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Tess Allen

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After much procrastinating, you finally manage to haul yourself out of bed one morning for a determined cause.

You don't have many specifications.

You're simply looking for something suitable enough for that crazy party you were invited to, or to go trick-or-treating for the 16th year in a row despite the inevitable eye-rolls and annoyed sighs awaiting you behind every door. Whatever your case, you inevitably wind up pawing aimlessly through discarded piles of ghoulish masks, pouches of fake blood, and leaking tubes of glitter paint in one of the decked-out aisles at Wal-Mart. You end up surrounded by racks piled high with limp Batmen, scowling Hulks and lifeless Hannah Montannas! A hundred, scraggly looking wigs of all shapes and colours droop from hooks on the walls! Splintered broomsticks jab at you from their crowded bins! Lifeless clowns grin wickedly at you! Blood-stained scythes appear to threaten you from their hooks in the wall! All around you is a blur of crooked, plastic hillbilly teeth and Posh-Spice wigs!

You are lost, confused, and end up leaving the store empty-handed. This is a situation that everyone hopes to avoid as they venture cautiously into the Halloween section at Wal-Mart. You must always come prepared.

Over the years, it's always been a struggle for me to find the perfect Halloween costume. After about a half-hour of perusing around the aisles in search for a cool costume, I'll usually end up paying for and leaving with an assortment of things that have no relation to each other whatsoever It's very likely I'd end up leaving with an assortment of things like a Rapunzel wig, some vampire teeth, a bloody axe, and a cat-ear-headband. It may sound bizarre, but I've been known to do it more than once over the years. It's probably due to all the brainwashing I received from my mother, encouraging me to be "creative" and "unique"!

Yeah, if you consider a blonde, bloodsucking cat wielding an axe unique, then I have proven to be very unique indeed. These days, I like to think I'm at least a little more sophisticated when it comes to picking out Halloween costumes. For example, I've taken to spending time discussing potential Halloween costumes beforehand. I try to brainstorm a dozen ideas at once, and when a few come to mind, I immediately begin to consider how I would get it done and what supplies I would need. Eventually, half the ideas get trashed, and I end up with a couple of ideas that I really want to try.

This is usually about the time when the trouble starts. Fully convinced that I have a couple of winning ideas, I dash to the closest store advertising Halloween costumes and pick up a dozen random things that are each associated in some way with one of my several ideas. I convince myself I will need them, proceed to buy them, and then end up home with a bag-full of unrelated items. In the end, I usually don't wind up using any of the supplies I purchased, and they go on to collect cobwebs in the furthest corner of a closet somewhere.

It's for reasons like this that it's important to plan out what you want to wear. If you tend to swing toward original, timeless costumes, consider a witch, a vampire, a princess, or something else to that effect. If you want to produce gasps or laughter from people around you at the party you're attending or the dance you're going to, consider something more unique. Look up "Cool Halloween Costumes" on the web, and see what you find! Try to think of a favourite character from a book or a movie. Assemble a group of friends and dress up as one of your favourite bands! It can be fun trying to put together a costume that isn't already assembled at the store, and it usually costs less too! Over all, the best advice I can give you is to play it up. Be playful and creative with whatever you choose to dress as. You'll have more fun on the big night, and you hopefully won't end in the same situation I've stumbled into many times in the past. Have fun!

* Tess Allen, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student at Moncton High School, is editor of the Whatever section. She is the daughter of Rod Allen, assistant managing editor of the Times & Transcript.