“Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girl can say anything”, to paraphrase Mean Girls (I’m dead original, me).
Now, I’m a lady, so I don’t want to dress up in a tacky revealing outfit simply because a highly entertaining film tells me I can – Girl World Rules and all (hello again, Mean Girls). These days, I’ve moved on from the black plastic bin bag capes, blue Barbie wellingtons, pointed hat and broomstick that once indicated my status as a Halloween witch. But I still want to look classy.
I have a ladybird costume that I wore with pride for three outings of Halloween week of Fifth Year, wings and everything. Last year, I stumbled upon a French maid costume, with a little frilly apron that I managed to upend a whole pint of beer over (the pint did not belong to me, tee-hee).
This year, my lovely friend Eleanore had a Disney fancy dress themed 21st at the beginning of October ( Cindereleanore’s 21st…what a title!). So, I decided to kill two birds with one costume, and get myself an outfit I could wear for both the 21st and Hallowe’en proper. With my wages safely ensconced in my bank account, I set about perusing the online costume shops, looking for the perfect outfit. Snow White seemed the best choice, given that I’m so pure of heart (hahaha) and occasionally have skin as white as snow (I don’t tan well). So muggins here ordered the costume excitedly, and waited in for the courier. Upon receiving my costume, I signed for it and skipped back inside to try it on. I try to really embody the personality of my character, you know?
It was then that I discovered the heart-breaking truth; instead of Snow White, I had been sent a purple Crayola Crayon dress, complete with matching cardboard hat. A CRAYOLA CRAYON dress. To say I was devastated is an understatement. I cried for a solid five minutes – ask my housemates [She really did – Valerie]. I rattled off a distressed and politely indignant email detailing the situation to the costume company – tears on the keyboard, etc etc. To their credit, they were deeply apologetic, promising to send out my actual costume the following day.
All good things come to those who wait. The next evening, I was bounding around our house dressed as Snow White, complete with red hairband and white knee socks, singing (read: screeching) beautifully at the top of my lungs. Housemate of the year, me. At the 21st I was joined by the seven dwarves, complete with white woolly beards and coloured hats. Finally, I was ready. Halloween, come at me. Snow White will invade the streets of Dublin, skipping (but most likely stumbling) merrily around. Here’s hoping I don’t lose my red velvet hairband; and that I can get my real–life Prince Charming to dress the part too. Happy Halloween everybody!
Claire O’Connell
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