Costumes in a flash -- and no magic required

"The Halloween Handbook" by Bridie Clark and Ashley Dodd (Workman, 260 pages, $12.95) is billed as "dress-up for grown-ups" and is loaded with 447 costume ideas, complete with illustrations.

The really good news is that many of them can be assembled in a flash. And -- a welcome bonus -- the book is both informative and funny. Very funny.


		JANETTE BECKMAN PHOTOS
	Bathing Beauty is among the 447 easy to make costumes for adults offered in "The Halloween Handbook."

Big on kisses? Grab a roll of aluminum foil, create a cape or a wrap for your top. Make a foil beanie and attach a strip of white paper. Voila! You're a Hershey Kiss. Substitute a black beret for the foil cap and you're a French Kiss.

Take an old T-shirt and pair of pants. Spatter them with paint. Put them on and carry a picture frame. You're painter Jackson Pollock.

A flock of tiny yellow plush chickens (or leftover Easter Peeps) pinned to a dark sweater makes an instant Chick Magnet. Attach small packets of junk food on a dark sweater or shirt and you're a Snack Bar.

Authors Clark and Dodd, both in their late 20s, live and work in New York City, as a book editor and publicist, respectively.

Clark said they met several years ago through mutual friends and "really clicked." They decided to write the handbook because, like others with busy lives, they've found themselves facing a Halloween party without a costume. And they didn't want to spend money at a costume shop.

"We thought it would be fun to brainstorm for people," Clark said in a phone interview this week. Together they mined the Halloween experiences of friends, family members and strangers to come up with ideas.

Clark said the easiest, most impressive ideas in the book are in the Play With Your Words chapter. Print "SUSAN" on one of those hello-my-name-is tags, put it on a T-shirt, then paint or draw a big black circle around one of your eyes -- you're a Black-eyed Susan (that's a flower, not a battered woman).

The authors recommend footless tights with something lacy, ruffles from head to toe, or an excess of tie-dyed fabric.

Pick an unflattering trend or two from another era and put them on -- hot pants with high heels, anyone? It's also a good time to pull out that never-worn "what was I thinking?" piece of apparel and wear it.

Or, wear white, a tiara and drape a piece of cow-print fabric over your shoulders. Accessorize with a belt of mini cheeses (the tiny red-waxed ones), carry a bottle of milk or a hunk of cheese and pose as a Dairy Queen.

Young and beautiful? Put on your very best, lots of jewels, carry a large trophy and you're a Trophy Wife. In the Come Hither Costumes chapter, there's a man with a large wrapped package covering his torso. The gift tag says "To Women From God."

A couple could dress as a schoolgirl and naughty professor, or as an American Gothic couple with an upright pitchfork.

The authors offer more than costume ideas. Much more. They include a list of Web sites for special accessories such as fake teeth, tell how to make realistic cuts and scars and even print a recipe for harmless body paint.

They've compiled the top 10 terrifying movies and the top 10 Halloween books. "Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark" by Alvin Schwartz (HarperCollins, 128 pages, $14.15) is one of them. They give instructions for pumpkin carving and pumpkin seed roasting, tips for home decor and party foods.

For drinks they suggest bloody marys and zombies. Their list of orange and black treats includes Cheetos, Cheese Nips, carrots and cantaloupe, or olives, black bean dip, pumpernickel bread, licorice and brownies.

So what are these Halloween queens doing tomorrow night? They're throwing a Halloween party, of course. Clark said she's going as a Social Climber (climbing gear from feet to waist, cocktail attire from the waist on up, ladder for a prop). Dodd will be an auto mechanic in a jumpsuit with grease streaks, lying on one of those dollies mechanics use to slide under cars.

NEED MORE IDEAS?

Here are some favorites from "The Halloween Handbook":

Wear roller skates, devil horns and a tail to become Hell on Wheels.

Artsy? Pose as Frida Kahlo, hair slicked back and braided, a uni-brow across your forehead, a fringed or flowered shawl around the shoulders.

A group of four could dress as the cast of "I Love Lucy" -- full-skirt dresses with aprons for the women, utilitarian uniforms for the men.

Give yourself a white moostache and paint "Got Milk" on a T-shirt.

Dress as a city -- an inside-out umbrella, a Cubs T-shirt and a Chicago newspaper under one arm could depict the Windy City.

The Sporting Life chapter recommends a golfer in bad plaid pants, an ice skater, or a 1980s aerobics instructor complete with high-cut leotard, leg warmers, wristbands and iridescent tights.

Share a six-pack with friends. Replicate beer-can logos on corrugated cardboard, wrap one around each person, pair up and travel in six-pack formation.

Wrap up in a gray, black or dingy blanket. Wear a rubber pig nose. Add a pink tail made from yarn or a pipe cleaner and you're a pig in a blanket.

P-I reporter Susan Phinney can be reached at 206-448-8397 or susanphinney@seattlepi.com.

Add P-I Lifestyle headlines to