On the night of the 31st of October we celebrate Halloween—an occasion that grants children and adults all over the world the perfect opportunity to put on a costume.
While pumpkins are carved into grimaces, artificial cobwebs are scattered around houses, and plastic skeletons are staring with glowing eyes from windows everywhere, the young and the old alike go about disguised as ghosts, bats, witches, fairies, vampires, or the Grim Reaper.
What is suitable as a Halloween costume?
In general, you can make a Halloween costume by using most LARP garments and medieval clothing items—provided you are willing to use a few tricks of the trade. The predominant colors of Halloween are black, orange, white, grey, yellow, and red, so try working these into your costume. You are, of course, free to use whatever colors you wish for your zombie-Viking, your vampire lady based on the High Middle Ages, or your elfish witch. In fact, costumes that dispense with the clichés stand out from the crowd, having quite an astonishing effect! The most important factor, though, is attention to detail—so don’t be afraid of daring combinations: go scour your wardrobe and look for inspiration online until you find yourself being scared by the reflection in the mirror!
Make-up and accessories make all the difference
Your costume rises and falls with its details and thrives on authenticity. Tutorials teaching you how to apply make-up, create shadows under your eyes, rotten teeth, and so forth, as well as directions for crafting artificial blood, will help you with the final touches to put on your costume. You usually don’t need to be a skilled make-up artist or gifted actor—as long as you are willing to fully take on the role of your choice. A stertorous, clumsily shuffling zombie adds a great deal to any Halloween ambience. And should you play your role a bit too well, you might even startle your friends—but everything is fair game, as long as everyone enjoys the Halloween party.
This way, your LARP character or your medieval garments turn into a very special costume for one night. Passionate garment-enthusiasts may of course take this opportunity just to recycle their old pieces of clothing.
