One thing that we missed in our years in England was costume parties that our group of friends holds a couple of times a year. Upon our return, we are finally able to participate in that good fun again.
This fall’s party was styled after some Japanese fertility festival (豊年祭, pronounced something like Ho-nan Ma-tsu-ri). If you Google using those three characters, you will undoubtedly come across pictures of the phallic centerpiece of the proceedings in the land of the Rising Sun. Despite such undertones, the costumes at our party were primarily after common Japanese themes: several geishas, a few samurai, a ninja or two, a couple of sumo wrestlers… A few costumes were truly inventive and spectacular, such as an overgrown Bonsai tree or an Origami (made entirely of paper, by the way).
Our personal approach to party costumes is low-cost/effort first. Yet, as anyone would, we prefer to exhibit some originality. Right from the beginning, I had a brilliant idea of dressing up as some anime characters – none of my friends have more than a passing idea of what anime is, so we were guaranteed to stand out from the crowd. The problem is, I myself have a little more than passing idea about it. However, I do have a teenage child who is quite familiar with whatever anime offerings there exist on American TV. So, we enlisted Becky as an advisor and she suggested that we go as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask from the Sailor Moon franchise.
Natasha scoured our wardrobes for appropriate attributes, borrowed some stuff from friends, hand-made a couple of accessories, etc. We simplified some elements, but ended up with sufficient resemblance.
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We were unique. Of course, no one at the party had the slightest idea of who we were, but that mattered little…
Cool stuff.
Too cute.
Looks like fun!!!