Throwback Thursday: Halloween 1978-1979

I'm continuing on with the the Throwback Thursday photos, this time revisiting Halloween of 1978 and 1979. If you haven't seen them yet, please check out Halloween, 1974-1975 and Halloween, 1976-1977. It a hilarious look back at a young boy's journey to finally find a cool and scary Halloween costume.

Halloween, 1978
When I had left off, I had finally gotten a spooky ghost Ben Cooper costume. Creepy face with an evil grin, incredible jack-o-lanterns, and I was ready to hit the neighborhood for trick-or-treat. I had finally turned the corner for cool Halloween costumes.

But then Halloween of 1978 arrived. My first year of the homemade costume.

I'm not sure if my parents and grandparents realized what they had created, but their twisted, hand-sewn version of a clown could still strike utter fear and dread in any haunt today!

Blackened eyes and garish lips on a pale white face. This clown costume was amazing! The unintended creepiness of this costume was a sure high point on the trajectory of Halloween costumes of my youth. And that pose!? A glimpse into the future haunter that I am today!


Halloween, 1979
1979 brought a new element to trick-or-treating, and that was new baby brother, Scrapes. Half way into his second year, he was deemed ready to learn the ways of the pumpkin. And he was greenlit for a cool costume right off the bat. No strange missteps for him. No weird witch capes or pink-lipped pandas. He went straight to Spider Man.

I, on the other hand, joined the millions of other children of the late 70s and got on the Star Wars bandwagon! Light sabers, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, the Force.

The dark side.

I had no time for heroes. I became the dark lord himself, Darth Vader.

Our neighbor didn't quite get it yet, and went as a pirate. I found his lack of faith disturbing...

Regardless, the era of uncool costumes was over! The 80s ushered in a new era of Halloween costumes for me, including my favorite Ben Cooper C-3PO costume. But as I got a little bit older, I moved on to homemade costumes, including a hobo complete with a burnt cork beard and a heavy metal rocker who mistook the Star of David as a pentagram.

Check back next week for a few more hilarious and fun photos from Halloweens of my youth!