Growing up in England from a child to a teenager in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, Halloween was an American thing you saw on the telly. There was no dressing up and trick-or-treating, not in my family home anyway. Even when my kids were younger I never really bothered much about Halloween. It was just all too American for me and just liked the English traditions I was brought up with. They had fun wearing masks, bobbing for apples etc. but we never went out dressed up knocking on people’s doors, in fact, I don’t recall ever seeing anyone else do it either.
Nowadays all of the above is a common sight. I am no killjoy and I don’t knock anyone who really enjoys it. I admit it’s a fun thing for kids to do and a good excuse for a party for the adults which I have enjoyed going to in the past few years. When you have suffered from depression and anxiety for as long as I have, just to be included can be a lifesaver.
The main thing I like about Halloween is dressing up and the Horror theme to it. I have never celebrated Halloween in my life in the past because, since I was a kid, I have loved horror. Every day is Halloween for me, ha ha.
Below are photos of Halloween celebrations of me and my family over the years.
The quality of some of these photos is not the greatest due to poor-quality camera equipment. I have tried to enhance them the best I can but they are worth reminiscing about on here regardless.
2022 (Continued)
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A small Halloween holiday family get-together.
Me, my sister Julie and great nephews Archie, Harley, Kenny and Oscar.
My goody bag from the kid’s get-together.
I wasn’t expecting this treat from my niece Joanne so it was nice to be included as one of the kids, ha ha and I thank her for it.
2023
This was my sixth Halloween party and I wore a Frankenstein costume complete with my very cool mask. This realistic full overhead, latex mask with added hair (designed in the U.S.A. and made in Mexico) is officially licenced by Universal Studios and made for Trick Or Treat Studios and, for a very pleasant change, the quality of it was exactly like in the photo from the place I ordered it from (but I knew it would be after reading very good reviews). It has been my most expensive mask to date at £68 but that old saying you get what you pay for rings very true here. It was worth every penny and I can’t wait to put it on display in my bungalow one day. Regardless of the price, I was very happy about it and I enjoyed wearing it (it’s just a shame one or both of the electrodes were hidden a lot in the photos of me wearing it. This is because I pulled my t-shirt up too far without realising it). It has now become my favourite Halloween costume since I started wearing Halloween costumes, more so the mask element of it, the rest was a disaster!
I wore a black suit, black T-shirt and big black boots to try and get the full Frankenstein look from the first film which starred Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster.
It has a slit in the back to help get it on so I didn’t have to cut one in which was good. The mask is hard to get on and off but it isn’t too tight when it is on. However, there are two moulded bits by the eyes inside that are a bit uncomfortable as they dig into the bridge of my nose a bit but I’m sure these could be softened somehow. The eye holes are not that big to see through and I had to tilt my head up a bit to see better which is hard anyway with no glasses on like most overhead masks I can’t. I also couldn’t wear my hearing aids meaning I couldn’t hear that great either. Both these things are always annoying but it is what it is.
As I mentioned above this costume was a disaster for me. I had purchased four army green make-up pots (the closest colour I could get to match the mask and there were two for each arm) as I wasn’t sure how well they would spread. It turned out I only needed one and, despite using make-up primer, it smudged on my fingers and palms. It didn’t help I left it too late to do and wasn’t fully dry. On top of that, I got it on my T-shirt and suit which meant I had to use a wet cloth to get it off but all it did was smudge in my clothes. Every time I tried to get it off my clothes because the cloth was wet, my hands would be partly washed which meant adding more paint! This did give it a muddy clothes look so I suppose it looked OK but I was very annoyed it happened.
I also brought FX modelling wax pot, fake blood, spirit gum glue and black cotton to achieve a scarred, sewn-on look around the wrists. There wouldn’t have been enough wax to use so I didn’t bother with it, therefore there was no point using the cotton. Anyway, I tried to cut a load of little threads and it was too thin and fiddly so I wouldn’t have been able to do it even if I wanted to with time flying by until I had to go out.
My boots were the biggest failure of the whole costume. They were disability boots my brother-in-law Ken gave me and one was lower than the other meaning that less than a week before the party I had to build the one up to make them even looking. I used about 1-inch polystyrene sheets for that, on one boot (to give it a bit more height) and more on the other to build it up to the same as the other one. I used normal glue which dissolved the polystyrene sheets so I used no nails glue hoping it would dry in time for the party, IT DID NOT. I used cardboard on them and super-glued a bit cut from tarpaulin to make souls and stop the polystyrene wrecking. That made no difference because all my weight just squashed everything down, glue and all and it went everywhere, eventually losing the soles altogether. The boots looked so crap and because of this I have cropped them off in the photos but you may see the odd bit of white. I am a perfectionist when it comes to a lot of things I do including ideas I have and when they don’t turn out like it was in my head (they rarely do) I do get disheartened when these things happen but I try not to let them bring me down too much and I get on with it, that is how my life is.
The photos below were taken at Ayelsford Hall in Shard End. I got ready at home and got a lift there from my Brother-In-Law Ken which was good because there was no way I was going to walk!
My sister Julie had to lock the door for me when we left mine and help put my phone and keys in my jacket pocket as my hands were painted green and I didn’t want them to smudge, ha ha.
The photos were taken on the 28th of October, 2023.
The EXCELLENT Frankenstein mask from Trick Or Treat Studios.
This version of Frankenstein’s monster is the original one played by Boris Karloff and the likeness is spot on.
The Frankenstein mask tag that came with it.
My very cool Frankenstein mask.
Frankenstein’s monster.
Various poses of me in my Frankenstein costume.
Frankenstein’s monster dancing.
Julie took a photo of me dancing, ha ha.
Frankenstein’s monster drinking.
It is thirsty work being chased by a flame-wielding mob, ha ha.
This is me attempting to have a drink with my Frankenstein mask on. I had to lift it up a bit making it look like I was drinking out my neck!
The mask doesn’t have a mouthpiece and I could have cut a little slit in it for using a straw but I didn’t want to spoil and risk (and possibly ruin) an expensive mask like this so I left it as it was.
Me and my sister Julie.
Me and my brother-in-law Ken.
Me, my sister Julie and niece Faye.
My Frankenstein boots.
It was a messy process modifying these boots (hence the glue inside them from my hands). Here you can see my final effort of changing their look slightly BEFORE I wore them and they became ruined.
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Notes And Links
This page contains links that send you to Wikipedia and other websites and are subject to change.
The image shown above of a carved pumpkin is the copyright of Wikipedia user Toby Ord. It comes with a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 2.5).
The images above are copyright of Frank Parker unless stated.
The Frankenstein mask and tag photos at the top of the page are copyright of Universal via Universal Studios and Trick Or Treat Studios.
The photos above of me in my Frankenstein mask and costume, me with my sister Julie and brother-in-law Ken are copyright of Julie Shingler.
The photos above of me and my sister Julie, me, my sister Julie and niece Faye and one of me as Frankenstein’s monster are copyright of Faye Libby.
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