Look what I found at a yard sale this weekend! It’s a blast from the past for all you children of the 60’s and 70’s.
I guess I’m dating myself, but I remember costumes like this all too well. When I was a kid, Halloween costumes came in a cardboard box. A clear cellophane window gave you a view of the marvel that was a nylon costume and plastic mask.
The whole thing smelled of vinyl and anticipation.
I remember climbing in to the rubber and nylon costume, and then getting tied in by my mom. (Because there were no butt-flaps, it was best that she didn’t tie a double knot… it was also a really good idea to visit the potty before dressing.) We had to wear regular street clothes under the costume because they were so thin. If I was unlucky, it was a cold night, and mom would make me wear a jacket OVER my costume. Sigh. Tough to be Wonder Woman in a coat.
Then I’d slip on the mask made from molded plastic, and held on with a rubber band that snapped all too easily. The costume I found this weekend only covers the eyes and nose (sort of Lone Ranger style). So many of the masks covered your whole face, with impossible to see through eye holes, and a little oval opening for air. Really, it was a wonder we didn’t die of asphyxiation! But that mask really MADE the costume! I became a Rabbit or a Superhero, and no one would ever know who the little girl behind the mask really was!
To this day, I remember the excitement of choosing the “perfect” costume, the smell of the drug store, and the feel of the sweat that collected behind the mask.
Halloween was candy, but it was also the excitement of getting to be whoever I wanted to be… even if it meant I had to wear a jacket.
