Oh fuckity fuck - no hallowe’en costume. PLEASE HELP 🥺

[MyrtlethePurpleTurtle]

So I have a hallowe’en party to go to tomorrow evening. Being hosted by a new US friend who is super passionate about hallowe’en.

I was going to go as June from the Handmaid’s Tale.and was a bit smug that I had found a costume on Amazon with dress, cape, scarf and ‘wings’.

And it arrived yesterday after a 6 week lead in time and, oh my, it bears no resemblance to anything vaguely related to the Handmaid’s Tale. The cape is a huge shiny red zip up raincoat, the ‘wings’ are a circular piece of white cotton with two ribbons tangling down and, despite the cape being monster size, I cannot even step into the accompanying dress.

Sp, please, can anyone suggest anywhere in London I can get some form of costume that will do for a hallowe'en party. At the moment, I’ll take anything going - whether a high end costume hire shop or a supermarket / similar offering.

I am a dumpy size 16, 5’2” woman in her 50s. So not aiming for sex on legs - just something that shows I’ve made a bit of an effort.

I’m in London so can readily access costume shops etc in London. The party is tomorrow (Saturday) evening

@Gladioli23

That's not a crazy difficult wardrobe.

If you have any tunics in a dark colour/autumnal pattern you could wear those with the appropriate dark leggings, a witches hat and ideally a cape (I bought 2m of fabric from a fabric shop which is black net with gold spiders webs on it, and did about 3 stitches in each corner to sew ribbons on. You could also safety bin a single ribbon or two ribbons in the right place to avoid any sewing.

You can get witches hats which aren't black, and if you can do a cape then I think the costume underneath won't really matter.

Ah - so if I can wing it with the key accessories - ie hat and cape - I am good (enough)!

One year my son dressed up as an android. He just wore his normal clothes but we ripped the sleeve of his shirt and I made a panel out of old electrical wires and LED lights to put under the rip. He also wore a badge with the lab details and his version number.

I think so? I'd still aim to have the accessories in a colour that went with the outfit, but I think that would be fine then!

Multipack of toilet paper under each arm, you’re March 2020.

Sticker that says “My name is.. God”

Is the enormous fancy dress shop on shaftsbury ave still there? You'll likely have to queue to get in this close to Halloween though.

With your graduation gown could you make a scythe from broom handle and cardboard and go as the grim reaper? Then you can wear what you want underneath and if others haven’t made an effort you can ditch the costume and not feel awkward……

Maybe that’s just me and the dislike of fancy dress

Zombie schoolgirl?
Black skirt/white shirt
Tie
Satchel
Fake blood etc

White wings = Fallen Angel? Or Were-Rabbit?

Red Cape - little dead riding Hood?

At this late stage though I think graduation gown over navy dress with cobwebs (you can make these out of paper like a doily) a bit of icing sugar to look dusty, a bit of of a scar or fake blood, maybe fabricate a spider from something and stick it on. Make witches hat if you have time.

Oh grim reaper is a good call!

There's a costume hire shop near Old St. Forget what it's called but they have loads of stuff

Do you have a zip, red lippy, skin friendly glue?

Wear your normal clothes. Get some face paint/make-up and corpse-ify your face. You are a dead version of yourself. Add some clumps of mud/grass if you want to look like you've crawled out of your grave.

Graduation gown, striped scarf, round rimmed glasses and draw a lightning flash on your head with eyeliner = Harry Potter. Or same but with messy pigtails and no scar = Hermione Granger. Also bonus points for a wand (any old twig will do)

Little red riding hood? Chop up the red hand maids cape to suit you. Hair in pigtails. Buy some muffins to hand out at the party.

Mary Poppins (coat, umbrella, bag)?
Maria from Sound of Music (apron)?
Phantom of the Opera (black suit, white shirt, mask)?

@hemhem

Graduation gown, striped scarf, round rimmed glasses and draw a lightning flash on your head with eyeliner = Harry Potter. Or same but with messy pigtails and no scar = Hermione Granger. Also bonus points for a wand (any old twig will do)

Good call! Especially as high street has lots of Harry Potter accessories like this in M+S

www.marksandspencer.com/harry-potter-hat-scarf-and-glove-set-1-13-yrs-/p/clp60501962

Ordinary clothes, box of cornflakes, toy knife - cereal killer.

@Pumasonsatsumas

There's a costume hire shop near Old St. Forget what it's called but they have loads of stuff

I think it’s the Mad World of Fancy Dress - I googled ‘fancy dress costume shops in London and it was one of the first that came up!

www.madworldfancydress.com/

It opens at 10am tomorrow

@MyrtlethePurpleTurtle

For entertainment purposes, here is the Handmaid’s Tale outfit from Amazon 😂😂😂

You could wear that and go as the terrifying old woman from Don't Look Now!

You much good with makeup? Zombie could work if you can do some convincing stuff, the clothes won't really matter, it'll be all about getting the face and hands right.

Although

"A really good one was a group dressed as the insurance agents from tv."

Going as the Go Compare man would be funny.

Our local Asda is still choc full of masks/ witches hats/ face paint/ props

I second the Clapham junction shop to buy a cheap costume, to be honest. The hire place will have sold out by now- they don't have endless riffs on every costume in every size.

We had a Halloween thing at work yesterday (country where Halloween isn't really a 'thing' but the students wanted in). As it was straight after work I just wore what I usually wear for work, backcombed my hair and using a mix of eyeshadow made some fab looking bruises.... in fact too good as people did ask what I'd done..... My 'costume theme.... 'a typical Friday after a week of teaching'