How neat is this picture? That’s my brother Adrian attempting to make me the Victor Ortiz to his Floyd Mayweather.

I wanted another chance to wear my costume and celebrate Halloween. After work on Monday, I went for a short run and wore an orange tutu. I ran down whatever street in my neighborhood that seemed to have the most trick-or-treaters or nicely decorated homes. My favorite Halloween display featured a scary yard transformed filled with GOP presidential candidates in Emerald City, well Iowa City. All the candidates’ faces were taped over scarecrows and the door had a sign urging kids to knock for handouts.

They even had a cute tea party set-up. I didn’t get any trick-or-treaters at my apartment, but did see lots of kids out in the neighborhood and many homeowners decorated their homes or played Halloween music.

Later, Sean and I had tacos and drove over to West Hollywood. I wanted a chance to wear my costume again and also wanted to finally check out the Halloween madness in West Hollywood. It’s so close and I’ve never gone because the crowds and parking hassle intimidate me. Now that I’ve checked it out, it’s out of my system. It’s just way too crowded. I’m fine with large crowds at concerts or marches. At least in marches the crowd is moving in one direction and I always feel like I have an out. There were several moments on Santa Monica Boulevard where I felt trapped and could barely move. I’m fine with just checking out photos on the LA blogs. As for parking, that was easy only because we were willing to park in Beverly Hills and walks the rest of the way (about a mile). We stuck around for an hour before going home and watching Monday night TV.

At least I did see some impressive costumes. The best was the two women doing a tableau of The Two Fridas. They got all the details down in their costumes. I can’t imagine they did much walking. I’ve seen plenty of Frida Kahlo costumes, but never seen anyone go through such effort to really bring one of her self portraits to life.

I also liked the woman dressed up as La Virgen de Guadalupe.

As for Día de los Muertos, I skipped out on those events and honored my loved ones who have passed with a simple prayer. That feels more meaningful to me than dressing up, painting my face and buying lots of sugar-skull printed stuff at one of the many festivals in LA.

I love Halloween. I love my family. And I love parties. (Though not in that order!) Saturday night brought all three together at my cousin Nancy’s Halloween party.

First off, Nancy (as an Adelita) was the perfect hostess. She and her helpers did an awesome job decorating the house, preparing food and snacks, ribbons for the best costume winners, and making sure everyone had a great time.

My favorite decorations were the white van in the driveway with a label bearing the name of the San Bernardino County coroners office and the family graveyard in a corner of the yard. My siblings and several cousins had headstones, but my cousin Tony didn’t make one for me. I didn’t mind, but Lori was sad to find her headstone.

I also liked the silly best costume ribbons.

The best part — aside from the food, drinks and dancing with friends and family — was checking out everyone’s costumes. It’s always fun to see costumes come together or seeing what someone came up with. More costumes after the jump.

The parents and grandparents came out to the party for a little while. I’m glad they did since their creativity is a big part of the reason I’ve always loved Halloween. Mom always made us great costumes. To make her costume, she sewed patches and dried corn leaves (yes, the same kind you use to make tamales) on her jeans, shirt and straw hat. She’s dressed as a scarecrow before as have others in our family.

Alexis and Adrian dressed up as Nacho Libre and Ramses. I believe the capes were homemade. Adrian borrowed some of the props from my Chicana de Oro luchadora costume, he bought other elements or got help from my mom (e.g., the shoe covers and wrist cuffs).

Dad dressed up as one of the brothers from Nacho’s seminary. I think with the non-styled hair he really got the look down.

Sean’s costume confused a lot of people, save for the people who read comic books or watch superhero movies. All he needed to become Nick Fury was an eye patch and a turtleneck. I was el Chapulín Colorado (or la Chapulina Colorada).

Junior’s costume was inspired by a video game, but I thought he was someone from Predator. Vanny was a cute, but not-so-great mime.

I’m not sure what Eric was supposed to be. I think he was a sleepless zombie which makes a lot of sense since he’s got 6-week old and 18-month old sons at home. Eric won the prize for scariest costume.

Rene always has great homemade costumes. This year was no different. Kermit the Frog won the prize for most creative costume.

My tío Chuy and tía Luisa were elegant Greek gods. The fancy beer mug came from Ernie in Germany (we miss you, cousin!). If there was an award for best couple’s costume, they would have given stiff competition to Adrian and Alexis’ Nacho Libre-inspired luchadores.

Tony and Ingrid dressed up as Wolverine and a gangster moll. Tony’s Wolverine costume was in the running for the most creative. Tony helped with the decorations. He made most of the gravestones and set up the tent to provide some cover.

Papá Chepe and tío Pancho dresses as los viejitos. I think my 91-year old grandpa has aged more gracefully.

Danny and Cynthia were supposed to do a western-themed couples costume, but she forgot. Oh well, they still looked great. Also, Danny was super happy that USC lost to Stanford earlier that evening.

Valerie as Pocahontas and Lori as some kind of military girl (her costume says Marines, but they were blue).

Tía Josie was a little devil.

Around midnight Nancy stopped the music so we could vote on the most creative costume. The other two awards were not up to a vote. Rene’s Kermit beat out Richard Harrow from Boardwalk Empire, Tony/Wolverine, Adrian/Ramses, and Nicki Minaj in drag.

Thanks once again to Nancy and the rest of the Ureño family for hosting a great party.

El Chapulín Colorado was one of the very first costumes I ever blogged about for the Halloween on a Budget series. I’m bringing it back because I decided it’d be the easiest costume for me to put together. I had everything in my closet save for the pair of yellow shorts.

Here’s what I recommended for the costume in 2007 along with my 2011 additions or omissions (in italics):

1. Red hoodie sweater (optional: a Chapulín Colorado t-shirt, but you still need to cover your arms)
I used my Chapulín Colorado t-shirt and layered it over a red long-sleeved shirt. I don’t have a red hoodie.

2. Some yellow fabric (felt would work) to make the heart and CH emblem
I didn’t need this since my t-shirt is already printed with the Chapulín Colorado emblem.

3. Bright yellow shorts
I found a cheap pair at one of those mall stores that sell no-name brand basics.

4. Red opaque tights
I bought a pair a couple of years ago at Target. Since I never wear them due to their brightness, they were still in good condition.

5. Antenitas de vinil, or red antennae with a yellow and red ball on the end (I found a pair at the 99 cents store, but they fit tight since they’re made for kids)
I don’t know what happened to my 99 cents store antennae. I made a pair with a $1 headband from the swap meet, yellow pipe cleaners glued to red fuzzy balls. I had the latter materials in my arts & craft box. I’ve been wanting to do this costume for a few years so I had the materials as a backup.

6. Red and yellow sneakers (like these)
I still have my Asics Tigers, but if I didn’t, I would have worn my red Chucks.

7. El chipote chillón (the red and yellow hammer)
Don’t have one. Less to hold while at Halloween parties!

8. Steady stream of famous phrases
The back of my shirt is printed with “no contaban con mi astucia!” That’s all I have.

9. I added a tiny pair of red and yellow earrings with a heart on them.

I’ve mentioned this costume before. Here’s the snippet from my A Very Moz Halloween post:

A few years ago, I created a costume inspired by a Morrissey song. I was a “Hairdresser on Fire”. It was way too conceptual — and warm — to wear on the crowded dance floor in a club.

I didn’t include any photos in that post. I don’t know why, but I’m correcting that now.

Hairdresser on fire:

1. Stylists’ smock with scissors, combs and other stylists’ tools. As you can see, I didn’t wear a typical stylist smock. My mom made this jacket out of some scrap material.

2. Decorate the smock with flames. I used red, orange and yellow felt. I’m not a crafty person and my hand sewing is horrible. Thus, this took me a little while. If I was going to do this again, I might use shinier material to make it more flashy.

3. Make up a salon name and add it to the smock. I used fabric safe letters.

4. Modern and stylish haircut. Most stylists I’ve known don’t do anything crazy with their hair, but it is often colored and styled. Makeup can be simple, but spend some time on the hair.

5. Wear whatever you want underneath your smock, but you should definitely be “remarkably dressed.”

6. Act very busy, so busy!

Edited to add: If anyone in LA wants to borrow this costume, I’d be happy to share it. You might have to remove the letter C from the front of the jacket, but that shouldn’t be difficult.

LA DAMA: La dama puliendo el paso, por todo la calle real.
The Lady: The lady, taking an elegant walk along the main street.

It’s a shame that I’ve been doing the costume series since 2007, but this is the first time I’ve bothered to put together a Lotería inspired costume. It’s not for lack of trying. Some of the cards featuring people have been on my idea list for a while, but it was easier to write about other costumes.

I found this teal dress last month when I went shopping for my birthday party dress. Although I thought it might be too fancy for the party, I bought it anyway because it was on sale and I liked the flattering cut. As I checked it out in the dressing room mirror, it also reminded me of La Dama (#3) from Lotería, the sophisticated and elegant lady in her tailored blue/teal suit, pink accessories and perfectly coifed hair.

I tried my best to recreate it.

La Dama:

1. Teal or light blue suit or dress. If you wear a suit, wear a pink blouse and small white scarf/bow at the neck. Since I wore a dress instead, I added pink up top with a scarf.

2. Pink hat. La Dama’s hat looks sort of like a beret, but I went with what I could find in Forever 21, a simple knit cap.

3. White gloves. I found a nylon pair for $7.

4. Pink shoes and clutch. I didn’t have a clutch, so I used what I had available. I bought it at Ross years ago.

5. A small bunch of flowers

6. Conservative makeup and curled up hair. Obviously, I didn’t do the latter. I don’t even own a curling iron.

If you would like to make a Lotería couples costume, get your significant other or a friend to dress up as El Catrín. I’m sure few people keep long coat tuxedos hanging around in their closet, so that will probably need to be rented. Don’t forget the monocle and cigarette — in a cigarette holder, of course.

Thanks to Sean for the Photoshop help.

If you’ve ever picked up a calendar from a bakery, butcher shop or other small business, you’ll recognize the stylized images of beautiful women in typical Mexican garb. I wrote about this years ago on the old blog:

Part of this idea came last night. I went to have $1 tacos and sangría (yum!) with Ome at Don Antonio’s. I noticed the cheesy carnicería/panadería style calendars on the wall. One had a drawing of a higly sexualized Adelita. I loved it. So, we flirted with the cute waiters and they gave us calendars to take home with us.

The first representation of a Mexicana is a painting of la Adelita, but she needs to put on a little more clothes or a bra. If you’ve seen Mexican chromo art calendars, you’ll know that the men and women in the images are idealized depictions. The men are bronzed, muscular, and virile. The women as voluptuous and gorgeous. Angel Martín’s painting is no different.

I cut off the ad for the restaurant and affixed calendar (the pull-away two month per page kind) and left the calendar hanging in my bedroom. Mexican calendar girls kept following me around a few years later when friends gave me a journal with an image of a vintage Mexican calendar girl on the cover. I carried it around until it started falling apart and the pages were filled. The image comes from a book called Mexican Calendar Girls.

All of these lovely [light-skinned] Mexicanas inspired me to dress up as a Mexican calendar girl for Halloween. I ditched the idea because I had to buy a new huipil blouse. I gave away my favorite after I lost weight.

If you don’t mind conceptual costumes, want to get out your pretty embroidered blouses and rebozos, then a Mexican calendar girl might be a good costume.

Mexican Calendar Girl

1. Huipil (embroidered blouse) – I used the white ruffly blouses worn by Mexican restaurant waitresses everywhere because that’s all I had available

2. Full-length skirt and boots or sandals

3. Rebozo (shawl)

4. Dramatic makeup and hair in braids

5. Big earrings, bangles and a rose to carry or pin in your hair

6. Calendar pinned below your blouse with an advertisement for a bakery or other small business (print 2 months side by side on white paper, make sure to include lots of saint’s days)

Obviously, I didn’t make the calendar. I didn’t buy anything for this costume except the rose hair pin.

For more inspiration, make sure to check out the Mexican Calendar Girl website.

I started reading Love & Rockets in the summer of 2009. And then I stopped. I was a bit confused by the early sci-fi influenced. I put the books down until later that year when Sean gave me the first three trades as a Christmas gift.

I went through the three trades faster than he expected and soon I was reading the Locas II collection.
I was drawn in to Maggie and Hopey’s world of Hoppers and beyond. Jaime Hernández’s stories, which spanned 25+ yeas, were artfully told and drawn. Plus, the people are just beautiful and have an awesome sense of style.

For the Maggie the Mechanic costume, I’m focusing on young Maggie. She’s always had a talent for working with machines. In the initial stories, she apprenticed for famous pro-solar mechanic Rand Race, rode a hover scooter and had some crazy adventures in the jungles.

Maggie the Mechanic Costume

1. Skinny jeans and a tank top (or classic mechanics shirt, bonus if you get a Maggie name patch). Note: the costume can be done a lot sexier as seen above where Maggie is a mechanic in a bikini and kneepads.

2. Hair in a pixie cut style, spiked up

3. Goggles or a head band

4. Loose fitting jacket (optional)

5. Lace up boots

6. Tool belt, tools and tool box (the box is optional, but could work as a purse)

7. Loop and cross earrings

8. Work gloves

9. Some curves. Maggie has always been portrayed as curvy, even as she gains weight in later years. If you have a shapely butt, good for you. If not, get some good jeans that make your butt look good and start doing some squats and lunges.

Costume bonus: You can save it for Comic Con.

Whenever I put together my Halloween costume suggestions, I try to include some related to current events or scandals. Frankly, I had a tough time thinking up some for this year. A lot of the current events on my mind are not things I feel comfortable joking about for a fun and festive day like Halloween.

After watching TV last night, the idea came to me: George Lopez… post cancellation of Lopez Tonight

I know a lot of people were upset when TBS cancelled Lopez’s late night show in August. Some people seemed to be upset that yet another hardworking Chicano had lost his job. The recession has hit Latinos the hardest out of any other ethnic group. Others were bothered by the lack of diversity on prime time and late night television. I can appreciate the sentiment, even if you rarely watched Lopez Tonight. I didn’t, but I don’t have cable.

George Lopez (post-Lopez Tonight) costume

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. A nice suit

2. White dress shirt

3. Bright colored tie

4. Dress shoes (with black socks! guys, you shouldn’t have to be reminded)

5. Spiky salt and pepper hair

6. Bleached white teeth

7. Silly faces and lots of hand gestures

8. Pink slip with CANCELLED, Lopez Tonight and TBS logos sticking out of your suit pocket in lieu of a handkerchief

If you do something after work on Halloween (a Monday), you won’t even have to go home and change. You can just put the pink slip in your pocket.

When I decided I wanted to be a luchadora (female Lucha Libre wrestler) for Halloween ’09, I didn’t expect it’d be so pricey or time consuming to put together the costume. I had my mom do some sewing, but also visited 5 stores to get the items I needed.

Here’s what it cost me to become la Chicana de Oro¹:

1. Tank leotard – $21 (+ $10 shipping) via Amazon

2. Cape – $10 at Wal-Mart. I know, I know… but it was the only place still open when I needed the cape shortly before the first of a few costume parties. I know capes aren’t really a luchadora thing, but I wanted something that wouldn’t make me feel so naked.

3. Mask – $4, costume shop in Westwood. Luchadores are known for wearing the full mask over the face. Luchadoras’ masks cover their faces (sometimes leaving the jaw uncovered) and snap behind the head leaving their hair showing. I didn’t want to go for either look because covering my face makes me very uncomfortable. Some luchadoras’ masks only cover half their faces, so I figured my eye mask was okay if totally inauthentic.

4. Wrestling champion belt – $5 on sale from a costume shop in Whittier. It was red/blue on gold, but I filled it in with black Sharpie.

5. Boots – borrowed from my sister

6. Wrist cuffs – borrowed from my sister’s Batgirl costume

7. Knee pads: made by my mom, fabric and elastic purchased at Jo-Ann crafts (about $10)

8. Leggings – I’ve had these in my closet for a while. The luchadoras I’ve seen wear nude pantyhose or elaborately decorated pants, but I didn’t have time for that and liked the black and gold look.

9. Gold/black sequined butterfly face mask (pinned to the back of the cape): $5 at Shelly’s Dance shop in Westwood

Total: about $65.

It was definitely not a low budget costume, but worth it. I loved my costume and have thought about re-working it in the future as some type of superhero costume. I loved that my costume was original. I didn’t see a single other luchadora both times I wore it. Also, it made me feel sexy without having to worry about showing too much at the slightest gust of wind.

After losing 50+ pounds, I wanted to show off the results of 9 months of running and eating healthier. I felt more confident in my body but not so much that I was willing to take off the cape. Still, I wasn’t hiding behind a coat, glasses and a big hat like with the Carmen Sandiego costume in ’08.

Notes:
^[1] I chose the name la Chicana de Oro because I couldn’t think of anything more original. This was before I read about the luchadoras in Love & Rockets.

A couple years ago Target caught a lot of flack for selling an illegal alien costume. I was one of those people quick to criticize the corporation and point out the inherent hypocrisy of simultaneously sponsoring Hispanic Heritage Month events and selling such a costume.

I still think it was stupid of them to sell that costume (and other “Mexican costumes”). However, you can flip the unsavory term on it’s head as Jay Smooth did with his commentary on Rick Perry and Superman.

Can you see where I’m going here? Yup, this costume will be more Ill Doctrine than Fox News.

If you’re not afraid to mix a little politics with your Halloween fun and games, you can even raise some awareness about the movement to drop the I-word and refrain from calling undocumented immigrants “illegals.”

Superman the “Illegal Alien” costume

1. Buy/borrow a Superman t-shirt or costume. Wear it. If you go in the t-shirt, dress up in a suit like Clark Kent. Don’t forget the glasses.

2. Carry some papers/signs that have things like an individual tax ID number, DREAM Act petition, info to call Governor Jerry Brown about signing SB 131 (financial aid for AB 540 kids), passport from Krypton, visa (make sure it says Kal-el), etc. Get creative. You can also blatantly wear a tag saying “Illegal Alien.” If you’re squeamish about using the word, go with undocumented immigrant.

3. Channel the amazing superhero qualities of the immigrants who do the work no one else wants to do. If you need some inspiration, check out Dulce Pinzón’s Project Superhero about Mexican immigrants in New York.

For women, you can go as Supergirl. Same things apply. If you’d like to dress up as a less popular superhero from outer space, may I suggest Martian Manhunter?

If you live in Arizona or Alabama, don’t bother with this costume. That should go without saying.

Photo by Sean