I’ve been on again, off again with a Halloween costume this year. My foot surgery was tentatively scheduled for October 9th. That would have put the kibosh on the whole month. I eventually landed on a November 4th surgery date, so the costume was back on.

We’re invited to a few parties each year and we always have a blast. The first party was last Saturday so I needed something quick and easy. I like to put together a costume that’s topical and usually make something up.

For the third time in six years, I started with this lettuce-green slip.

Thrift store find: lettuce green slip

I bought it at a thrift store several years ago for my Lady Gaga inspired vegetable dress (the year she wore real meat (GAG) to the VMAs.

2010: Lady Gaga inspired vegetable dress

A few years later I used the slip again in my Year of Trash costume. I collected things throughout the year that couldn’t otherwise be recycled and made it into a costume. It really makes you think.

2011: My Year of Trash Costume (That’s my sister Sharon as a gruesome witch)

Lindy loved the raffia. She played in it, on it and around it all week

This year, the green slip is the foundation for Ms. California Drought. I found six-foot bundles of raffia on sale at a local craft store and used it to form the dress. I hand stitched the narrow ends to the bodice, then machine stitched the lengths around the waist. I used a few single strands of raffia to sew the loose ends to the dress and to attach my bra the night of the party. I used a length of wide ribbon for the waist and called it a dress.

2015: Ms. California Drought and her Minion for the night

I used a length of burlap and my rubber stamp letters to print Ms. California Drought on the sash.  I gathered a bunch of dried flowers into a bouquet, used a burlap plant cover for a purse, and within a few hours, my costume was party-ready

Do you celebrate Halloween? Are you dressing up this year?