Bring the Perfect Halloween Costume to Life

Phyllis Lifestyle 11 Comments

In the South, the end of August provides our last glimpse of summer and our first hint of fall. One of my favorite parts of fall is Halloween! Halloween is such a fun opportunity to make and wear creative costumes. It can take time to bring the perfect costume to life, so now is a great time to start thinking about what you’ll be making for yourself or those you love to wear this Halloween.

My fondest Halloween memory was when my twins, Eric and Brian, were only three years old. One of the best parts about having twins is being able to play off of the twin theme and dressing them alike. I was inspired by the Double Mint gum slogan: “Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun,” which I think is perfect for twins. I made their Double Mint gum costumes and the boys looked so cute. They even won the costume contest at our church’s fall festival!

The Double Mint costumes lived on in infamy and set the bar for every costume of theirs from then on. In 2013, unbeknownst to me, the boys decided that the costumes would make a triumphant return for the annual Hoffman Media costume contest. On the day of the contest, Eric and Brian showed up at work in brand new versions of the Double Mint costumes! They had enlisted my sister, Janice, to recreate the costumes. I absolutely loved seeing these cherished childhood costumes brought to life again. Much to their chagrin, Eric and Brian did not win the office’s costume contest. However, they absolutely made my day and it was wonderful to see how much that costume still meant to us almost 30 years after its original debut.

Halloween - Ribbon in my Journal

Do you have a Halloween costume that is significant to you?

Halloween Costume - The Ribbon In My Journal

Comments 11

  1. I always wore a costume for Halloween. When I was in sixth grade our teacher had us come in costume. At the time The Mickey Mouse Club was popular. I wore my Mouseketeer outfit. I always looked forward to the parties we had at our house. I loved the Halloween cupcakes from the bakery. The bottom had a charm in it. The fun was ducking for apples or trying to catch and bite the apple on a string with your hands behind your back.
    Marilyn

  2. What great costumes. Brian and Eric knew how to surprise you with a treat no tricks .
    Halloween was a wonderful time growing up. Our house was the one with a party.
    Marion

  3. They are too cute! And I can just imagine when they were little. I just saw a photo of baby twins dressed as Twinkies. “A croquer”–good enough to eat–as they say here.
    Our costumes were always homemade. No budget for anything fancy. We went through the photos last year and I was really hit by the extent to which the costumes were DIY and creative.

  4. You seem to have reared fine young men, Phyllis.
    Halloween was always such a fun time for me as a child. I remember a number of wonderful costumes. I remember going to neighbor’s homes and the fun we all had dressing as our favorite characters.
    There were often parties to attend, also. Some were in homes, others were in the Fellowship Hall @ FBC or the Community Room of the Lone Star Gas building.
    I especially remember one party my parents gave for me where we kiddos crawled around the various rooms of our house inside appliance boxes. We were met in each room by various “surprises!!”.
    Mother and Daddy had enlisted other parents to act as hosts and hostesses in the rooms to lead us in a variety of scary experiences – macaroni ‘brains’ anyone? As sixth graders we were old enough to intellectually know it wasn’t real but still young enough to enjoy the unexpected thrills!!
    We reminisced about that party for years.
    How fortunate I was to have had parents who were loving, creative and enjoyed creating memories for me, my friends, their parents and a number of older neighbors!!

  5. Love, love, love!!! These costumes are just perfect for your twin sons! What a delightful surprise for you at the Halloween party! I know you are so proud of your sons! What a great way to bring back the good times of their childhood. Thank you so much for sharing this photo with your readers!

  6. Oh I can only hope for twin grandchildren someday:) I have twin great nieces and I LOVE this idea. Your boys are such great sports – but they have an amazing mom so why wouldn’t be they:)

    Happy Halloween Phyllis and Hoffman Media. One of my favorite memories of Hoffman Media that I cherish is their holiday greeting two or three years ago. I saved that email and still play it.

    I have to say my favorite magazines are also any published by Hoffman Media. Your team truly knows how to capture the season in every single one.

  7. I too have the blessing of twins, and when the boys, Steven and Michael were 5 I dressed them up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr Suess. It was so funny because they have stark white hair and I found bright blue hair mascara that I could brush into their hair. With their red sweat suits on they ran from door to door in our neighborhood, but they had to be together otherwise people would think they were hitting the same house twice! I had to stand them side by side at one house. Their sister Sarah who was 6 was a perpetual bride and had fun leading these two “Things” around our neighborhood.

  8. I too have such fond memories of Halloween costumes I made for my girls. Your twins are such good sports, how fun to see them dressed in copies of the costumes you made so long ago ( sorry, Brian and Eric, maybe not THAT long ago!)

    You know how to have a good time at Hoffman Media! Happy Halloween!

Leave a Reply to Gigi of Five Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *