Every
October my husband and I throw a Halloween costume party. It’s become our annual tradition and I love
it. I love the work that goes into it
and the stories that come out of it. I’ve
always liked parties, of any kind.
Dinner parties, birthday parties, surprise parties, graduation parties,
Fourth of July parties, etc. I fully
believe life offers us legitimate reasons to throw a party and we ought to take
every opportunity to celebrate goodness in our world.
Despite
my love for all parties, costume parties are my favorite because they allow me
to see a different side of the people in my life. Donning a costume takes time, interest and
creativity. People go through the
trouble of preparing for a costume party because they really want to be at the party and to be a part
of it. To me, that sets things off on
the right foot from the moment they arrive.
When your guests want to be there and want to show off their costumes,
excitement abounds!
In
addition, no matter who you are, when you are in costume the playing field
levels. There were doctors and lawyers
in attendance at our party, but no one would have been able to pick them out of
the crowd. There were veterinarians, writers,
waitresses, CEO’s, homemakers, engineers, salesman, realtors, principals,
nurses, teachers and firemen… but no one wore these labels at the party. Instead, they had become television
characters, vampires, cats, witches, cowboys, zombies, pirates, priests, etc. The opening line wasn’t, “What do you do for a
living?” It was, “Wow! Where did you get that costume?”
Another
thing I’ve noticed about costume parties is that people are always
smiling. There’s a silliness attached to
dressing up and it causes everyone to relax a little bit more. When we all look silly, silly then becomes
the acceptable norm.
Each
year I get the chance to meet new people at this party. Friends bring their friends, thus I make new
friends. Flowing fountains of poisonous
potion help loosen inhibitions and lips move easily in conversation. I love that.
I love that who people really are just sort of drips from them when they
feel the safety of a costume. Conversations become honest.
It
is often through these types of parties that I learn who my true friends are,
and often they are not the ones I thought.
I have learned that sometimes those closest to you actually know you the
least, and those whom you thought were mere acquaintances care deeply about
you. It’s as if the costume unmasks
the mask and the heart is thusly shown. ~
