Customer Reviews

Halloween: A Grown-Up's Guide to Creative Costumes, Devilish Decor & Fabulous Festivities

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book title caught my attention as the word "Grown Up" jumped out at me. I am big fan of everything Halloween so I had to have this book. I should have borrowed it at the library first! I read other reviews on Amazon.com about how wonderful this book was so I purchased it solely based on the reviews.

DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER:

The cover threw me off. It had pictures of a paper mache skull with horns, a pumpkin with star holes, floating candles in a bucket filled with flowers and mini pumpkins and a picture of hand-made crepe paper witch hats on the front door. I was thinking: all right! A cool book on how to decorate and cool crafts to make!

What they should have put on the front page was a picture of a man in spider costume, a picture of a woman in a poodle outfit, a picture of a man wearing a bird beak..you get the picture.

COSTUME 101

The first 107 pages out of 173 pages were all about costumes only. Here's a sampling: black spider, poodle, bees, really ugly paint spattered thing...

The good thing about this book - you can make most of the costumes listed here because they are items that are readily available.

The bad thing about this book - it really shows.

Many of the costumes just require you to take your old dress/shirt/gown and throw paint all over it or sew a few things on it here and there. There was even an outfit called "Dancing Queen" and can you guess what you are supposed to do? Slap used CD's all over yourself. You are supposed to look like a dancing queen...isn't that what being covered in CD's is all about?

The Queen bee outfit looks...anemic. I thought bees were supposed to be fat. In this case the Queen bee stands in skin tight clothing with what looks like black chicken wire around her waist (I think its supposed to be black netting).

The "Mother Nature and Green Man" costume I find hilarious. Just looking at the picture you'd think they were hippies covered in vegetation and/or mossy stuff. On the next page there is an entire page on "Who is The Green Man?" I figure if you have to go around explaining who the heck you are it takes the fun out of it after the 500th time. "No...I'm NOT the moss man or the hippy man covered in vegetation...I am the Green Man (insert expletives and other cuss words here)...!"

I must admit there are a few neat outfits: the shimmery mermaid outfit, the gladiator and the bedsheet geisha, but not much else going for it. For every one male costume there are about 3 or 4 women's costumes (mainly old dresses with things sewn onto them).

The second part of the costumes section take you step-by-step on how to make things like birds beaks, hairy legs (I am not making this up), thundering hooves, walrus tusks (WALRUS? where's the matching costume for this tusk?). There's one page on how to make an outfit for your dog.

The third part of the costume section teaches you how to paint your face (3 pages of really boring stuff), how to make a hat, how to make paper bags LOOK like a face. Are you sleeping yet? The only thing remotely fresh that I saw in this section was the medusa wig. You get a bunch of plastic snakes and pin it to your swim cap covered in black tulle.

FINALLY...THE DECOR SECTION:

The first ten pages in this section covers pumpking carving basics, how to add a "nose" to a pumpkin simply by turning it over so the stem acts like a nose, how to make a pumpkin look like a "bushy head" by sticking twigs and leaves out of its head, how to carve squares into a pumpkin to make it look geometric, how to....urgh.

The next five pages are all about making dolls. Voodoo dolls, corn "dollys" and hex dolls which are nothing more than twigs hanging eerily off some dead branches. Phhhhfft.

Then..get this...another craft article on how to make a GIANT 6 FOOT SPIDER! That's right...in your very own back yard! How did the craft section go from tying together twigs and corn to make faceless dolls to a gigantic, humongous, insanely huge spider? I take that back, the spider is 6 feet in diameter, which means its actually bigger.

FOOD SECTION:

There are differently themed parties throught this book: the New Orleans voodoo cocktail party, the Day of the Dead dinner party and the Masked Ball party. Not many recipes. Just a lot of nice pretty pictures, I do give this book some credit!

MY RATING:

I give it a ho-hum bummed out "2" on my scale of 1 (don't bother) to 6 (excellent).

Try Martha Stewart's Halloween for better decorating ideas.

I am a fan of adult Halloween books - nothing cutesy or for the kiddies. I bought this book thinking it would have equal amounts of decor and costumes as I am the type of person that likes Martha Stewart's Halloween decorating ideas. While this book is very good, it is primarily costumes and masks. I would have liked to see more decor. The first 108 pages out of 175 pages are costumes. The remaining pages covers jack-o-lanterns, decorating with candles, a few recipes, etc. Nothing new or spectacular. Great if you like to craft your own costumes...mediochre if you want new decor ideas and crafting your own Halloween items.

Every knows Halloween has become big business over the past 20 years or so and second only to Christmas in terms of dollars spent decorating. Much like Christmas Halloween has become an entire season with stores dedicated to selling Halloween items popping up every year around the beginning of September and people decorating their homes at the beginning of October. If anything, Halloween may be even more elaborate and more expensive with complex animated items and realistic tombstones and other such displays. And the costumes...one can spend upwards of a hundred dollars or more on a good costume. That's where this wonderful book by Joanne O'Sullivan comes in handy. The book concentrates mainly on costumes and accessories, showing you step-by-step how you can make some fantastic costumes at home, often with materials you may already have or that can be purchased inexpensively at fabric or hardware stores.

Each costume comes with a full color photograph and each has a well done materials list and directions which clearly illustrate how to make the costume. Now if you're slant is to the ghoulish and gory, this won't be the book for you. The costumes here slant towards the traditional such as a gladiator, Knight, and Witch, to the rather sublime such as dressing as a Jackson Pollock abstract painting. The designs all show marvelous creativity and shows what you can do with a little imagination. How about making an English Judge's wig out of rolls of bathroom tissue, or a Geisha Girl costume made with old bed sheets. The costumes are all aimed at adults and the materials list reflects making these for an adult wearer, as opposed to children.

There's a nice section on creating medieval weaponry on stuff cheaply found at a hardware or home improvement store. One of my favorite items in the book was a Medusa's wig that looks just spectacular. Get yourself some cheap rubber snakes from the local dollar store, a swim cap, and a few other ingredients and you've got a very unique and terrifying accessory to a costume or outdoor display. There are also a variety of other wigs, capes, hands, and feet that can be made. The decorating section is a bit sparse but contains some nice information on pumpkin carving, decorating alternatives, and making such items as voodoo and hex dolls.

Finally, there is some great tips on throwing themed Halloween parties such as a New Orleans Voodoo Cocktail party or a Day of the Dead dinner party, both with invitations, décor, libations and food, all matching the theme. While it may be a tame for some peoples tastes, "Halloween: A Grown-Up's Guide to Creative Costumes, Devilish Decor & Fabulous Festivities" is still a great book with many interesting and imaginative ideas. The wonderful color photography is among the best I have ever seen in a book of this type.

So many times you see these books on line and wonder if they have enough good ideas to make it worth the purchase price. In my humble opinion this book at 172 pages, is worth the purchase price. Great costume ideas including making wonderful fairy wings using a laminator machine. Horns, hooves, and other accessories you don't often see are described with nice pictures. One section is devoted to hats, wigs, and make-up and includes a Medusa Wig! Pet costumes are also included in this book! The decor section has some truly original ideas along with the traditional hex dolls, corn dolly's, and a giant spider. The table top Victorian graveyard was my favorite! The last section is devoted to theme parties with a Day of the Dead dinner party and Voodoo cocktail party. Handy copyright free images are also provided to make decorations.

Maybe it's because I'm not a seamstress, or even a casual sewer, but I don't understand the objections of an earlier review. It's hard to believe we're talking about the same book! Yes, there is a costume using duct tape, but throughout the book I found many new, very original and creative ideas that I will be able to use for my annual Halloween extravaganza. I have read dozens and dozens of books on Halloween costumes, crafts, and decorating, and never been quite so inspired. As a Halloween afficionado, I recommend it highly!

I as well was really looking forward to receiving this book, when I did receive it, I was completly disapointed. I found the costumes to be horribly tacky and cheap looking, the craft area was way too small and rather useless. I am a serious Halloween goer, appreciating anything to do with the holiday, so maybe I could use the book to stand a pumpkin on..??????

All in all don't waste the money

Although I agree with some other reviewers that I wouldn't want to wear all of the costumes pictured in this book, I found it very inspiring, partly because of the stylish photography/graphic design and humorous text, and partly because it shows how everyday items can be easily transformed. The book is a sampler of Halloween ideas--a bit on costumes, a bit on decor, and a bit on culture. (It's true that the cultural section could have been improved in terms of accuracy.) I thought the decor section of the book was loaded with good ideas--I have tons of Victorian clip art, yet I never thought to blow up the images to make a mantelpiece graveyard or a party invitation, and I had never seen turnip jack-o-lanterns. Maybe other reviewers have more knowledge of these things--if you can recommend other decor books, let us know! It sounds like some people are looking for the definitive Halloween book, and I'm not sure it exists. (Publishers? Are you listening?) Also, I thought it was odd that people complained that the costume ideas shown here weren't perfect. I have yet to find any idea in a costume book that I have followed exactly, and I think the authors' intention was to create items the average person could easily make, not to show something high-end. (One reviewer's advice to look at a costume book before you buy it applies, though.) As far as getting a springboard for your own ideas, this book is useful. It includes some valuable instructions for making objects such as horns and masks, which you can incorporate into other designs. I'm currently making a pair of horns for a stage production using the instructions given here, and so far they're turning out really well, so I will forever be grateful to this book's authors.

If Halloween is your holiday, this book is not for you. The costume ideas were really poor (try Jane Austen's Costume Book). Most costumes involve raiding the thrift store and trying to pass off that awful bridesmaid's dress as a fairy costume. Nothing new or original. I'm selling my copy on ebay ASAP.

I really enjoyed browsing through this book, admiring the inventive costumes (love the geisha idea with the sheet, the mermaid, Mother Nature) and the clever use of everyday objects in their construction. I had hoped for more decorating and craft ideas but this book really isn't about that. I do plan on making the large witch hats pictured on the cover and the corn dolly but that's about all I will use this book for, unfortunately. Still, it is a fresh, inventive book with interesting ideas for fans of Halloween. No, it isn't comprehensive or jam-packed with tons of Halloween crafts - you'll have to go elsewhere for that. But if you want a book that focuses on adult costumes and adult parties (three suggested party ideas are given in the book), it is definitely worth a look. This book was more about eye candy to me but that's worth something for sparking imagination.

After reading some of the less-than-great reviews, I was a bit leery about reading this book, but I'm that I glad I did. The costumes and accessories were quite clever, and on the whole, everything seemed to have an almost elegant tone. If you like the Martha Stewart style of decorating, you'll probably like this. I really liked the garden tool and vine scarecrow - spare and eerie.