Bad Halloween Costumes of Yore
By Jeff Lyons on Oct 23, 2007 in Time Wasters
On one memorable Halloween when I was little, my mom forgot to make us costumes so my dad picked up a couple prepackaged gems from our local drugstore on his way home from work. Not a lot of thought was put into the purchase. The costume box contained a semi-pliable mask (decorated with lead paint, I’m sure) and a chintzy, plastic smock that displayed the theme of the costume in an extremely budget fashion.
My older brother chose first and was lucky enough to get the Vinnie Barbarino costume (pretty cool) and sadly, I got stuck with the frightfully afroed and mustachioed Mr. Kotter. Trust me, an eight-year old dressed up as a schlubby, middle-age hack comic is not a pretty sight. I was less than motivated to go out and beg for candy and lets just say, some tears spewed out of those little round eye holes. What a wuss!
The website RetroCrush has posted the worst of these infamous, highly-flammable outfits including Chachi, Fat Albert, Space Ghost, GI Joe, the Care Bears and many more. Enjoy the painful memories, I gotta to go see my therapist now.
Have any bad costume memories you want to share? Share here.
I’ve just been a witch every year, I never had one of those store-bought costumes. I do remember a big costume store on Woodward Avenue in Detroit that had huge rubber prosthetic breasts and asses hanging from the ceiling. They were expensive, too! Maybe they weren’t just for Halloween. . .
Scott Shrake | Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
When I was in 4th grade, I dressed up as Cantor Rabinovitch from Neil Diamond’s 1980 remake of the Jazz Singer. When I was young, it was one of my favorite Laurence Olivier roles.
Todd Marrone | Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
When I was about 9 or 10 my grandmother spent about 6 months sewing my Halloween costume in secrecy. Halloween finally came and she presented me with a very scary very elaborate ET costume.She was so proud and I wore it but I have never happily dressed up for Halloween again. It’s a holiday I really just don’t care for.
Michelle H | Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
This weekend I was at well known opera diva Jessye Norman’s concert and although the music was moving all I could think of was what a great Halloween costume she would make. Yes, for a sophisticated and aging homosexual audience, but all you would need is a basic witchy wig, a caftan, eyeliner and be comfortable making a lot of dramatic faces!
Amee | Oct 23, 2007 | Reply
new costumes are just as bad.
deeky | Oct 23, 2007 | Reply
oops. i meant this page instead:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2007/10/halloween-dangers.html
you know what? just forget i posted anything. i’m an idiot.
deeky | Oct 23, 2007 | Reply
When I was 4 I wanted to be Casper the ghost for halloween. My mom bought me the costume and I was tickled. 29 years later, when I knew how to read, I was going through old photos and I saw a pic of me in the costume, It wasn’t casper, it was “Gus the Ghost”, Casper’s cheap knock off.
Kevin Downey, Jr. | Oct 25, 2007 | Reply
Gus was Total Hack
Jeff Lyons | Oct 25, 2007 | Reply