Last Sunday was Halloween, and essentials Northampton participated in the Downtown Trick-or-Treat, as we do every year. We’re very serious about this task. We laugh in the face of stores who run out of candy around 2:30. Colette, our ever-vigilant manager, stocked us up on candy. And not the cheap stuff you throw away or pawn off on your siblings. She got us the goods. We were giving out Reese’s cups, Kit-Kats, Butterfingers, Hershey’s milk chocolate AND dark chocolate, Lemonheads, Apple Heads, Grape Heads, all sorts of fruity goods and more. The store was manned by Hannah and myself, both of us supremely jazzed to check out costumes all day, and both in costume ourselves. Hannah was a dunce, complete with dunce cap and misspelled words on her shirt. I opted to go as Bjork, thanks to an old swan-dress costume that our craftiest essentials employee, Emily, made a few years back. I spent the day getting lots of props from people who recognized me, and getting confused for a goose or regular old swan by other people who didn’t.
Our candy bowl. This was maybe only ten percent of the actual candy volume we had for the day.
Once the kiddies started rolling in, the day kicked off. It was a madhouse. People really take their Halloween seriously here. Costumes included Harry Potters of all shapes and sizes, one poor lone Ron Weasley and one Dobby. The construction worker was also big this year, but while some kids were excited to announce that they were Bob the Builder, one little dude had a nametag that emphatically stated his name as NOT BOB. We also had what I imagine was the entire Northampton chapter of the witches coven out to seek candy and cast spells. Tons of witches! Tons of fairies of all kinds, too. Flower fairies, fall fairies, Disney princesses in droves. Vampires were also a hit this year too, but instead of the Twilight kind I imagine we’d get, we were overloaded with the old school variety. I’m talking white faces, bloody mouths and big Victorian dresses. And finally, two little wild things with long fuzzy tails bigger than they were.
Some of the stranger and super creative costumes were a pair of salt and pepper shakers, a homemade Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat, and a homemade Buzz Lightyear. I know, Buzz is pretty standard Halloween fare, but this costume was made by a mom by hand, and it was totally legit. It even had his wings! Hannah and I applauded her craftiness. There also seemed to be a candy theme this year amongst the kiddies. We had a mom dressed up as a bag of skittles, a box of Orbit gum and some M&Ms.
But it’s always the costumes that I don’t understand upon first glance that I really love. We had a little guy come in dressed in what I thought was safari gear, but I saw that he had tools strapped to his vest. He had a ruler, a chisel, and a paintbrush. I asked him what he was, maybe an artist? A house painter? “A PALEONTOLOGIST!” he said, grabbed his candy, and was off. Adorable! You know that kid told his mom he wanted to be a paleontologist for Halloween and she looked at him, sighed, and started googling for ideas. We also had an olderish girl, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, dressed up as Abby Sciuto, from the show NCIS. Now, I understand that not everyone gives as much of a hoot about network television shows as I do, but I always get really excited when young girls choose to dress up as someone original, strong, smart and a little weird. So wherever you are, I give your costume highest honors.
Finally, the babies. I am a sucker for a baby dressed up like an animal. I spent way too much time cooing over tiny bees, tiny lambs, tiny elephants, lions, giraffes and bears, puppies, kittens… there were too many to count. Also, baby super heroes! Who doesn’t love a little guy in a muscle suit and superhero costume?
Here are some pictures of the essentials staff enjoying their Halloween times, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Our buddy Matt stopped by to see how we were doing on candy. We were down to dum-dums. As you can see, Matt went as Alan from The Hangover, complete with baby Carlos. He said he got a lot of funny looks from people who didn't realize it wasn't a real baby...
Me and my favorite ARF trooper. When I asked his dad what an ARF trooper was, his response was "Star Wars... recon... something."
Hannah, the dunce on Saturday night, with Emily, the mermaid. Emily also crafted my Bjork swan. They look great!
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