my Halloween gripe

I know, two blogs in one day. Technically the first one was last night, but since it was after midnight, it counted as today.

Anywho.

Here is my Halloween gripe. Let me preface this by saying, I'm not a Grinch. I love most holidays, just not the commercialism of the holidays. I love Easter and Christmas and Thanksgiving. I enjoy St. Pat's Day, for the most part (i.e. Irish potatoes and drinking, though I don't own much green and I hate corned beef and cabbage). New Year's Eve used to be fun, but now it's just an expensive hassle. And Valentine's Day is just plain stupid. (See me in February for a longer dissertation on this topic.)

But Halloween... that's a whole 'nother story. I used to love it: planning a costume, going trick-or-treating with friends, trading the good candy (anything Reeses) with the crappy candy (Mary Janes and anything with coconut). But lately I've noticed a disturbing trend. Halloween, for adults (or at least, adult women), is no longer about dressing in a goofy costume. It's about looking sexy. I've been checking the ads for Halloween costumes... sexy nurse, sexy witch, sexy vampire, sexy pirate, sexy maid, sexy superhero, sexy rock star... and the list goes on.

In years past, I've donned such homemade costumes as a hippie, a mime, a cat (with store-bought ears and tail), and a vampire. None of these costumes were "sexy." No fishnets, no cleavage, no heels.

Now, let me clarify. I don't feel like I need to dress sexy for Halloween. It just makes it harder to go to a party in a "silly" costume. And I have not one, but two Halloween parties to attend this year. To further complicate things, I don't have anything even remotely resembling a Halloween costume in my posession. So now what? Do I go out and spend money on a costume that I'll wear exactly twice? Or do I dig through my closet in the hopes that I can find something to pass off as a costume? Or do I just bag the whole thing and go in jeans and my Old Navy pumpkin t-shirt?

Damnit. With age comes not only wisdom, but a whole new set of problems.