Closed for the Season

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

We had a blast in the costume shop this Halloween season.

Whether you rented from us, simply checked us out, or even were only a Blog reader, we've enjoyed your company in this bizarre endeavor.

The Sunday after Halloween is always a bittersweet day for me. It marks the end of the busy-ness. It marks the end of 18 hour days. It marks the end of getting to spend time with my closest girlfriends who volunteer their time to help me with this crazy hobby of mine.

I offer my heartfelt thanks to Barb, Beth, Danika, Janet, Kathy, Katie, Linda, Mary, Peggy, and Phyllis. Each and every one of them has been a great supporter, creative costumer, and welcome companion this past month. I am also grateful for Tom, Dale, and Joren, who also served their time helping with the shop in some capacity or another.

We're slowing down. We don't dress up and party as much as we once did. But we still enjoy spending time with each other, and the Costume Shop has been a consistent place for us to convene for years.

There are times that I dream about a more sane pace in October that doesn't include a rental business. I know I would miss it terribly. If my dreams were to really come true we would have a community theatre company with a building in Hastings from which I could run the business. I would love being the Executive/Artistic director of a local community theatre. We could do great things. But fund-raising isn't my forte. And that dream is gonna take some serious cash. Anyone have a cool million to donate for a great cause? I'm hopeful.

I'll hold on to that dream for the time being. It's either that or this little shop will be my retirement job. And that doesn't sound so bad either.

For now, I think I shall take a nap.

The Morning After

This is what the shop looked like this morning when I opened.

My faithful friends ran the shop for the two busiest days of the year without me. I had to work at my real job. I am truly blessed with their friendship and their playfulness.

Yesterday at 6 p.m. I was rolling south across the Wabasha Street Bridge in St. Paul when I called, having heard nothing from the shop, or any one in it, for two days.

"I'm on my way. How are you guys and what are we doing tonight?" I announced.

"Hold on - yes, that's perfect - no you need to try it on. Go. - Okay, now, Bronwyn. We're on our last customers for the day and we've already started playing dress up without you," explained Mary.

"Barb is so cute and she went home to get some stuff for tonight. Peggy's sewing her costume. I'm wandering around the shop collecting things for my fairy outfit. How soon can you get here?"

"I'll be there in about half an hour. I can't wait to hook up with you guys and play!"

And play we did. I wore the Amazon Warrior "dress." Peggy was a Goth Fairy, Mary was the Cleavage Fairy. Barb was the cutest damn pink thing you ever did see. Dale was our Chauffeur, Merlin the Magician, or Dumbledore - it was hard to tell which.

Today we had several returns, tons of reports of a "great time had," and several First, Second, and Third place finishes at area costume contests. The St. Pauli Girl accessorized himself well by landing a pair of size 12 gold Go-go boots (from where?!?! We can't imagine.) and a lovely blond wig. He struck a great deal and the costume shop owns both items. He also placed second at is bar of choice last night. Rumor has it he took a spill (stepped on the hem of his dress), broke his beer bottles, and was dubbed Oktoberfest Wench after the incident.

We have been doing laundry all day. Kathy showed up to save me from being alone and over-whelmed. We have lots of costumes still available for Halloween and for next weekend, too.

Send pictures - we'd love to post them on the web page. We'll get some of ours up in the next couple of days. Sned photo attachments to dmucostumes@earthlink.net
THANKS.

Have a happy Halloween!!!!

Romance Interrupted

We started the evening off with our favorite customer from yesterday, Lynn, the sporting pirate chick. She came in yesterday with great news.

"I've rented with you every year. But this year I have a bunch of parties, so I was going to buy a costume. But all the stuff out there is plastic crap. And it's expensive, too!" she proclaimed.

Welcome back, Lynn! We love loyal Dress Up customers like you.

Lynn let us dress her up like a lady pirate, if there is such a thing as a "Lady" Pirate. We are all fans of Johnny Depp and the "Pirates of the Caribbean," so we maintain that pirates have a certain sort of gypsyesque aura about them. We played and she delighted in the creative process and walked out with a hot costume.

She brought her man back tonight and he cooperated admirably as we dressed him up like a minion of Johnny Depp. Tim was a great sport and walked out with a comfortable, flashy, functional costume to complement his gal. WE LOVE GUYS LIKE TIM!

So as the waxing moon rose higher in the sky the evening began in romance and continued with happy customers walking out as King Arthur, a Court Jester, a Damsel in Distress and her hero, a Musketeer. We even sent a gracious Beauty Queen out the door with a 1980's prom dress.

And then the flow of the evening was brought to an abrupt and cartoonish halt.

Our shortest Costumer (not to be confused with a customer), Barb, came walking out of the dressing room proclaiming she had found her costume for the year on the children's rack.


Need I write more?

We laughed so hard there was a line for the bathroom.

"Pika Pika Choo!"

St. Pauli Girl

First we were bored today. We carved pumpkins. We mended. We cleaned. We organized. Yes, we played dice, too. We just put in a movie when our first customer of the day wandered in with his 20-something son.

"Welcome to the costume shop. How can we help you?"

"Can you dress me up like a great big whore?" says a barrel-bodied man wearing denim from head to toe with a patriotic cap perched atop his head.

"Of course!" we replied.

It was play time.

The magenta saloon gal dress was a strike - too small for this guy.

But wait! We have a new and significantly large renaissance dress that was donated by a woman recently liberated of much of her weight. Let's try it out.

As we laced this good sport into the bodice, pulling tighter and tighter around his belly, he imagined how this might all play out.

"So do you have wigs?" he asked.

"He should be a blond with those sparkly blue eyes," offered his son.

"We can go black or white," I suggested.

Once we had him strapped in, inserted fake breasts, plopped a wig on his head, I announced that he looked like the St. Pauli Girl, with a curious mustache . . . and a little hair on her back.

Well we have all heard about those German Frau's - not all of them are buxom AND petite!

He went away a happy customer, looking forward to assuming his Halloween personality. We gave him some tips on accessorising his costume. He'll be beautiful.

We fixed up his son like an Australian Cowboy - I'm sure there's some other official name for them down under. But he looked good.

We couldn't talk him into a pink bandanna for his throat. Unlike his father he didn't want there to be any speculation about his gender or orientation.

The Runaway Bride from last year donated his bridal gown yesterday.

And Fred Flintstone walked out the door with a

"YABADABDOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

We have TONS of costumes just waiting for you to assume the character.

Come on out and play Dress Up!

Katie's Dress

Barb and I had a slow day in the shop. We worked on the new rental forms and the business cards. Hopefully both will be printed and ready for use by next week.

The highlight of the day was when a customer came in with her dad and two younger brothers. She needed a Renaissance dress.

OUR FAVORITE!


We do blur the lines of Medieval and Renaissance around here - sometimes even Elizabethan styling gets mixed in. It's the 21st century - who cares!?!

All of our staff laugh at the girls who come in and think that our fifties skirts are supposed to be down on their hips.

"Why is this waistband so tiny?" they ask.

"Because it's supposed to go around your waist. Not down around your hips," we carefully explain.

"You mean up by my belly button? But that's so uncomfortable!" they complain.

Welcome to the real world. I wore hiphuggers in junior high. By the time I was in high school we were on to goucho pants and double zippered pants. Remember those? With platform shoes? Ah, the seventies.

So, not caring about the specific dates of the Renaissance, and admiring this girl's willowy figure, we directed her to Kim's lacy dress and Katie's plush velvet. They are two Dress Me Up constructed favorites of the staff; two dresses we all long to wear but haven't a prayer of squeezing into.

So out went Katie's Magenta dress with a Juliet cap today.

Yay for people who play Dress Up!

Fall in the Shop

When my sons were younger they used to open the shop for me when they got home on the bus. I always looked forward to finding the costume shop up and running with boys' homework spread out all over the desk. Those days are gone. One son is experiencing his first year of college in Missoula, Montana. The other son is usually occupied with work or after school activities at the high school. He's the boy that used to go to town with me in the morning, the very first year we had the shop, to open up and eat lunch at Professor Java's next door before he boarded the bus for afternoon kindergarten. Then we moved to our present location and he was in first grade and we were off and running in this space.

I miss those days, but I'm proud of my sons.

Tonight my Fairy Goddaughter surprised me by showing up to help at the shop. She brought her homework and we soon realized that neither of us had all the parts and functions of animal and plant cells committed to memory. As Dani struggled to complete her worksheet I tried to dredge up my high school biology class memories.

Finally I heard that ever-present voice of wisdom in the back of my mind. It sounds an awful lot like my father. "Look it up!"

So I ran to the house, located my trusty, Unabridged Random House Dictionary of the English language. I explained to Dani that this was the old fashioned way to do homework when you are without a textbook, the Internet, or electricity in general.


We had a great time learning about chromosomes, mitochondria, ribosomes, lysosomes, vacuoles, cytoplasm and other cell organelles. I think she aced the worksheet - both sides.

Of course I had to show her the other benefits of an unabridged dictionary. (It has all the forbidden words in it, too.) She didn't believe me when I told her it had the "F-bomb" in it. Of course she looked it up to prove me wrong.

HA!

I was right and she giggled and quickly turned back to Endoplasmic Reticulum. Which is certainly not a dirty word. At least we don't think so.

We had customers and help from some staff.

But the best part for me was hanging with my friend, Dani, while she worked on her homework and I worked on her costume for "The Music Man."

She will look pretty in pink. I don't think she wants to be a cell for Halloween - although it could make for an interesting costume . . . .

My guess is she will have had enough of science and pink and will want to be a pirate for Halloween.

I'm with her! ARRRRRRGH!

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Welcome back to the Costume Shop Blog!

We opened for business on Saturday. I wasn't able to work Saturday, Monday, or Tuesday due to obligations at my paying job. My amazing friends got the shop open, started in on the never-ending laundry, arranged pumpkins for display, lined the driveway with torches, and began making me lists of things that require acquisition or my attention. I LOVE MY AMAZING FRIENDS! Thank you to Barb, Mary, Danika, Janet, Katie, and Linda who got us off to a great start.

Tomorrow is "Dress as your Favorite Teacher" day for homecoming week at Hastings High School. It's also Octoberfest at the high school tomorrow evening. We had some teenage traffic today that included an Octberfest Queen, who will look amazing, and two versions of the retired Mrs. Mattson. (I hope I spelled her name correctly!)

Mrs. Mattson retired recently but is still a beloved instructor that the Seniors and Juniors remember. There will be both a male and a female person attempting to look like her on Thursday wearing Dress Me Up costumes. Thankfully Mary, our Dress-the-Men-in-Drag specialist was on hand to assist. And thankfully I've met Mrs. Mattson and could coach them a bit on their attire and accessories. It was great fun. Hopefully we can get some pictures posted sooner than later.

The best part of the gig:

I FINALLY rented a pair of hideous, bejeweled denim woman's dress flats that were donated to the shop by a former and still very gay co-worker. Thanks, G, for the incredible shoes. We finally found some feet to fit in them!