Halloween in New York City, Halloween NYC

Halloween Costume Ideas

Looking for cool Halloween costume ideas? Hoping to make an inexpensive Halloween costume from things around the house? Consider disguising yourself as one of the following:

Ghosts - one of the most traditional halloween costumes

• Member of Devo: This classic Halloween costume can be made fairly easily: for a suit, simply find a black shirt and black pants; for the multitiered Energy Dome hat, simply glue together several styrofoam rings and then spray-paint them red.
• Mark Twain: To make an authentic Mark Twain costume, simply don a white linen suit, a gray wig, and a bushy gray mustache. As Twain himself put it, "What can be more depressing than the somber black which custom requires men to wear upon state occasions? A group of men in evening clothes looks like a flock of crows and is just about as inspiring."
• Cardboard Box Full of Kittens: One of the most creative Halloween costumes, the Cardboard Box Full of Kittens may be made with a cardboard box, some string, and an assortment of stuffed animals. This inexpensive Halloween costume is sure to be a hit.
• Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head: To make this fun couples Halloween costume, cut arm- and legholes in a brown garbage bag, glue on felt or paper facial features, and then stuff the garbage bag with packing peanuts or crumpled newspaper. We recommend wearing brown sweat pants and a dark undershirt, as well.

History of Halloween NYC

Half the fun of Halloween is building halloween decorations!

Traditionally a day of costume parties, haunted houses, apple bobbing, and prank playing, Halloween has its roots in the 10th-century Gaelic harvest festival Samhain, which celebrated the end of summer.  The name "Halloween," itself derived from the Scottish "All-Hallows-Eve," is first attested in the 16th century, but the holiday did not begin to take on any symbolic association with the occult for another 200 years. In fact, many Halloween traditions have developed only recently. The carving of jack-o'-lanterns, for example, arose from the souling custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls trapped in purgatory. The tradition was formerly associated with harvest time in general, and was not specifically associated with Halloween until the mid- to late 19th century.

Of course, Halloween is not simply a night of horrors; for many, the holiday continues to represent the culmination of the autumn season, and is celebrated with the display of pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows.