My favorite holiday is just around the dark, creepy corner. All Hallow’s Eve, or as Hallmark has taught us, Halloween is one fun day. Being born on Halloween, I always manage to have more fun than the law will allow. 

Halloween birthdays come with built in Halloween parties. Sure, there’s a cake in there somewhere, but it’s really all about the costume, now isn’t it? 

My mother made me a witch outfit when I was 3, complete with a witch’s hat and orange yarn hair. I could wear it till I was 10, but it had turned into sort of a mini-dress costume. Thankfully, I have great legs. 

After that, it was up to me to get creative with my own costume. I’m certain I’ve done Halloween proud. 

Being pretty anti-scary from the scar left on me by Alfred Hitchcock and the classic shower scene, I’ve been a little bit spooked since my formative years. I never even made it through 45 minutes of The Exorcist. Hence, my costumes are always funny. Imagine that. 

Personally, I have made appearances as a old time phonograph record player with Nipper by my side (yes I am that old), the North Dallas Tollway Extension (seemed like a big deal at the time), Bill Gates (because at one point I was sure he was the Anti-Christ), the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (complete with a can of oil for tossing) and a DART Bus (Dallas Area Rapid Transit.) 

One year I even came as a Jeep. I ended up selling that costume to my boss for his 5-year-old son. Hey, a girl’s gotta make a buck. Frankly, it takes plenty of money to maintain a broomstick. 

But I’m always more amazed at the creativity of others. Of course why a bunch of overweight grown men would dress up in hot pink dresses and size 12 pumps to become the Budweiser Girls, I’ll never know. 

Very Best Friend has always been very good at costuming. Having only a 30 minute notice that she was going to a Halloween costume party, she grabbed her step daughter’s purple prom dress and a can of Parmesan Cheese. She made the cardboard can into a belt and went as Eggplant Parmesan. 

In fact, I used to throw huge parties with hundreds of guests always costumed to the hilt. I’ve seen bricklayers, coffee tables, roller coaster riders, presidents and cross dressers. I used to have a contest every year. There was always someone there that nobody could recognize and those types remain a mystery to this day.

Still, there was one costume that was always my favorite. Hippie Yuppie Sister marched into my party one year. She was wearing a couch cushion on her head. It had things hanging from it attached with string. There were gum wrappers, broken crayons, a TV remote, old homework papers, etc. When I asked her what she could possibly be she replied, “I’m all the stuff you’d find under your couch cushion.” 

If you don’t ever dress up for Halloween, I challenge you this year to let your inner child out and strut your stuff. Who knows? You might just end up with as a real treat for the rest of us.

Spreading laughter throughout the world…one chuckle at a time.

Mikie Baker
www.mikiebaker.com