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A Baby Boomer's Hallowe'en
By Rosemary Bell
Growing up in the 50's and 60's, costumes for Hallowe'en weren't anything like they are now. Today most people go out and spend far too much money on costumes. Costumes were quite typical for Hallowe'en - vampires, witches, ghosts, hobos, gypsies, - and not the selection we have today. Children wearing just a mask was quite common especially if someone didn't have the money to spend on a costume. Living downtown in a major city, with the houses very close together, it wasn't as dangerous as it is today. Growing up in a family of 8 we just didn't have the money to spend on costumes. Food and clothes for the winter were much more important. Remember, we were children and quickly growing out of last year's winter clothing. Most of the children were older, so it helped, and when it came time for costumes the younger ones usually just rummaged through the closets and came up with something they could wear. With winter approaching and the temperature dropping, my mom would usually insist we wear a jacket so we tried to come up with a costume where we could wear the jacket or a warm sweater underneath. When we were a little older, and if we thought about it early enough, sometimes we would try and come up with something else using cardboard boxes, my mom's fabric remnants or anything else that we didn't have to spend money on. One of the favourites and easiest was to dress as a hobo. Grab a plaid flannel shirt from my dad (wearing jacket underneath), his work pants with the legs rolled up, a hat, and using some of my sister's makeup dirty up the face a bit. Add a pillowcase with a stick attached (to collect the treats) and we were set. Didn't cost us a penny. Another favourite was to wear my sister's clothes and look all grown up. Being the 7th of 8 children with older sisters there were plenty of bridesmaid dresses and having a mother who sewed, it was quick and easy for her to temporarily shorten it and make it fit without damaging the dress. Sometimes to make things really simple, the boys would dress as girls and the girls would dress as boys. There was usually clothing that fit with no alterations needed. Add some makeup for the boys and give the girls a moustache. As long as you didn't walk out the door as yourself, anything went. Aah, it was so much simpler back then! Digital Photography Success
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Great times growing up in the 50s and 60s. You mentioned some wonderful costumes here. I enjoyed reading your intel. Thanks for the memories.
My sister and I wore one of my mother's dresses, loads of costume jewelry bead necklaces and a princess mask. Usually it rained or was cold on Halloween. We carried brown paper grocery bags for our candy and one year we got so wet, our bags fell apart. One of us guarded the candy and the other ran back home to get new bags.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Thanks for sharing that, Yeh, I remember the paper shopping bags. No plastic back then so we used pillow cases on wet nights.
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