Tag Archives: costume

It’s Halloween

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For most people Halloween is a kid thing. Kids dress up, go to school, and go trick or treating in the evening. For educators Halloween doesn’t end in your teens. No, it means dressing up year after year after year.

I love seeing students come up with imaginative and elaborate costumes. But if I’m honest, I am a bit tired of dressing up every year. That said, I’ll do it and I’ll make the most of it. I’m not grumpy about it, it will be fun. But if I’m honest, I’m looking forward to not making the effort anymore when I hang up my hat and retire.

Still, the day brings joy when I see other people so excited about the day. I’ve seen shy kids come out of their shell, artistic kids truly express themselves, and some kids will take it to the limits and really ‘wow’ you.

Although I’m in a high school, almost all the students will be dressed up. And on that note, for those of you that see older, high school aged kids coming to your door tonight for trick or treat… let them be kids!

Please don’t comment, “Aren’t you a bit old for this!” Or anything like that. Are they dressed up? Did they knock on your door? Great! Let them be kids and give them some candy. What’s wrong with an 18 year old celebrating Halloween? Would you rather they were at a park setting off fireworks and underage drinking?

Halloween is one day a year when older kids just get to be kids. Let them celebrate without feeling judged. It doesn’t matter if a kid is 5 or 15, if their costume looks amazing, let them know. If they are playing along, you play along too. Let every kid enjoy Halloween.

Make believe

Halloween isn’t just for kids. Sure they get most of the candy and attention, but a lot of grown-ups wear costumes for work and for parties… and while some complain, many get right into it. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pirate, a ghoul, a celebrity, a superhero, or a favourite movie character, the makeup, costume, and accessories are donned with excitement, and even pride.

It’s not just a costume, it’s a chance to play make believe like when you were a kid. No, you aren’t fully immersing yourself in your character, but you are reminding yourself of that time in your life. You are getting a little piece of your childhood back.

And it’s fun (if you let it be fun). So if you didn’t have fun with it this year, that’s on you. Next year put a little more into it. Let yourself enjoy the youthful playfulness of dressing up. Play make believe for a night and escape back into your inner child for just a few hours. For a little extra fun, make your own costume rather than buying one. Add some creativity to your play.

Another year, another Costume

One thing about being in education that’s different than many other jobs is that when Halloween arrives, it’s time to dress up. Every. Single. Year. Costumes are not something you do for that occasional party, it’s a yearly event. 22 years in education, 22 Halloweens in a row dressing up on the school day closest to this special day.

I’m not a huge fan of dressing up, but I jump in and participate. For the second year in a row I’ll incorporate a fun mask into my makeup, so that my safety measures are part of the costume rather than something over top of it. I bought a jagged toothed black mask and I’m going for a creepy black and white theme this year, but just 30 minutes before I start my makeup, I’m still not sure of the exact look I’m going for?

The thing about being an educator and celebrating on the Friday before Halloween is that when you finish work and you are covered in makeup, you look ridiculous doing things like going to the bank, or in my case today, going on a popular hike after school. I’ll probably be the only one with makeup on my face and without the mask, with only my upper half of my face painted, it will look even more silly. But I won’t have time to go home and get the paint off my ears and eyes, and I’d look even worse trying to get most of it off.

Another year, another costume. I might sound like I’m complaining, but I know it’s an event kids love, and I’m happy to join in on the celebration. Happy Halloween, a couple days early!

Playing it up for Halloween

I live in a house with three people that are passionate about musical theatre. They can all sing, and they are all natural on the stage. They can watch and re-watch live plays over and over again. As for me? I’ll talk in front of school with over 1,000 students, and I’ve presented to hundreds of educators, but give me 3 lines to memorize and act out, and I’m a mess. I’m robotic, monotone, and completely unnatural… and I hate it! I’ll happily go to see a performance, and I truly enjoy watching talented people perform, I just don’t want to perform myself.

Then comes Halloween. Once a year I put on makeup, and I go ‘full on’. I make the most of a fun day, I share my costume online, I take photos with my secretaries, my staff, and my students. I have fun, not because I’m in my element, but because I get to revel in the enjoyment of others, and be part of something I would usually avoid for most of the rest of the year.

It always turns out to be a wonderful day. Then I wash off the makeup, I put my costume away, and I happily wait another year before I do it again.

Happy Halloween!

Cardboard, duct tape, and a maker mindset.

My daughter and I created this Buzz Lightyear backpack for her Halloween costume yesterday. Besides a small backpack hidden in a box, that functions as a working backpack, and serving as the straps to hold the pack on her back, the only other parts are cardboard, coloured duct tape, and a few photocopies of parts stuck on with clear tape.

Although we were following a very specific design, this got me thinking about rapid prototyping. It’s so easy to think up ideas and then create a mock-up these days. Cardboard is cheap, coloured duct tape is available in most dollar stores, and it only costs a few dollars for box-cutters that will outlast most projects. Parts can be printed on 3-D printers, or carved from small CNC machines if you have them, but they aren’t necessary. Lettering & logos can be designed and printed on coloured printers. Add a few things like coloured construction paper, markers, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, toilet/paper towel rolls, and recycled plastic bottles and caps, and the options to create are endless.

We should have fast-prototyping events at schools, and have containers to store accessories that are easily accessible for designing models. Then use these containers to put everything away when it is time to clean up. It wouldn’t be hard or very expensive to do this. The only safety concern would be the box cutters, but scissors could work too.

It’s not hard these days to promote a maker mentality in schools. What design projects would you want to do with students, given these few and affordable resources?