As a child, I always loved Halloween – I mean, how could you not? Spooky haunted houses, scary movies/books, spider-web and tombstone filled front yard decorations, pumpkin
carvings, and candy! There’s so much to love about this time of year, but my favorite thing about Halloween growing up has always been choosing my costume for the year. While reminiscing about some of my favorite costumes throughout the years, I realized almost six years of my childhood was dedicated solely to the Wizard of Oz, because it was my favorite story. I dressed up as Dorothy Gale over and over again for years, and even chose to be the Wicked Witch one year. Frank L. Baum created such unique memorable characters in his books, and getting to dress up like one of the characters I read about made me feel like I was bringing them to life. When I have kids, I’m pretty sure I’ll keep the tradition going and dress them up as little munchkins!
I asked of the other OOM bloggers if they’ve ever dressed up as, wanted to dress up as, or have seen any really great literary character costumes. I was also interested to see if they’d dress their kids up in literary costumes. Here’s what they said:
Mike: “I was a few literary characters over the past few years - In grammar school, I was the Cowardly Lion in Kindergarten and the Scarecrow in first grade. I was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz and the book series as a child and helped me love reading for fun.
In college, I went as a Gryffindor. It was freezing that year, so I had no complaints wearing a full outfit – including the iconic scarf for my “house.” Another year, I went as “Puck” from a Midsummer’s Night Dream group costume with my friends.
I most definitely plan on dressing up my kids for Halloween. There will be many family costumes in the not-so-distant future. I still want to go as Willy Wonka year. Something is telling me I may make my kids go as Oompa Loompas.”
Brittany: “I have never dressed up as a literary character, but I did see this adorable dog
dressed up as Harry Potter at the Halloween Dog Parade this weekend!" #HappyHowloween
Morgan: This may sound strange, but my twin sister and I once dressed up as the checkerboard from Alice in Wonderland. Yes, the checkerboard itself! This year my daughter is going to be Wonder Woman. Comics count as literary, right?”
Julia: “Last year my daughter dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood. Since her special stuffed animal that she carries with her everywhere is a wolf, she carried “Wolfie” to complete the costume. (And she would say that her costume was “Little Red Riding Wolfie.”)
Anushka: “We don’t really celebrate Halloween in India, so I didn’t really dress up until I came to the U.S. Point being, I wasn’t a child, but one year I dressed up as a female Sherlock Holmes because I’m totally obsessed with detective novels. My best friend and I also tried to be Fred and George one year, but it didn’t work out so well because we look nothing alike.”
Gina: “I have not dressed up as a literary character (unless Ninja Turtles count … they did start out in a comic book) HOWEVER I think the COOLEST literary costume for a little girl would be Harriet the Spy. High top sneakers, jeans, a yellow rain coat and homemade utility belt complete with magnifying class and spy notebook! Comfy, and cool.”
Alex: "A few years ago my husband and I attended a Halloween party as Alice in Wonderland the Mad Hatter. Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books of all time so I needless to say, I was super excited about our costumes. However, the best part was of our evening running into strangers dressed as the Cheshire Cat and Tweedledum and Tweedledee."
Image via: @kingalexthedog
