Dress Me Up

Closed for Business

2011-10-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we closed the door for the last time as we concluded three days of the Costume Shop and Yard Sale. Yes, I shed a few tears, both in gratitude for a great 15 years and in sadness for the fun times I'll miss.

Thank you to all who have been partons and volunteers over the past decade and a half. You have brightened my fall days, caused me to be creative and patient, and allowed me to live out a dream of attempting to run a small business. At this time the economy, my porfessional and personal place in life, and a decrepit building have culminated in a clear signal that it's time to do something else.

Never fear, I'll still be playing dress-up for Halloween and I hope you will, too.

With Great Affection,
Bronwyn

P.S. For all of you Twin Cities Metropolitan Area folks, I donated several costumes to Hastings Family Service who will benefit from your purchase. Twin Cities Costume and Magic on Seventh Street near lowertown St. Paul is a great local retailer and rental shop. I encourage you to use them rather than the internet if you can.

COSTUME SALE & more

2011-09-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

It Is Finished.

2010-11-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

After 15 years of playing Dress Up I have discerned that it's time to call it quits.

Our first season in downtown Hastings in 1996 was a whirlwind of hauling laundry from town to Vermillion Township and back. I didn't have a clue how more than half of the accessories matched up with the proper costumes, and my youngest was riding the bus back and forth to kindergarten from our corner store.

Our second season brought a flurry of Halloween activity to a tired old granary on our new residential acreage in Marshan Townshp, not to mention costuming Hastings Community Theatre productions and Meeting of the Minds school projects.

By our third season we had the hang of it and our troupe of volunteer Costumers and loyal Customers grew and grew. Big Tig the Tabby cat moved in to mind the mouse patrol. We had our best seasons around the turn of the century, before Target came to town and long before the internet provided in home shopping for anything the heart desired.

In 2004 my job changed and I had to rely more heavily than ever on my girlfriends for volunteer support and was no longer able to deal with off-season appointments due to my travel schedule. Then Mary was deployed to Iraq and we considered closing down. But the faithful crew of Costumers wouldn't hear of it.

We're still going strong but the rental market for homemade and tired old clothing just isn't there anymore. The building has progressed from cute, to quaint, to downright decrepit. A part-time business like this can't afford the overhead to repair the building. And Tig hasn't caught a mouse all season. He's a loving, tired, scrawny old cat.

It is clearly time for the collective creative talent and energy of this group to do something else. I can't wait to see what it is.

My deepest gratitude to all of our faithful customers, and to my amazing volunteer Costumers: Miss Kimberly, Princess Kathy, Mary, Danika, Barb, Peggy, Beth, Linda, Katie, Phyllis, Janet, Norma, Danielle, Summer, and Greta. Each of you, no matter how long or brief your tenure working in the shop, have brought joy and friendship into my life for which I am eternally grateful.

Lest I forget the men in the life of this business, many thanks to Bob the Builder, John the Electrician, and Captain Steve the Handyman. Arthur and Joren know the collection better than most and are the richer for being boys who played dress up as children. Dale, my husband and my love, thank you for indulging this dream. Can I have a new boat now?

Many pieces of our collection will eventually be for sale. Stay tuned to the blog and the website for details.

Now, before I am completely finished, I need to chase down five costumes and two bounced checks. Any bets on whether or not I get Helen's costume back before my birthday?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2010-10-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

We had a great time Saturday night. All kinds of friends got dressed up to surprise one another at Princess Kathy and Captain Steve's Halloween Party. I forgot my camera so I only have some before and after pictures. I got to help dress Mary up as Roxie from Chicago. She already had the leather and lace theme going and I just added on with accessories. Peggy was rockin' the Geisha Girl look (at left). I struggled with her make-up, but it wasn't a bad impression. We need to get authentic face paint next time.

As Peggy and I were still in make-up mode when Arthur and his friends hit the shop in search of large animal costumes. He, Kevin and Shane left the shop as a Tiger, Parrot, and Fox with Marisol the Veterinarian. It did my heart good to see them negotiating their costumes.

Dale was my hero tonight. (He's also my husband.) He will dress up in pretty much anything I ask him to. He shaved his full beard and mustache this afternoon so I had a fresh face for a Raggedy Andy palette. He held our ancient but authentic Raggedy Ann doll on his lap for me while I did his make-up. Too cute.

I wasn't sure how to do the rag doll bodies so that we could show off our authentic "I Love You" hearts. I managed to find two red union suits that fit us and made hearts to match.

For those who may be interested in creating their own version of the costumes I used Simplicity Pattern #2514, Classic Raggedy Ann & Andy. It was not an easy pattern and it was missing a piece (ties for Ann's pinafore and Andy's neck bow). Norma helped with cutting pattern pieces and puzzling out the missing parts. She created Andy's tie from scratch. Finding socks in red and white stripes proved difficult, too. So we settled for red and black and they looked truly excellent.

I did cough up the cash for the best yarn I could buy (thanks to Danika and her grandmother for that assist and consultation!) to create the wigs. Peggy and Barb get major kudos for attaching yarn to a wig base and barbering red dreds!

Dale and I had a great time tonight playing rag doll best friends. When we visited a few bars on our way home, just to see what kind of amazing costumes were out there, we were disappointed. At two bars we were told by many that we would have won had we been in time for the contest. But I have come to the unhappy conclusion that you have to dress and act like a slut to win a contest at a bar if you are a girl. That's why I was so thankful to Princess Kathy and Capt. Steve for having a party. We got to watch transformations and amazing performances. I will announce winners once the photos are in.

I hope you have/had a fantastic Halloween!

CATASTROPHE! CALAMITY! CATACLYSM!

2010-10-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

A CONSIDERABLE SETBACK!

Last night I proved, again, that old buildings and with old wiring systems can't handle electrical overloads with very much grace. I guess having all the Halloween lights on the outdoor decorations plugged into the same circuit that was running a space heater and the computer just couldn't handle the load when I started the vacuum cleaner on another, what I thought was unrelated, outlet.

DARK . . . . . . and quiet. . . . . .

Crap!

We tripped a switch. I moved costumes to get to the breaker box and attempted several times to reset the failing switch. No go. Dammit!

I called my life-long electrician and consultant in Illinois, he did instruct me through an electrical repair from afar once before. He agreed that since the load didn't seem to snap the circuit, but gradually slowed it down, that it might be over-heated and could be reset once everything was cooled down. If that didn't work, he told me to call my local guy back to replace the breaker.

So let me be clear; on Tuesday the wind storm blew a dead tree down on the shop.
No damage. But is scared the s**t out of me, shook the whole shop.

Wednesday the electricity to the dressing rooms and front of the shop went out.

This morning when I walked out of the house there was an impressively noisy blackbird convention going on in the trees above the shop. The cacophony was damn near deafening as I drew closer to the decrepit building. I began to wonder, am I secretly on camera for some Hitchcock Reality TV joke? Am I being haunted by a snickering and secretive producer? I was picturing potential titles; "Death at Dress Me Up, " or "Costume Capers," or "R.I.P. at D.M.U."

Well, Princess Kathy's talented husband, Capt. Steve the Lumber-Jack-Electrician-Fireplace-Salesman-Wood-Stove-Technician, made a heroic visit to my little Halloween Habit during his lunch. I had flashlights and screwdrivers all ready. It took him all of 7.5 minutes to move the wiring from the bad breaker to an empty but functional breaker. YAY, CAPTAIN STEVE! THANK YOU!!!!!

The wind has also died down and the blackbirds have taken wing for another roost.

I guess I better quit my whining and get back to the Raggedy Ann and Andy costumes so they'll be ready for the Hastings Community Halloween Party tomorrow.

I look forward to seeing you at the shop for a round of Dress Up!

Procrastinator's Paradise

2010-10-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Countdown Jack O'Lantern at the right says that Halloween is six days and four hours away as I make this post. That means that most parties are in four or five days. This is the week that all the busy folks, procrastinators, planners, and reluctant folks are beginning to stress about costumes for the Halloween weekend.

WE HAVE TONS OF COSTUMES READY AND WAITING FOR YOU!!!

The costume shop is never busy early in the season. It's always the week of Halloween that we hope to be crazy busy. So please come out and let us help you dress up. Don't forget to bring your friends, too.

See you soon!

Community Halloween Party

2010-10-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Our not-so-small-town of Hastings, Minnesota, has a great tradition this time of year. Our Youth First council that works toward partnerships and collaboratives for building assets with young people joins with the local YMCA to host a Halloween Party.

On Friday, October 29, children under 12, and their parents, are invited to dress up in their most creative costumes and show up at the Hastings High School Commons, 200 Sieben Drive, from 5:30-8pm. There will be games, tricks, treats, and the Haunted Hallway. Our favorite part? The Costume Contest, of course!

One of the ways that Dress Me Up supports this effort is to offer costumes for use by all of the volunteer workers who host the party. If you are a Community Halloween Party Volunteer in need of a costume that night, please contact Youth First Coordinator, Ann Grotjohn, at 651-480-6182 or at agrotjohn@ci.hastings.mn.us.

We hope you have a SPOOKTACULAR time!!!!

Walter the Wolverine

2010-10-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

Oh! So you want to see the finished product, too. Here ya go . . . .

DOUBLE CLICK THE MOVIE FOR FULL SCREEN OPTIONS

WE ARE OPEN!!!

2010-10-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

My website is having a hard time finding its new host. Hopefully this will be remedied in less than the maximum 48 hours that GoDaddy.com predicts. In the mean time, I thought I'd share a YouTube video that shows how my youngest son, Joren, and his film festival pals use the costume shop in the off season. Enjoy!

DOUBLE CLICK THE VIDEO FOR FULL SCREEN OPTIONS

PUMPKINS!

2010-10-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Dress Me Up Costumes is open for business!

We rented our first costume for the season yesterday. Any guesses?

It was a Belly Dancer!

What are you gonna be this Halloween?

Com on out for a session of Dress Up - we are ready to assist you.

ATTENTION! In honor of our 15th Season, we are giving away pumpkins with each rental of $15 or more until they're gone. They are beautiful home-grown pumpkins with fantastic Jack O' Lantern potential. Don't miss out!

We look forward to dressing you up!

Here We Go Again!

2010-10-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome Back!
Dress Me Up Costumes is almost ready to assist you for the 2010 Halloween season. We're laundering, organizing, mending, dreaming, and preparing to contstruct some new costumes for the new season. On Saturday, October 9, we'll open our doors for the 15th! season under this management and 14th season in this location. I can hardly believe it!

So come on out and explore the collection. We're also planning for some 15th season celebrations and incentives. So stay tuned and plan to take advantage.

2010 Hours beginning Saturday, October 9

Sunday Noon - 5pm

Monday through Thursday 4-9pm

Friday & Saturday 10am-5pm

Extended Hours the week of Halloween will be announced.

Come on out for a session of Dress Up!!!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty fun weekend. It started on Friday as I had the honor of costuming my goddaughter, Maria. She was one of many volunteers set to help with the Hastings Community Halloween Party. Youth First and some other Hastings organizations coordinate the party each year. It's a pretty cool event that I support by donating costumes.

After picking up Martha Stewart's Halloween magazine at the airport a couple of Sundays ago, I was completely inspired with adapting a couple of her costume designs. I sent Maria a postcard from South Carolina telling her to call me if she wanted to collaborate on a costume idea. She got back to me on the Wednesday before Halloween. We met on Thursday to see if she was game and I had the right stuff. She's a great sport, isn't put off by my last-minute, harebrained ideas, and agreed to show up at 3 o'clock Friday to be transformed into a widowed bride.

I put her into some of my vintage costume pieces that I don't typically rent to teenagers - she is the exception to the rule. We rigged up Miss Debbie's wedding hat and veil to look a little ghoulish. I just happened to have a dried bouquet of long-stemmed yellow roses hanging on the wall. On the first pass through the hankie box I emerged with a petite, yellow hankie, trimmed in black lace, to complement the black and ivory ribbons for dressing the bouquet.

Costume complete.

Now for the finishing touch. Make-up.

I used Martha's doily stenciling method. It worked very well. Maria's skin tone helped - more contrast than your average scandihoovian kid from Minnesota. Her shiny, black hair hung in natural, curly ringlets, framing her face perfectly. We finished it off with some simple yet elegant jewelry. Beautiful, wistful, and spooky - all at the same time.
THANK YOU FOR PLAYING DRESS-UP, MARIA!!

We put together some other fun ones for ourselves and our customers. I'm delighted that the female cone head costume got to go out for the night. That one originated with my father and step-mother in Galena, Illinois, several years ago.

Arthur and his buddies went for the Three Musketeers. They look sharp and are pretty comfortable. Arthur's friend, Marisol, let us dress her as a Lady Pirate. I love it when we can give that costume to someone who wears it well. She looked fantastic. We added a vampire (more make-up fun for me!) and a fox to their merry band and wished them well as they headed off for First Avenue in Minneapolis where they saw many awesome costumes, among other strange things.

Mary and I used a cheerleader costume and my son's freshman year football jersey and socks to create our own version of Zombieland with a Hastings High School, Todd Field sort of touch. We had a good time, even if the bar party scene in Hastings was pretty lame last night. Oh well.

Barb created a one-footed Zombie, a al Larry the Cable Guy style. Her Jello molds of brains and a heart were truly disgusting. Sorry I have no photo for that one!

Beth participated in a creative collaboration to simulate Martha Stewart's spooky equestrian. Between the two of us and some fun playing with make-up, we did pretty well. I love her basting brush riding crop!

We missed having Peggy with us. We called her, left messages, and even went to her house. It was dark and no one answered the door. Very spooky. Hope the Zombies didn't get her!

Pumpkin Carving Contest

2009-10-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow, where did this month go?!?

Well, being ever crafty and creative out here at the Costume Shop, last week we held a Pumpkin Carving Contest. We need you, faithful reader, to be the judge! Please use the comments section to make your first choice known.

We adopted the Martha Stewart School of Carving with real tools and unexpected methods. We hope your Halloween preparations are going along swimmingly. Although somewhat picked-over, we still have many fabulous costumes available for the weekend.

Pumpkin #1

Pumpkin #2

Pumpkin #3

Pumpkin #4

Pumpkin #5

Stop out for a session of Dress Up!

Winter Before Halloween?

2009-10-12T23:12:00.000-07:00

In October of 1991 I sewed a Jester costume for my oldest son, two-and-a-half-year-old Arthur. I created the costume from an old red and blue quilt and jingle bells. Arthur insisted on doing his own make-up and smeared lipstick all over his face. I planned to stay home with the two-month-old baby Joren, while Dale took Arthur on his first ever Trick-or-Treat expedition around the 165th Street neighborhood in Vermillion Township in rural Hastings, Minnesota. The morning of October 31 it began to snow; heavy, wet, fat flakes of snow.

Poor Arthur had these baggy pants around his ankles, gathered at the top of his boots that I insisted he wore through the more than 4 inch accumulation that was blanketing the ground by late afternoon. He insisted that he still wanted to go for his first Trick-or-Treat trip and off he went with his father in the winter storm. It proved to be a legendary storm in a legendary year that would also produce a major blizzard at Thanksgiving time, too.

Since then I don't think Arthur has ever missed a Halloween opportunity for dressing up and playing Trick-or Treat, and he certainly loves snow, as do I.

So neither of us was particularly distressed when we woke to the bizarre contrast of looking out upon green leaves on the trees above a snowy blanket of white obscuring the still green grass of our fall lawn. It continued to snow and melt throughout the day. The pumpkins looked cute, frosted with wintry precipitation.

The Costume Shop is looking great. Mary and Danika worked hard yesterday cleaning and organizing. Mary returned the upstairs to an organized state while Danika and I sorted through accessories downstairs. And today Katie and Linda helped with new decorations to the exterior of the shop. We have bats, skeletons and other surprises waiting to welcome you on the Dress Me Up grounds.

I have begun construction of the first new costume of the year; yet another pirate costume, Capt. Morgan style. You're gonna love this rich red and gold creation. I'll keep you posted with updates as there is progress to report.

In the mean time it was fun to re-dress the Half-a-Witch in the pumpkin patch and to help Danika with a study-break session of Dress Up in which she demonstrated the efficacy of the beat-up old Batman costume.

"Holy Walnuts, Robin, what is that in your rubber codpiece?!"

Okay, never mind. I guess you had to be there.

We are ready to dress you up. Come on out and let us know what you have in mind.

Opening Days of 2009

2009-10-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

DAY ONE
I am so sorry, faithful customers and costumers, for my failure to get the shop open as promised on Thursday, October 8. That very day my oldest son, Arthur, was helping me with some cleaning and lifting chores around the shop in anticipation of your arrival when I was attacked by a vengeful bush!

Well, it wasn't that dramatic until I started my caterwauling. . .

I was showing Arthur which offending branches of the over-grown bushes needed to be trimmed away from the Costume Porch. I turned my head to look at him to ask a questions and when I turned back toward the bushes a sharp twig on a leafless branch inserted itself behind my glasses and raked across my unsuspecting left eyeball.

It dropped me like a knock-out punch to a glass jaw. I didn't pass out, but I did make a scene. It felt like my eyeball had popped.

Fortunately Arthur is an EMT and never looses his cool, even when his mother is loosing hers. He got me into the house to flush my eye with luke warm water. By then my husband was home. Once calmed down I was able to put my glasses on and briefly check out the damage through my bifocal. The good news was that I could see it. The bad news is that I could see it - the big gouge in my cornea - nauseating, if you ask me. So at 5:21 in the afternoon I called the clinic to see if I needed to go to urgent care or the ER.

In exactly 52 minutes 37 seconds, plus two additional calls on my cell phone to make sure they were, indeed, answering calls in the order in which they were received, a very apologetic triage nurse got on the phone to answer my questions. She kept apologizing for the wait, and when she learned that I wasn't calling with Swine Flu suspicions, apparently the cause for the eternal wait, she actually said, "Oh, for Pete's sake!" Which prompted me to apologize saying that I felt really stupid for poking myself in the eye with a stick, and I wouldn't have called except it really hurt!

"Oh no no," she corrected, "you need to be seen. Eye injuries are painful and you need to come in. I'm just sorry it had to happen today. You should have called the eye clinic. They would have brought you in right away."

"I tried," I replied, "but they were already closed and routing calls to your desk."

Touche'. She directed me to ER and promised they would be expecting me. I dispatched Dale back to the Costume Shop to repair the water pipes and get the furnace running. Arthur drove me to town, roles reversed from many previous journeys with the two of us in the car headed for ER!

They numbed my eye (thanks be to God!), irrigated it, used dye to look at the abrasion, "Wow, Mom. You scraped it good!", squirted antibiotic ointment all over it and sent me home with a patch and instructions to use Ibuprofen and Tylenol 3 and see the eye doc in the morning if it didn't feel better.

DAY TWO
I didn't sleep well last night. In fact, I confess to more than one episode of crying like a baby. There were moments when I wished I was in labor and delivery rather than feeling like someone was twisting a rusty fork in my eyeball. It was bad. And I didn't look good this morning, nor did I feel good. I took more pain-killers at 5 am and finally got my best sleep between 5:30 and 10 am.

Oops. The Costume Shop was supposed to open at 10 today. Oh well. I dragged my sorry ass out to the shop and changed the outgoing message on the phone and put a pathetic note on the door:
CLOSED - due to family medical emergency. Will reopen on Saturday, October 10. Sorry for the inconvenience. Sigh.

Dale had already gone to work and Arthur had a class at noon. I needed a ride to the eye doctor by 11:30 am. No way I could drive myself, too many tears and extremely light sensitive.

My hero of the day, Barb, moth-balled her tomato juice manufacturing operation for the afternoon and came to my rescue. I protected her from walking into the potentially flu-infested clinic and sent her off on her own errands as I ventured into the clinic. I kept my hands in my pockets, gave the people wearing ominous blue masks a wide berth, and used my own pen to write my co-pay check. Blah blah blah . . . . .

After two doctors, $115 in co-pays, one pharmacist, and $32 in eye ointment, I rest assured that my eye will be fine. In fact they think it will be fine by Sunday, because eyes heal very quickly.

Yes, the shop will be open on Saturday, finally.

Thanks be to God. and Thanks be to Barb!

Anyone wanna play Dress Up for Halloween?

It Is Finished!

2008-11-03T20:02:00.000-08:00

I offer thanks to all 97 of you who rented costumes this Halloween season. And I give thanks to those of you who checked us out and left empty handed. I hope we can help you find a fun and satisfactory costume for Halloween next year if you'll give us the chance.

Tonight I closed the shop for the season. I have new duties at work that require more of my time and attention and simply can't keep up with off-season appointments any longer. But the sewing bug always bites me in the summer time, and I will faithfully construct some more creative costumes with some of my vacation time in 2009.

Several of you reported costume contest wins. Congratulations! My crew that dressed up and went out Halloween night didn't win anything this year - but in our bar hopping we missed all the contests, too.

I offer special thanks to my entire amazing staff; Katie, Linda, Kathy, Beth, Phyllis, Janet, Peg, Barb, Mary and Danika. Without these dedicated, generous, and creative women I wouldn't even be able to open for Halloween.

Ladies, you have my deepest gratitude. One month to Galena and counting!

Community Halloween Party

2008-10-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the annual Youth First/YMCA Community Halloween party. I know this particular gathering for costumed kids in Hastings has been going on for at least 14 years because this is my 13th season in the costume business and I know my predecessor, Judy, helped with costumes for at least a year before I purchased Dress Me Up from her.

Youth First is a wonderful organization that works toward building assets with young people in the Hastings area. The YMCA is a far more recent organization that Youth First has collaborated with on efforts like this particular party and others.

Because my costume business is so seasonal, and really more of a hobby than a business, rather than writing a check to support the party, I offer free costumes to the volunteers who help put on the party. In 13 years I have only visited the Community Halloween Party once with my own children. I recall it being a very crowded and over-whelming affair for my elementary aged country boys.

Tonight Mary and I dressed as pirates with "left-overs" from the shop and went to town with laundry baskets to collect the donated costumes so we could clean them and prep them for rental on Halloween. The party was held at the Senior high School Commons. What a great venue. There was plenty of room for a large crowd. All the kids and many of their parents looked fantastic. I love a good Halloween party.

THANK YOU to all the volunteers for taking the time to offer this event to the children in the Hastings area. And THANK YOU Ann of Youth First and Mike of the YMCA for continuing and improving upon this community tradition.

I'll try and post pictures as soon as I can. Have a Happy Halloween!

Yes, we Dress Up, Too.

2008-10-29T08:45:00.001-07:00

My friend Linda, who works in the shop Mondays with her daughter Katie, brought a bunch of photos out this week. A lot of our customers ask us what we do for Halloween. Here are the photos of several of us from 2007. We wore our own Renaissance Festival costumes. Some of the pictured costumes are available for rent, some are our private belongings as we work on building more and more elaborate RenFest costumes each year.

Some years we create costumes for our group. We've been a Harem of Belly Dancers with an Oil Sheik for our husband and Arab Bouncers to keep us secure. We've been a gaggle of fairies with various themes; Fairy Goth Mother, Tooth Fairy, Cleaning Fairy, Gardening Fairy, etc. We even went as a Dead Wedding Party one year. That idea was born out of our plan to wear the costume left-overs on Halloween night. Kathy tried on a wedding dress that had been decorated with spiders and webbing. It was a beautiful fit so we decided to put all the hideous orange, salmon, and peach bride's maid dresses and prom dresses to good use. We had a great time dancing at The Point. Barb, our Grandmother of the Bride, won a prize that night (she usually does. She always plays her part to the hilt!). We also made enough money on our Dollar Dance to buy a round for the group.

We have tons of costumes left. It's really up to you to use your imagination and then play the part once you've got your costume on. Dress Up and have a blast this Friday night!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday marked the home stretch week for the Halloween season and the Costume Shop. I'm opening each day at noon this week and staying open until 9 p.m. I may or may not attempt to sew costumes for my faithful friends. We've had a tough time finding the pattern style we wanted. But I'll make one more attempt today. We have tons of fantastic costumes still available and about 10 premium pumpkins left for sale.

Last night after we closed the Costume Shop for the evening we had a grand old party. Both of our sons invited their female friends over to carve pumpkins.

We love carving pumpkins. It's a time honored tradition that helps more chronologically mature folks recall their childhood. It presents challenges of strength and coordination for all. We are well beyond the years of asking the children to draw on their pumpkins so that mommy and daddy can carve for them. Last night the six of us swapped sharp objects, including every size and shape of finely honed knife that resides in my kitchen. (Yes, Luke, we used the new Cutco knives - they performed admirably, as did my trusty old Chicago Cutlery.)

I purchased some gimmicky pumpkin carving power tools at the grocery store. We used them but quickly determined that there really is no substitute for an honest to goodness sharp knife. Only one injury was recorded for the evening. Dale, the oldest amongst us, and perhaps the strongest, (although I bet Arthur can give him a run for his money these days) managed to slice his finger. It was the sort of cut that demanded a Band aid but didn't require pressure or stitches.

Dale always creates very unconventional pumpkins. This year his specimen includes applique of carefully carved pumpkin guts to affect a single-nostril, nose bulge and a tongue sticking out. He completed his work of art by piercing it with an arrow.

Joscey carved a delightfully traditional and cheerful Jack-O-Lantern. The toothy smile makes you grin with the sheer pleasure of it. She took the most time, carefully executing her masterpiece with thoughtful precision and care.

Arthur carved what initially look like an alien pumpkin. It turned our to be a Frankensteinian creation complete with skin scars and protruding electrodes. He even left the bottom covered with mud for effect.

Joren and Kristin shared a pumpkin. Joren had already been carving in the afternoon with the youth group and opted for collaboration with his girlfriend. They came up with a mischievous face that appears to be cheerfully winking and suspiciously sneering all at the same time.

I attempted a sort of gremlin face; angular and asymetric, with dimples and a cleft in the chin. I like the results. Gazing upon all five of them last night caused me to smile with glee. The wind caused their candles to gutter, making their eerie glow even more other-worldly.

I love the mystery of All Hallow's Eve and the Christian assurance that follows in our November 1 celebration of All Saint's Day. I hope you carve a pumpkin this year. I also hope you'll commemorate those who have gone before us and celebrate the abundance in your life.

Wanna play dress up for Halloween? I DO! JOIN US!!!

Conehead

2008-10-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in the shop on Saturday. It's so much fun when couples come in with a spirit of creativity and imagination, ready to have some fun.

One of our customers early in the day found an outrageous orange and white polyester jump-suit straight out of 1974. As she was giggling at her find and admiring how well it fit her, comfortable in the costume and contemplating accessories, her husband was digging around trying to find an Austin Powers sort of get-up. Failing that we offered him a great alternative.

"Would you consider going as a Conehead from Saturday Night Live? We have the head, the silver cape, and several hideous polyester leisure suits in a rainbow of colors and patterns."

"Let's try it!" he enthused.

We think he looks awesome. Sorry for the soft focus - it's tough to catch aliens in a clear and discernible shot. Besides, he didn't really want to be caught without his infamous six-pack!

Thanks, Folks! We'll see you in a couple weeks.

So, what's your costume going to be? Come on out and play Dress Up - we're sure we can help you find a creative and comfortable costume for your Halloween party this year.

JACK-O-LANTERNS

2008-10-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday! And a beautiful Autumn day, warm and bright with deep blue skies and a riot of color on leaves everywhere. I could do with out the Box Elder Bugs and Asian Beetles, of course.

We received a load of giant pumpkins this week from my Skov-in-Laws who scored them at an agricultural auction in Iowa. We're selling them for a fantastic price, only $5 a piece. Come on our for a session of Dress Up and a pumpkin!

Peggy and Danika created a new sort of scarecrow to welcome you as you turn in the driveway. We named him Mr. Blue Moon. I think he's pretty cool. He looks very earie at night, especially as the moon waxes to its fullest point.

Today . . . . I think . . . . . I shall be a Biker Chick.

Hope to see you soon!

"Tis the Season - AGAIN!

2008-10-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Halloween is just around the corner; BEFORE the presidential election!

Dress Me Up Costume Rental is gearing up for a new season. We're cleaning, constructing, and repairing costumes, getting the collection ready for you to play dress up!

Beginning Thursday, October 9, our 2008 hours will be:

Mondays - Thursdays 4 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Fridays & Saturdays Noon - 5 p.m.

Sundays Closed

Extended Hours October 26 - November 3

Call us with questions, better yet - stop out for a session of Dress Up!

The costume shop is on U.S. Highway 61, five miles south of Hastings, on the west side of the road between the 110 mile marker to the south and 210th street to the north. Look for the farmhouse driveway marked by a white mailbox with a reflective red arrow.

See you soon! Happy Halloween Season!

Closed for the Season

2007-11-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

We had a blast in the costume shop this Halloween season.

Whether you rented from us, simply checked us out, or even were only a Blog reader, we've enjoyed your company in this bizarre endeavor.

The Sunday after Halloween is always a bittersweet day for me. It marks the end of the busy-ness. It marks the end of 18 hour days. It marks the end of getting to spend time with my closest girlfriends who volunteer their time to help me with this crazy hobby of mine.

I offer my heartfelt thanks to Barb, Beth, Danika, Janet, Kathy, Katie, Linda, Mary, Peggy, and Phyllis. Each and every one of them has been a great supporter, creative costumer, and welcome companion this past month. I am also grateful for Tom, Dale, and Joren, who also served their time helping with the shop in some capacity or another.

We're slowing down. We don't dress up and party as much as we once did. But we still enjoy spending time with each other, and the Costume Shop has been a consistent place for us to convene for years.

There are times that I dream about a more sane pace in October that doesn't include a rental business. I know I would miss it terribly. If my dreams were to really come true we would have a community theatre company with a building in Hastings from which I could run the business. I would love being the Executive/Artistic director of a local community theatre. We could do great things. But fund-raising isn't my forte. And that dream is gonna take some serious cash. Anyone have a cool million to donate for a great cause? I'm hopeful.

I'll hold on to that dream for the time being. It's either that or this little shop will be my retirement job. And that doesn't sound so bad either.

For now, I think I shall take a nap.

The Morning After

2007-10-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

This is what the shop looked like this morning when I opened.

My faithful friends ran the shop for the two busiest days of the year without me. I had to work at my real job. I am truly blessed with their friendship and their playfulness.

Yesterday at 6 p.m. I was rolling south across the Wabasha Street Bridge in St. Paul when I called, having heard nothing from the shop, or any one in it, for two days.

"I'm on my way. How are you guys and what are we doing tonight?" I announced.

"Hold on - yes, that's perfect - no you need to try it on. Go. - Okay, now, Bronwyn. We're on our last customers for the day and we've already started playing dress up without you," explained Mary.

"Barb is so cute and she went home to get some stuff for tonight. Peggy's sewing her costume. I'm wandering around the shop collecting things for my fairy outfit. How soon can you get here?"

"I'll be there in about half an hour. I can't wait to hook up with you guys and play!"

And play we did. I wore the Amazon Warrior "dress." Peggy was a Goth Fairy, Mary was the Cleavage Fairy. Barb was the cutest damn pink thing you ever did see. Dale was our Chauffeur, Merlin the Magician, or Dumbledore - it was hard to tell which.

Today we had several returns, tons of reports of a "great time had," and several First, Second, and Third place finishes at area costume contests. The St. Pauli Girl accessorized himself well by landing a pair of size 12 gold Go-go boots (from where?!?! We can't imagine.) and a lovely blond wig. He struck a great deal and the costume shop owns both items. He also placed second at is bar of choice last night. Rumor has it he took a spill (stepped on the hem of his dress), broke his beer bottles, and was dubbed Oktoberfest Wench after the incident.

We have been doing laundry all day. Kathy showed up to save me from being alone and over-whelmed. We have lots of costumes still available for Halloween and for next weekend, too.

Send pictures - we'd love to post them on the web page. We'll get some of ours up in the next couple of days. Sned photo attachments to dmucostumes@earthlink.net
THANKS.

Have a happy Halloween!!!!

Romance Interrupted

2007-10-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

We started the evening off with our favorite customer from yesterday, Lynn, the sporting pirate chick. She came in yesterday with great news.

"I've rented with you every year. But this year I have a bunch of parties, so I was going to buy a costume. But all the stuff out there is plastic crap. And it's expensive, too!" she proclaimed.

Welcome back, Lynn! We love loyal Dress Up customers like you.

Lynn let us dress her up like a lady pirate, if there is such a thing as a "Lady" Pirate. We are all fans of Johnny Depp and the "Pirates of the Caribbean," so we maintain that pirates have a certain sort of gypsyesque aura about them. We played and she delighted in the creative process and walked out with a hot costume.

She brought her man back tonight and he cooperated admirably as we dressed him up like a minion of Johnny Depp. Tim was a great sport and walked out with a comfortable, flashy, functional costume to complement his gal. WE LOVE GUYS LIKE TIM!

So as the waxing moon rose higher in the sky the evening began in romance and continued with happy customers walking out as King Arthur, a Court Jester, a Damsel in Distress and her hero, a Musketeer. We even sent a gracious Beauty Queen out the door with a 1980's prom dress.

And then the flow of the evening was brought to an abrupt and cartoonish halt.

Our shortest Costumer (not to be confused with a customer), Barb, came walking out of the dressing room proclaiming she had found her costume for the year on the children's rack.

Need I write more?

We laughed so hard there was a line for the bathroom.

"Pika Pika Choo!"

St. Pauli Girl

2007-10-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

First we were bored today. We carved pumpkins. We mended. We cleaned. We organized. Yes, we played dice, too. We just put in a movie when our first customer of the day wandered in with his 20-something son.

"Welcome to the costume shop. How can we help you?"

"Can you dress me up like a great big whore?" says a barrel-bodied man wearing denim from head to toe with a patriotic cap perched atop his head.

"Of course!" we replied.

It was play time.

The magenta saloon gal dress was a strike - too small for this guy.

But wait! We have a new and significantly large renaissance dress that was donated by a woman recently liberated of much of her weight. Let's try it out.

As we laced this good sport into the bodice, pulling tighter and tighter around his belly, he imagined how this might all play out.

"So do you have wigs?" he asked.

"He should be a blond with those sparkly blue eyes," offered his son.

"We can go black or white," I suggested.

Once we had him strapped in, inserted fake breasts, plopped a wig on his head, I announced that he looked like the St. Pauli Girl, with a curious mustache . . . and a little hair on her back.

Well we have all heard about those German Frau's - not all of them are buxom AND petite!

He went away a happy customer, looking forward to assuming his Halloween personality. We gave him some tips on accessorising his costume. He'll be beautiful.

We fixed up his son like an Australian Cowboy - I'm sure there's some other official name for them down under. But he looked good.

We couldn't talk him into a pink bandanna for his throat. Unlike his father he didn't want there to be any speculation about his gender or orientation.

The Runaway Bride from last year donated his bridal gown yesterday.

And Fred Flintstone walked out the door with a

"YABADABDOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

We have TONS of costumes just waiting for you to assume the character.

Come on out and play Dress Up!

Katie's Dress

2007-10-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Barb and I had a slow day in the shop. We worked on the new rental forms and the business cards. Hopefully both will be printed and ready for use by next week.

The highlight of the day was when a customer came in with her dad and two younger brothers. She needed a Renaissance dress.

OUR FAVORITE!

We do blur the lines of Medieval and Renaissance around here - sometimes even Elizabethan styling gets mixed in. It's the 21st century - who cares!?!

All of our staff laugh at the girls who come in and think that our fifties skirts are supposed to be down on their hips.

"Why is this waistband so tiny?" they ask.

"Because it's supposed to go around your waist. Not down around your hips," we carefully explain.

"You mean up by my belly button? But that's so uncomfortable!" they complain.

Welcome to the real world. I wore hiphuggers in junior high. By the time I was in high school we were on to goucho pants and double zippered pants. Remember those? With platform shoes? Ah, the seventies.

So, not caring about the specific dates of the Renaissance, and admiring this girl's willowy figure, we directed her to Kim's lacy dress and Katie's plush velvet. They are two Dress Me Up constructed favorites of the staff; two dresses we all long to wear but haven't a prayer of squeezing into.

So out went Katie's Magenta dress with a Juliet cap today.

Yay for people who play Dress Up!

Fall in the Shop

2007-10-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

When my sons were younger they used to open the shop for me when they got home on the bus. I always looked forward to finding the costume shop up and running with boys' homework spread out all over the desk. Those days are gone. One son is experiencing his first year of college in Missoula, Montana. The other son is usually occupied with work or after school activities at the high school. He's the boy that used to go to town with me in the morning, the very first year we had the shop, to open up and eat lunch at Professor Java's next door before he boarded the bus for afternoon kindergarten. Then we moved to our present location and he was in first grade and we were off and running in this space.

I miss those days, but I'm proud of my sons.

Tonight my Fairy Goddaughter surprised me by showing up to help at the shop. She brought her homework and we soon realized that neither of us had all the parts and functions of animal and plant cells committed to memory. As Dani struggled to complete her worksheet I tried to dredge up my high school biology class memories.

Finally I heard that ever-present voice of wisdom in the back of my mind. It sounds an awful lot like my father. "Look it up!"

So I ran to the house, located my trusty, Unabridged Random House Dictionary of the English language. I explained to Dani that this was the old fashioned way to do homework when you are without a textbook, the Internet, or electricity in general.

We had a great time learning about chromosomes, mitochondria, ribosomes, lysosomes, vacuoles, cytoplasm and other cell organelles. I think she aced the worksheet - both sides.

Of course I had to show her the other benefits of an unabridged dictionary. (It has all the forbidden words in it, too.) She didn't believe me when I told her it had the "F-bomb" in it. Of course she looked it up to prove me wrong.

HA!

I was right and she giggled and quickly turned back to Endoplasmic Reticulum. Which is certainly not a dirty word. At least we don't think so.

We had customers and help from some staff.

But the best part for me was hanging with my friend, Dani, while she worked on her homework and I worked on her costume for "The Music Man."

She will look pretty in pink. I don't think she wants to be a cell for Halloween - although it could make for an interesting costume . . . .

My guess is she will have had enough of science and pink and will want to be a pirate for Halloween.

I'm with her! ARRRRRRGH!

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

2007-10-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the Costume Shop Blog!

We opened for business on Saturday. I wasn't able to work Saturday, Monday, or Tuesday due to obligations at my paying job. My amazing friends got the shop open, started in on the never-ending laundry, arranged pumpkins for display, lined the driveway with torches, and began making me lists of things that require acquisition or my attention. I LOVE MY AMAZING FRIENDS! Thank you to Barb, Mary, Danika, Janet, Katie, and Linda who got us off to a great start.

Tomorrow is "Dress as your Favorite Teacher" day for homecoming week at Hastings High School. It's also Octoberfest at the high school tomorrow evening. We had some teenage traffic today that included an Octberfest Queen, who will look amazing, and two versions of the retired Mrs. Mattson. (I hope I spelled her name correctly!)

Mrs. Mattson retired recently but is still a beloved instructor that the Seniors and Juniors remember. There will be both a male and a female person attempting to look like her on Thursday wearing Dress Me Up costumes. Thankfully Mary, our Dress-the-Men-in-Drag specialist was on hand to assist. And thankfully I've met Mrs. Mattson and could coach them a bit on their attire and accessories. It was great fun. Hopefully we can get some pictures posted sooner than later.

The best part of the gig:

I FINALLY rented a pair of hideous, bejeweled denim woman's dress flats that were donated to the shop by a former and still very gay co-worker. Thanks, G, for the incredible shoes. We finally found some feet to fit in them!

Costume Contest

2006-10-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

We had a blast on Saturday night. The Fairy costumes were so creative with everyone doing her best to play the part. Kathy talked Steve into the Romeo costume, which has it's own whimsical, if not fairy-esque, qualities as well. Joe the Strong looked solid in a Scare Crow costume. Dale out-did himself with his own tribute to Steve Irwin.

Unlike the characature on South Park, there was no blood involved. He dressed up in his safari shirt and shorts, rigged a Sting Ray stinger to be protruding from his chest, and added little haloes to himself and the Sting Ray. The ray was constructed of an inside-out, green T-shirt with reflective red eyes and a long tail, sans stinger. He looked tastefully fantastic; a very creative costume punctuated with the occasional exclamation, "Crikey!"

The bar we chose became quite crowded around 11 p.m. as the Costume Contest approached. Last year this particular bar did a great job of having staff pre-select the finalists. They were well chosen with credit given for originality, quality, and creativity. Unfortunately they failed to live up to that same standard this year and stranded their D-Jay with the overwhelming task of running the contest on the fly.

The poor guy did the best he could given a loud, rowdy crowd. All those who wanted to compete were given an opportunity to be cheered into or booed out of the final selection process - which was more of the same.

This sort of drunken popularity contest is my Halloween pet peeve. It disolves into three categories: lots of attractive flesh showing, clever and crude costumes that makes everyone laugh, or those who happen to look a lot like a celebrity and have succesfully capitalized on their God-given features with a little helpful clothing. Generally, the person who took the greatest risk at partial nudity or crudity, or the person with the most and loudest friends at the bar wins. I hate that.

It's not that I want to win. It's that I want to see prizes awarded for those who were the most creative with original ideas who executed an excellent costume in which they played the part. The good news is that I was so tired and thankful to be out dancing with my friends that I didn't even care that it was a lame excuse for a contest. Besides, it's simply fun to dress up and go play. That's the ultimate goal.

Capt. Jack

2006-10-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

This couple came into the shop a couple weeks ago looking for a pirate costume. One of our staff came downstairs and said, "This guy upstairs is looking for a pirate or something. Do any of you know what some movie pirate looks like? Captain Somebody?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's it," she said.

"I'M TOTALLY ON IT!" I yelled, running upstairs to help this creative customer.

So that's how I met Nick and Andrea. We started digging in tubs of scarves, boxes of pants, and racks of miscellaneous shirts. We came up with a pretty good costume. Nick was quietly willing to let the women work on the costume, with him weighing in here and there, grinning when we got it right, nodding encouragement when we were getting close.

When all was said and done he looked good, but not good enough, in my opinion.

"Would you let me make a pirate jacket for you?" I tested.

We had Pirates of the Caribbean, one of my favorite movies, playing on the costume shop TV by then so we could check out the details of Johnny Depp's Capt. Jack costume. Andrea assured me that she was working on the dreds, the beads, and the beard braids.

"Yeah, that would be cool," responded a grinning Nick.

"I love that movie, I love that costume, I love Johnny Depp, and I would love to make a pirate coat for the shop. I don't have a sewing project for this season yet - I think you're it. What do you think?" I invited.

"Let's do it," he replied.

So I whipped out my handy dandy measuring tape and took his measurements, wrote it down on his rental form, took his money, and asked him to call me on Tuesday the 24th in case I needed him for a fitting.

The women at JoAnn Fabrics in Woodbury were astonished that I would fork out premium dollars for 100% polyester fake leather from the upholstery section for a Halloween costume. They obviously don't appreciate the need for this coat to look and drape properly - the fabric was perfect.

As I've been working on the costume over the past week customers have been marveling at it. I began with a beautiful dark, plush corduroy to create a vest adorned with mix and match buttons. Then I began work assembling the coat. The pattern wasn't too difficult, but the fabric was expensive, so I couldn't afford to make mistakes. I took it more slowly and carefully than my characteristic short-cut style of speed-sewing. When Andrea called on Tuesday I had to confess that I needed one more day.

Wednesday she called and we told them I would be finished sewing buttons on by 7 p.m. and would be ready to hand it over. They walked in at 7:02 p.m. as I was preparing to sew on the last button.

"Hi guys!. One more button and I'm finished. Here's the vest. I can't remember if I told you I would make a vest or not, but I would love for you to at least try it. And look at the red head scarf we found - isn't it perfect?" I babbled at them.

They headed off to the dressing room to start to assemble his costume as I worked on button number ten. Andrea made perfect bead strands to anchor in the dredlock wig. I grabbed some sashes for his waist. Nick liked the vest and showed off the boot covers and pirate sword he found. Andrea used some of our bobby pins to attach the beard braids and WOW!! Nick looked so good. The coat was PERFECT. I was SOOOOO EXCITED! I just love it when a costume comes together like that.

We've had others come together this season, too. I have the shop for moments like these. It is a privilege and a blessing to help people be creative, imaginative, and playful. I love having customers like Nick and Andrea. THANK YOU GUYS!!! The picture we posted is from the first fitting. I hope they'll share one from the night they go out once he has on his make-up and jewelry. We'll be sure to post it at the website.

By the way, Phyllis found a great dress combo for her Cleaning Fairy tonight, and we altered Beth's Poker Fairy dress, too. We'll get pictures up of the finished fairies some time next week. We have tons of stuff left for you. Stop out this week and play Dress Up!

Fairies

2006-10-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

All my life my favorite thing to do with my girl friends is play dress up. It's about 50% creating the costume and 50% playing the character you have created with clothing. You have to wear the character you've created inside and out. Playing the role makes the costume and provides most of the fun, assuming a personality that is not your own.

My friends who volunteer in the shop are playful women, young at heart, creative, and playful in spirit. If I had known them when I was growing up we would have played Dress Up together. But we didn't meet until we were all 30 or older, so we play dress up once a year. But we take the entire month of October to prepare for the big night. It's like a rehearsal, working on our characters and costumes in preparation for the performance on Halloween.

In past years we have donned whatever costumes were left after the clients took the cream of the crop, making the best of the left-overs. More recently we have plotted and schemed and planned, with sewing and gluing and sewing some more to create group costumes of glamorous witches, a harem of belly dancers, a dead wedding party. We fantasized about being the Bulgarian Olympic Synchronized Swim Team. We even ordered the swim caps and planned to neglect shaving (yes, armpits and legs). But we couldn't find the time to choreograph, much less rehearse, our act to be executed on a dance floor in a bar.

This year, in the midst of creating pirate costumes (yes, we all love Johnny Depp's Capt. Jack Sparrow!) the spirit has moved us to be fairies. We've been watching the Bard's "A Misummer Night's Dream" and Drew Barrymore's "Everafter" to get ideas about fairy costumes and to figure out the mechanics of attaching wings to a costume.

We have decided to sacrifice several 1950's cocktail dresses adorned with tons of tulle to the Fairy theme. I plan to be a Tooth Fairy with a tool belt woven from dental floss and equipped with a door knob and string, a roll of quarters, a wand of tooth brushes, a box of baby teeth, miniature toothpaste tubes, bead-head for hair, and some dental whitening strips in strategic locations. I'm practicing my a buck-toothed speech pattern.

Mary is going as the Wacked Fairy, we're not sure if she crazy or loaded - but she'll be cute. Barb plans to be the Fairy Goth Mother in black - and her playful husband Mike avoided tights/leggings again by choosing to play Dracula to her Goth theme. Linda will be the flower bedecked and lovely Garden Fairy. Beth will be in stark and striking black and white gambling and giggling as the Poker Fairy. Phyllis, true to her nature, will be the Cleaning Fairy with a feather duster for a wand. We don't know if Janet or Kathy will join the Fairy Fun - Peggy is contemplating several options - she'll surprise us all with an amazing creation.

Friday night last, as this Fairy theme was sweeping up our collective imagination, I found myself upstairs with two of my closest friends, trying on costumes, improvising with accessories. We were playing Dress Up. I was transported back to 1972 playing the same game from the sanctity of my closet, pulling costumes from my mother's boarding school trunk with my best friend Margot, trying on a deeper level of character with each layer of whimsical clothing. I literally jumped up and down with excitement, thanking my friends for coming to my house to play Dress Up. Thank God that at almost 45 years old I still have the ability to play whimsical games. I am even more thankful for the friends with whom I have been blessed who also have a playful and imaginative streak, and a willingness to take the risk of playing, too.

We'd love to include you in the game. Come let us help you Dress Up this Halloween.

TIPS

2006-10-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

The shop is clean and organized and we are SOOOO ready for customers to keep our costumers busy. We've had a little bit of traffic so far. But it never gets busy until the last 10 days before Halloween. We are a procrastinator's paradise.

It being our ten year anniversary, and my 11th Halloween of renting costumes, we offer the following TOP TEN things to consider when pondering a Halloween costume. We hope they are helpful. And please know these are observations from a wealth of Halloween costume experience that predates the shop, as well as the wisdom of many costumers and customers.

10. If you haven't started sewing your costume by now - it probably won't get done in time for Halloween.
9. If you haven't located all the pieces of your costume in your home (or your mother's house) by now, they won't be where you think they are the day before your costume party.
8. If you've never seen your husband/boyfriend in a costume before - get him to the shop soon so we can help get him used to the idea.
7. If you think you're too old or too mature for a costume, we're very sorry that you've given up on the playful side of life.
6. Consider your costume party environment (indoors or out - active or passive) before you decide what you want to be.
5. Which is more important - being unrecognizable or being able to eat and drink?
4. Do you want to be a scary, sexy, silly, or creative character?
3. Unless you plan to expose LOTS of skin - people will notice the full effect of the costume, not your figure flaws.
2. Cleavage is good and we can help.
1. Real men wear tights - but we have leggings for the rest of them!

MYSTERY

2006-10-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

Electricity is a mystery. At least it is to me. During the Halloween season of 2003, at least I think it was 2003, we had an electrical mystery. The costume shop lights started to behave badly. One could turn on a switch in anticipation that it would turn on the closest light. At first this proved to be a reasonable expectation. As the days of October went on, the mystery began to manifest itself.

Light switches began to affect lights other than the one attached to the switch. What went off or on became unpredictable with each flip of the switch. The washing machine started causing an interesting Northern Lights-like pulsation throughout the downstairs. Some switches seemed to have become dimmers. As the week wore on the entire system became dimmer, and dimmer, and dimmer . . .

No light.

Beautiful sunset at 7 p.m. No light. Shop open two more hours. Time for flashlights, camping lanterns and candles, using extreme caution, of course! Not a good situation. Great Halloween atmosphere for a Halloween Haunted House, but not for a costume rental business. . . . "Ma'am, is this cape red, green, or black?" "Let me see- feel it. Oh, that's blue velvet!"

A friend suggested an electrician, who shall remain unnamed, who graciously came right over to investigate. I thought the issue was related to a short at the washing machine since the pulsing seemed to be the most noticeable problem from the start. He spent the better part of an hour digging around. He couldn't find anything wrong. He left and I was in tears.

Fortunately I have friends in far places with many talents. I knew it was a stretch, but I called my electrician friend in Illinois.

I've known John since I was barely ten years old. The summer our family moved into an old, abandoned farmhouse, John lived in the driveway in his bread-truck-turned-camper helping my dad plumb and wire the house. They had to install a furnace, create a bathroom in the old nursery, and wire every single room. There were no outlets in any walls and each room had a spin-switch that illuminated a light bulb dangling from a cord in the center of the ceiling.

I can say with confidence that my first girlhood crush was on John. He was a hippie, just like my mom and dad, but a younger and cuter hippy. His mustache was far more impressive than my dad's, and he always had a buck knife tucked into it's worn leather pouch on his belt. I used to dress like him, carpenter-style denim jeans and a white t-shirt, and follow him around, willing to run for whatever tool or beverage he needed. He handled it well and never treated me like a stupid little kid.

The greatest thrill was getting to sit on the step in his bread truck with the door open as we went hurtling down the road. I loved the wind in my hair and the thrill of the road racing by, just inches from my feet. This was a prohibited activity if my mother was a witness. But my father indulged the thrill-seeker in me and trusted John to keep me safe. We started calling him "John The Generator," after a Van Dyke Parks song. The refrain goes like this:

Who's that comin'?
John the Generator.
Who's that comin'?
John, John, John.
Who's that comin'?
John the Generator,
John the Generator with his work clothes on.

My sister, mother and I would break into a chorus as a way of greeting whenever he turned up. He had an uncanny way of arriving just in time for meals. My mother always welcomed him, even though he taught us to belch (and belch lustily, I might add) on command. Most of our friends called him Electric John, or "EJ."

So I called John, in tears, and left a forlorn message about the electrical problem in my treasured shop, so discouraged I couldn't even sing the song. John is familiar with our property, being a frequent visitor as well as advisor on electrical issues when we bought the farm, so to speak. He called back about twenty minutes later and asked me some diagnostic questions, just like a doctor trying to get a complete grip on the symptoms.

"Okay, Bronwyn," he reassured me, "I need you to go to the breaker box to re-set the power. Turn off the main switch at the top and flip it back on."

"We've already tried that," I snuffled and complained.

"Trust me," he coaxed. "Flip the switch and tell me what happens."

Click. Click. Nothing.

"I told you, John. Nothing happened."

"Bronwyn, did you flip the switch ALL the way off?"

"What do you mean?"

"Turn it off" click "Now push the switch all the way over." CLICK "Oh!" I exclaimed.

"Now turn it back on," he encouraged. CLICK Lights, radio, answering machine, BINGO! A cheer went up from the shop.

"Thank you, John. thank you thank you thank you! I knew you could make it better."

He laughed and congratulated me on turning on a switch! It seemed rather absurd. I guess it just needed to be reset. John promised that he would figure out a time to come up and go over the system and help Dale bury the overhead lines. We sent him a thank you card from all of the shop volunteers (they all know him from various visits here and from our annual retreat to Illinois each December).

So this week, when my trusty husband couldn't make the dryer heat up or the water heater heat, I had to make the call and sing The Song. We knew it was an electrical issue, having hauled the drier across the yard and drive way to plug it into the house line where it worked just fine.

"Hello, this is John. I can't answer your call right now, but if you leave a brief message . . ."

"Who's that comin? John the Generator . . ."

John called back and he and Dale and I played diagnostics. There are a very few people in the world who can play this you-be-my-eyes-and-I'll be-your-brain sort of game. I talked my sister through the threading and bobbin-winding of a garage sale sewing machine once. It took about 45 minutes and two beers. Fortunately Dale and John and I can play this game, too.

With the assistance of another handy husband, Barb's hubby Mike, Dale was able to follow John's hunch and locate the failing circuit box. The replacement will be installed today and we should be good to go. Unfortunately I may have to admit that the hot water heater really did die. But I won't have to sacrifice the dryer, too. I've become very reluctant about break-downs ever since my aunt and uncle bought a new refrigerator only to discover that the old one had simply become unplugged!

We'll be back up to a full service costume shop later today.

By the way, Danielle was our first paying customer of the year and won a free pumpkin. Look for her picture on the website! http://home.earthlink.net/~dmucostumes Thanks, Danielle. Your costume will look great and we hope you enjoy carving the pumpkin!

WILDLIFE

2006-10-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

So the costume shop is in an old barn, a granary, to be specific. The family that staked the claim on this land built all the buildings we use, some sound and warm, others in various states of disrepair. The costume shop fits right in the middle of building ratings around here, having been converted once in the 80's to house people rather than store grain, and renovated again in the 90's to store costumes. It has no basement, some insulation and furnace pipes, a patchwork of plumbing which freezes, cracks, and is repaired annually, and plenty of room for critters.

Over the years I have become accustomed to sharing the space with a significant population of mice. I deal with this in two ways; resolving myself to inevitable cleaning tasks, and trying to refrain from screaming when I discover a live one that's probably even more frightened than I am startled. I also encourage any and all of our three cats to spend time in the shop. They are all great mousers and don't mind terrorizing the rodent population now and then.

Spiders also inhabit this shed in the midst of our Ten Acre Wood. My sons would argue that the spider webs lend a legitimate air to the Halloween decorations. I agree to a degree but still dust out the webs inside the building. The webs on the oustside of the building seem to be helping with the Box Elder Bug invasion, and I am therefore reluctant to limit their catch.

Woodpeckers love to drill holes into the painted blue exterior. It's an impressive sound when you're inside and one of the larger Woodpeckers is on a mission. They seem to lose interest once a perfectly round hole is formed and give it up to Starlings and Squirrels.

Now squirrels have never been a problem before. When our old dog, Midnight, roamed the 10 Acre Wood, there weren't ever squirrels any where near the buildings, dilapidated or otherwise. But we are several years past Midnight who met his death on the highway more than three Halloweens ago. We have chosen to keep a smaller but no less fierce dog, Nessie, the Jack Russel Terrorist. She is a fierce hunter, but in the hopes that we can save her from an untimely demise on the highway, she is not allowed to roam the yard at will. This canine restriction has allowed for the squirrel population to encroach upon the civilized areas of the property, and most recently red squirrels have been sighted in the shop. ARG!

Nessie located and caught the first one this summer when I was contentedly sewing on a warm summer evening. That freaked me out, but then again I was thankful for my trusty dog. The cats have nailed four more squirrels inside and out since then. I've been working in the shop for over a week, opened for business on Friday, and haven't been bothered by squirrels at all. In fact, I've turned up no evidence of them whatsoever as I go through the fall ablutions.

Today the damn rodents had their revenge.

After three days of wrestling with the plumbing, last night Dale finally got the toilet operational so that we don't have to run to the house to take a leak. This afternoon I was chatting up a storm with my friends Linda and Katie who were helping today when I walked into the bathroom and started to open the front of my jeans, leaning over to lift the lid of the toilet and . . . .

SSSSCCCCCCRRRREEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM andalmostwetmypants!

There was a dead (perhaps drowned would be a better word) squirrel belly up, tail down-the-hole in the toilet. I ran to the house clutching my pants to find a safe toilet. Meanwhile, Katie and Linda, knowing my husband too well, checked the toilet in the costume shop to make sure my gutteral scream wasn't the result of a prank. Indeed, it was a dead, formerly red squirrel afloat in the toilet bowl. At least I hadn't screamed like a horror-movie-girl over nothing.

How the hell that thing got in there when the top was down is beyond me. Two of our cats did spend the night in the shop last night. I can only imagine there must have been one amazing chase that drove the squirrel into the bathroom for refuge. The door was closed so that cats couldn't follow, but there is a gap at the top of the door, and an even smaller gap at the lid of the toilet. So either the squirrel thought it was an escape hatch, or it was really thirsty. My mother lost a pet squirrel to a toilet bowl drowning once. She was pretty bummed and I thought it was kind of funny. Okay, so I have a twisted sense of humor and now the damn squirrels have taken their revenge. I hope that's the end of it.

So, if that doesn't make everyone want to come out and rent a costume I don't know what will.

Stay tumed for our daily blog coming to you from Dress Me Up Costume Rental, North Miesville, Minnesota!