of getting poison candy and a razor blade in an apple. Which thinking about it now, may come back with this new green lifestyle approach. Kids DONT except organic apples from strangers on Halloween, I am pretty sure the razor blades are not organic!!!

The first costume that I remember loving as a kid was from one of my favorite childhood movies known as Beetlejucie. This costume was a great idea for adults and kids. You could paint your face like him and get a pair of the black and white stripped pants, which always reminded my of goofy looking PJ bottoms, or get the mask, both had the awesome white wig. I was born in 1984 so in 1989 and 1990 at least five boys showed up to class dressed as Beetlejuice. I dont know about the rest of the country but in Colorado it was the it thing to be. Now it kills me when someone, trying to keep the hope alive, dresses up as Beetlejuice and the kids just dont know who he is. I mean who didnt like that movie or the cartoon… the daylight comin and me want to go home song and dance. CLASSIC!!! When its all said and done this costume would turn anyone into the hostess with the mostess.

Another Great costume was that of the Ninja Turtles. This is one of those cartoons that have stood the test of time. Thank Goodness!!! To this day kids are happily running around in ninja turtle costumes hitting each other with there nun chucks made of foam and plastic or there dual swords, where if you swing it hard enough and hit someone they would get hurt. It was just a great idea all around. You again could wear the mask or paint or face green. In Colorado you can see what Leonardo would look like in rain boots and a huge fluffy coat, some times its rainy and really cold on Halloween. The ninja turtles are awesome and I give kids Extra candy for wearing ninja turtle costumes in front of their friends to make the point, NINJA TURTLES are AWESOME!!! And their costume is better than their friends. Its never to early to teach kids about elitism.




Freddy Krueger customers were the costumes that many kids were afraid to wear. This was one of the best costumes to have because if you saw the movies and ever laid in bed wondering if Freddy was really or not, then a person sneaking up on you with this costume was almost enough to trigger your fight or flight reflex. Now, I did not own this costume, but my cousin did. The glove had flake knifes and everything with I was afraid of until I was about 12 years old. One Halloween when I was 16 years old, my uncle took the mask and stuffed it with some old clothes and used an old jump suit to make a dummy for outside decor. It worked great scaring some of the kids trick or treating. Then we came up with the idea of putting one of my other cousins into the jump suit and have him act like a dummy until the kids get their candy then spring to life and show them the candy was just the payment for the trick. Well, just as soon as it got a little dark and mother came by our house with an infant and a 6 year old boy. My cousin tried to just lay really still, in order not to scare him since he was so young. However, the little boy was on his way to the door with his mother standing at the sideway watching him walk up, when he saw the dummy. He was maybe five or six feet away from it and was paralyzed with fear just at the sight of the mask. We told my cousin to stay as still as he could and the mother knew someone was in the costume and thought is was funny so she started to laugh at how her little boy was trying to handle the issue. He looked scared but just wouldnt move, it was like being in front of a rattle snake and not wanting to get bit so you just shake and look. The boys mom was laughing, we were laughing, and all of a sudden my cousin in the suit start laughing. The little boy ran as fast as he could to his mom falling to the ground in his quick attempt to escape and gave the loudest scream I have every heard from a child that small. What made it worst was that the mother was laughing so hard that the little boy was confused about what was happening and became more upset. We gave him a whole bag of candy. This is proof that anytime you have a classic 80s and 90s movie killer costume, the fun dont stop. Yes, like Pringles.



Gumby was another cartoon that was a big hit when it came to the costume circuit. Today people may see the Gumby costume but only adults remember him and all of his wonderful, god like powers. He could change into anything and even walk through walks if he wanted to. This was just a great cartoon and who wouldnt want to be Gumby, even the name is cool. I personally liked the block heads. They always tried to mess things up and that made me feel good as a kid. This costume has been made time and time again by people with a lot of time and sheets of foam. Lets just hope they dont try to being this show to the big screen in live action!!!

Barbie. Ladies I didnt forget about you, almost every little girls idol. She could sing, dance, baby sit, workout, shop, and later was a doctor, police officer, and sky driver. Barbie did it all, I like to think of her as the Bo Jackson for girls. I have a little sister you loved to be Barbie for every Halloween until she was 12 years old. Now the Barbie costumes are there own set of costumes. You have your Barbie princess, Barbie mermaid, ect. This is another costume idea that will be around for ever. Im pretty sure that even if the stock market crashes, Barbie will still be ok.


Tinker Bell. This costume was more popular among little girls when I was growing up. I guess it is still a favorite among kids, but I see a lot of college woman and adults in this costume more than kids. I dont know how kids feel about Peter Pan now. Back then there was the play, the movie Hook, and a cartoon called The Adventures of Peter Pan. Which, let me say was a awesome cartoon if you didnt watch it. However, Tink has had a bunch of styles throughout the years from classic to goth to rock and roll. I think this costume has a few more changes in the works and will be around for a little bit longer.



Scooby Doo was one of our favorite crime solvers, better than Scruff McGruff in my opinion. The costume is pretty cool. Not one of my favorites costumes or cartoons but was still really popular among kids in the great days of cartoons. Now you see a lot of little ones in this costumes and yeah you have to admit, its cute.


Lastly we have Bugs Bunny. Which is an awesome cartoon and over all character. I was Bugs Bunny one year, but I was the Hip Hop version. I wore the backwards jeans and shirts ( Criss Cross was big when I was little so if you remember Jump, Jump, then you know what Im talking about) and a Bugs Bunny mask with and backwards baseball cap. I was the coolest thing going on two feet that year in my school.

I loved dressing up as my favorite cartoon, TV and movie characters. It makes you feel goofy and silly and scary. As an adult I still like to dress up for Halloween, I dont go trick or treating anymore, but there always a house party or a bar/club that is filled with people still in the spirit of the night. Even if you dont do that kind of stuff the kids going to your door for candy will love it. Dont take it so serious, just relax and become whatever or whoever you want, this is the night to do it. Besides if you dress up on any other night like a doctor or police officer or even a cartoon character, youre either a professional at work at some amusement park or you are breaking a few laws and committing a felony in most states. Seriously, impersonating a police officer will get you JAIL time, and acting like a doctor is just wrong on a lot of levels, DONT DO IT!!!

If you have other costumes that you remember from you childhood tell us about it. This is my second article, but its a topic that I love so post something about Halloween that you love or costumes ideas, whatever you want that me get people in the mood for the season, and if you dont give out candy, then start. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!