Happy Halloween!

Holiday

Oct 31

Happy Halloween from Michael and Vienna!

This remains one of V’s coolest costumes to date

The year is 1997. The Harveys are still based in the Pacific Northwest. Nobody knows what generative AI is. Vienna wants to be an airplane when she grows up.

Wait, what?

Not a pilot, an airplane.

Little V had QUITE an airplane phase, frequently wowing pilots and flight crew members with her extensive knowledge of things like the distinctive tail shapes of various plane models and the difference between flaps and ailerons. Adult Vienna has since forgotten all of this. (Aviation Stack Exchange tells me that ailerons move in opposite directions and control roll, and flaps move together and control lift.) Back in the pre-9/11 days, it was always a treat actually getting to stop in the cockpit on the way into the plane and chat with the pilots, who were pretty much universally delighted and entertained to encounter a small girl with so much plane knowledge.

Growing up to be an airplane was, sadly, not in the cards. But for one glorious Halloween night, the dream came true! Michael worked tirelessly, figuring out how to turn little V into an F-18.

The base of the plane was sturdy cardboard, wrapped in foil and painted with F-18 on the wings and red, white, and blue stars around the tail, and with attached straps to hang it off Vienna’s shoulders.

We think it came out pretty well, and it was certainly distinctive! People loved it as we went around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. (This was back in the olden days before the dreaded and often highly religious “trunk-or-treating” started to dominate the Halloween scene, although they did exist here and there in the 1990s. What are your thoughts on trunk-or-treating vs trick-or-treating?)

And bonus, it’s not filled with polyester and plastic like so many commercially-made Halloween costumes are these days. The best costumes are ones that use materials you already have around, rather than buying something new that you’ll wear for one night and discard. According to a 2019 survey by Fairyland Trust and Hubbub, 7 million Halloween costumes are thrown away every year in the UK alone. Estimates for the US are around 35 million. Scary indeed.

What’s your favorite DIY Halloween costume?