I think I've only dressed up (as Luke Skywalker, I was really into Star Wars back in the day) and gone trick or treating once, when I was 8ish. Since then, my parents and I usually just get some candy and maybe a movie :P. We live out in the country so we don't have to worry about people coming to see us, nobody ever does.
However, surprisingly, I actually contributed to something in my first hour (Trig) that was Holloweeny. My teacher wanted to have a mummy hanging from her classroom door (but said that we couldn't use toilet paper), so a few guys got a bundle of blue paper and crumpled it roughly into the shape of a body. Then they used a ton of this white papery stuff to try and cover up all of the blue.....lol. I helped with the wrapping and held the tape. When we ran out of the white paper stuff one guy ran down to the bathrooms and ripped out about two rolls of (unused) toilet paper which we used to finish up the mummy. It was beautiful, though somewhat yellow from the toilet paper.
Halloween was always birthday party as a kid - way more fun to celebrate a birthday on Oct 31 than Nov 1 - so I share your excitement to certain degree, although I'm a little old now for that sort of stuff
My plan for Halloween is to load up Red Dead Redemption and play some Undead Nightmare. That dlc drips with Halloween spirit and has become a tradition for the last 4 years. I suggest you do the same if you like your westerns
SUB QUESTION: If you could be anything at all--time, cost, and materials permitting--what would you go as?
Dammit that's a tough question. What was your answer to save me going through all the pages?
I can totally see why you'd prefer to celebrate on the 31st.
I love the idea of playing some Undead Nightmare! It's been a while since I've played RDR, but I think you've inspired me to fire it up to get into the spirit of things. So thanks for that.
As for the sub-question-- it really is a tough one. For the longest time my answer was Sarah Kerrigan as the Queen of Blades... but a few years back when Dwight Schrute dressed up as her for Halloween on The Office it completely killed that idea for me. Now I'm not exactly sure. I actually did a Moxxi-inspired costume a few years back, though not exactly since it was for a themed party and the theme was not Borderlands. But it just made me want to go all out and actually put it together, so maybe I would go with that.
Do you have a pick for ultimate costume?
We sadly don't have this custom here in Brazil. Sometimes there are parties and stuff like that which sometimes require you to go with a fantasy but that's not a rule to all "Halloween parties" around here. Otherwise I just stay home doing what I normally do.
For this particular Halloween, what I'm looking forward to is the introduction to the Vampire Counts faction for Total War: Warhammer and the fact that, by then, my "studying cargo" will be loads lighter and it'll be really close to Fallout 4 and Battlefront.
Queen of Blades would be one helluvan outfit, although I imagine getting through doors could be a challenge sorry, I had to google the character because I'm not familiar. Do those wing things retract?
A Moxxi-inspired costume? Pics or it didn't happen
If I had to choose I would probably go for something Star Wars, like Princess Leia for instance. Darth Maul or Boba/Jango Fett would work I think. Maybe I'd like to have a Raziel costume if such a thing were even possible.
I always make my own costume. Seeing the whole thing come together gets me excited. But the big thing has always been carving pumpkins. Me and my sister always come up with a theme (TV shows, music, etc) and then have a sort of friendly competition. Try shaving the pumpkin as opposed to outright carving it; it's actually easier than you probably think, and it looks awesome. I'll probably go for something like this for this year: