We were invited to my niece’s 40th birthday party the other day the theme was “Halloween.”
What would we wear? Not wanting to look the same as everyone else we racked our brains for a solution. Hubby was fine because he decided that he would wear his habit (an outfit my mom made him for his daughter’s medieval wedding in 1999, and which he has worn to all the costume parties since. Seems to me that he finds it hard to break the ‘habit!’)
I browsed the party shops in our area and even contemplated wearing the “naughty nurse” uniform that was low-cut enough to cause my mother heart failure but would really have made hubby happy. There was a “Goldilocks” outfit in mini skirt and fish net stockings… Wow! For the shortest of moments my inner vixen actually had me tempted to get one of those. But the vixen disappeared as soon as I imagined the faces of my grandchildren. Grandma in a sexy nurse outfit I’m sure would be something too scary even for them to deal with.
Ok, I am not going as part of the norm so I shall make my own outfit. Sewing is one of my vices but what I was making did not need a professional!
If you want to confuse shop attendants then you should tell them that you need one metre of the cheapest red fabric they have because you are going to rip it up. The hood was easy enough to tack and the ripping was great fun, even funnier when my granddaughter said,
“Wow Gom, I didn’t know you could sew.” She’s blonde you see.
Smearing the hood with grime was just as cool, and there it was – Little Dead Riding Hood’s cloak! A black mini-ish skirt, red fish net stockings and a torn up white top to complete my outfit. Now all I needed was my basket of goodies for Grandma. This I filled with eyeballs, a bloody mouse, snakes, bats, a few daggers, and of course my cigarettes.
We had such a good laugh when it came to make-up time and our faces were spooky white and our eyes dark and scary. Hubby was wearing his skeleton bike face cover and dark glasses so he skipped the sticky stuff on his face. On the drive to our destination Hubby refused to wear his outfit saying that one crazy person per family was more than enough.
The Halloween party was a scream! Nya ha ha… Nya ha ha…
The venue was totally awesome and gave me Goosebumps – a ghoulish gathering of scary looking Characters and objects. Sound effects, shivers and shambuca! Zombie like creatures large and small wandering about like blind sheep relieved to be awakened from years of dead sleep. Skeletons still wearing their coffin best and Ghouls and Ghosts and all the rest. Monsters, and Zombie like creatures, oh, sorry I’ve already said that! Witches and Warlocks were there - I swear and Little Dead Riding Hood at the Sambuca table over there. The Adams family from big to small - but The Grim Reaper was the scariest of all! “I’ll tear your soul apart! Your suffering will be legendary…”
Crumbs that’s creepy! Nya ha ha…
A genuine life size skeleton in a cage was there to welcome the guests. “Welcome foolish mortals to the haunted mansion. I am your host… your ghost host there is no turning back now!” The décor was ghastly, or is it ghostly? Anyway it was eerie! The tables were decorated with little cauldrons and other spooky stuff including coffins and a plastic-rubbery skeleton. (Which by the way they tell me that I pretended to swallow thus scaring the little kids!) Even the weather played along, it was probably the stormiest and windiest night of the year and this added to the atmosphere.
I honestly don’t remember dancing much because next to the boiling cauldron was a table full of shot glasses filled with Sambuca jelly and that was where I spent most of the evening. When my mom asked if I was drinking a lot, I could reply with all honesty that I most definitely was not! I gathered all my kids and told them, “Come with me. I want to teach you how to intoxicate yourselves by eating.” Well that’s what they told me the next day!
As they say in Afrikaans, “Ek het lekker uitgerafel” and I don’t regret a single minute of it. I worked very hard this year as “Little Red Riding Hood” taking care of Granny and all that so I think I earned at least one night of fun!
Thanks Niggie that was a glorious Halloween party! You now have my permission to have a 40th every year as long as it’s a scary one and there is that lovely Sambuca Jelly!
I actually thought that everyone was exaggerating about my behaviour until I watched a DVD they made of the party and looking at Hubby I smiled, “Wow is that really me, I’m quite a good actress, hey?”
Next time I’m going as “Bloody Mary” and anyone foolish enough to chant my name three times in front of a mirror will summon my vengeful spirit. I will tear their bodies to pieces and rip their souls from their mutilated bodies. Nya ha ha… nya ha ha… nya ha ha.
All right then that’s it, greetings from the Graveyard!
In South Africa today security plays a vital part in any business or private home. This book and the volumes to follow, will guide you step by step through the essential precautionary measures to be taken in protecting your family and valuables. From employing security guards, evacuation of your site and security measures to burglar bars and alarms in your private home.
a Book compiled by me from experience gained after 10 years in the security industry as Industrial relations officer with Nosa qualifications, 1st Aid, fire protection and also S.O.B. grade A.
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