The White Suit on All Hallow's Eve

Last year Lori and I had wonderful 2011 Halloween costume ideas - so wonderful reader that I am keeping mum on them in hopes of making them for 2012 - but, things happened and we found ourselves the week of Halloween trying to conjure up some last minute ideas for ourselves.

Lori used the world wide web to find inspiration - she went as Mother Earth: she squirted a ton of hair spray on her head so her hair would stand straight up and then spray painted it green: thus grass. Then she put snakes, spiders and other critters in her hair and on her face. She accompanied this with brown make up and a brown top and pants. She looked pretty cool and a little spooky at the same time.

The progeny went as Rosie the Riveter, A Ninja, and a Vampire:

I took a different angle. I started thinking about wearing my white suit. I mean why should I let the fashion police tell me that I cannot wear it after Labor Day? First thought: Mark Twain, but too much hair. Second thought: Tom Wolfe, but too esoteric. How many kids would know that Tom Wolfe wears all white all the time? Then like a shooting star dashing across the heavens it came to me: The Colonel. That's right, the one and only Colonel Saunders!

The outfit was quite easy: a white suit, a black ribbon for a tie, some scraps of black fabric for a pocket square, some kind of puffy white pipe cleaner that I used for facial hair (which needed trimming) - eyelash paint to glue them onto my face, a pair of 3d glasses you get from the movies (just punch the "glass" out), a large KFC bucket (yes, they just gave it to me), and viola:

Reaction: as I walked around uptown trick or treating with the kids and families I noticed that my outfit brought many smiles and conjured a deep nostalgia from the other adults., i.e. lots of, "Hey its the Colonel."

If I had it to do all over again. 1. I would have painted my hair and eyebrows snow white. 2. I would have passed out chicken legs rather than biscuits (I made a pan of 'em and passed 'em out to the kids as we traversed the streets). 3. I would have driven to KFC with the outfit on and asked for the bucket rather than go in civilian clothes. 4. I would have worked for weeks on one liners. After I dropped the family off and searched for a parking space a gentleman on a bicycle rode past and asked, "Hey Colonel, what's in those 11 herbs and spices?" Man I wish I had spent some time prepping for that! Next year...