I don’t know if you  are aware, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. I got married on Halloween and my rehearsal dinner was a costume ball, well roast. My annual Adults Only Halloween party is known far and wide. Relax, it’s not like we film porn or anything… we just strip. Actually we don’t, we revert straight back to college, pull out funnels and other such paraphenalia and make my beautifully themed abode feel more like a frat house. This party has much of my town hunting for the most original most perfect costume. Each couple strives to attain the coveted “Best Costume” award, which comes with a year’s supply of bragging rights.

No prefab costumes ever win. The winning costumes are always hand done and shock and amaze, like my friend’s Bjork “swan dress.”

I’ve made tons of costumes over the years. I hate the one’s that come out of bags, though I have been begged into buying them by a desperate little princess and a 5 year old with Power Ranger envy. I’m not saying the current choices are so bad. Let’s face it, mass marketed costumes have come a long way. When I was a kid the prefab costumes came with a toxic smelling plastic cape that tied in the back like a hospital gown. And no matter who you were, you got a mask with 2 nose holes, which was held on by a stapled rubber band.

Even as a child, I insisted on home made costumes. In the 3rd grade I was a playboy bunny and got disqualified from the school wide contest for choosing an inappropriate costume, like I knew from politically correct at 8… or anyone else knew from P.C. 1981 for that matter. Speaking of P.C., I was a cigarette pack the next year. My mom helped me paint the vantage 100’s logo on the TV box we narrowed and stapled around me. Look, I’m an only child, she took me to see Porky’s when it was in the theater. I had just turned nine, inappropriate? You decide.

I followed right in my mom’s footsteps, and when my son was 2, he went as a Chippendale dancer. Say what you will, it was super cute… and no one else had the same costume. This year is different, many people are going DIY because the economy sucks and costumes are getting pricier. Here is the list of the trendiest costumes for 2009, many of them can be put together from things you find in your house. However, I beg you not to try and make a Transformers costume from tin foil… your child will talk about it in therapy.

Costumes often follow movies, so you’ll see a ton of Harry Potter characters, GI Joe men, Transformers, Wolverines, Trekkies, Star Wars characters, and the entire cast of High School Musical (again).

Since some amazing celebs have passed on this year, there will be plenty of Farrah Fawcett’s and Michael Jackson variations from ABC to Beat it, to Black or White.

Pop princesses like Miley and her alter ego, Hannah are still hot hot tickets, as are some new comers like Taylor swift and Demi Lovato. With the new Joan Jett and the Runaways being filmed, you’ll see the onset of the androgynous and punk rockers that have been out of the scene for too long, “too long,” I say.

For the last couple years it was all about pirates, but “Metrosexual Pirate” has been replaced by “Vampire Chic.” Still metrosexual, this new vampire is that of Twilight and True Blood. He’s suave handsome and has only subtle tells… like fangs and a few drops of blood on his v-neck pullover and in his stylish goblet.

80’s are back in fashion, so why not Halloween? Look for old school Madonna, punk rockers and other retro characters, like Strawberry Shortcake and her gang. Roller derby girls a la “Whip it,” may swoosh by and you may even spot a few Ghostbusters around.

Enjoy the Holiday!

If your kids love to bop to popular music, check out my article on why that might be!