A Steampunk Halloween

For all my hints and outright clues, not many people were able to guess what my costume was. Only one person the entire Halloween weekend guessed correctly. He was dressed as a bookworm, although when I guessed the glowworm doll, he accepted that too.

Even when I told people I was a steampunk girl, that drew a lot of blank stares. I suppose steampunk is fringe, but maybe more so out here in Vancouver. I kinda like that.

The pieces of my ensemble were all purchased online separately:

My corset came from Hong Kong.

My bustle skirt from California.

My top hat I found in Vancouver, while my antique brass spyglass and goggles came from New York. I thought these steampunk accessories would be the dead giveaway but surprisingly it wasn’t.

My halloween weekend was pretty mellow and just the way I prefer it. Sean and I went to see our friend, Kristina, play her first ever live gig in North Vancouver.

But before that, I just had to check out Peggy as one of the pink ladies of Grease. Only fitting as Peggy was going to the Grease musical. And even though we weren’t going to be spending Halloween together like last year, or the year before that, we could not let the evening pass without meeting up. Even if it was for only 10 minutes!

The pink lady and the steampunk girl.

After the quick meet-up, Sean and I headed to the Eagles hall to meet up with friends and to watch Kristina play a mean bass with her band, The Unlevels.

Photo credit: Ron Sombilon

After they finished their set, we shot next door to play a couple of rounds of pool before calling it a night. Yes, home by 11pm. On a Saturday night Halloween. Call us old fogies, but Halloween was going to be continued the next day.

The thing about trying to get a pumpkin on the actual halloween day is that:

a) You’re mostly sh*t out of luck when you go to the market. Unless you count the rotted ones. (which do not make for good carving)

b) If you happen to find a “low-budget” market where no one really shops and which is trying to unload all their pumpkins by halloween night, you can score a WICKED deal. Instead of pumpkins being charged by the pound, we got 2 sizeable pumpkins for $5. For both.

What’s halloween without a little maniacal pumpkin carving? Ever since Sean introduced me to carving jack-o’-lanterns last year, we’re making this our yearly tradition. We both gleefully knifed our pumpkins, scooped guts and carved faces, with an observant Jonesy watching over us.

The results? 2 creepy jack-o’-lanterns.

Sean’s is on the left. The crazy one on the right is mine. I may have overdone it on the teeth.

After an afternoon of pumpkin delight, Sean and I got dressed up in our Halloween finery: me in my steampunk outfit, Sean as a zombie doctor. With a newly infected zombie bite on his face.

I gotta admit that I lost my breath when Sean got into character and made like he was a zombie. Nothing says scary like your boyfriend heading towards you, arms and fingers outstretched, moaning away like a zombie. Especially as zombies used to make me wanna poop my pants. Hit a little too close to home. Next, he’ll dress up as a mental hospital worker to rattle me up.

We headed over to Dustin & Kristina’s for a little fireworks display and to watch the series premiere of The Walking Dead! We had been waiting for this since end of August. And it did NOT disappoint. I think we just found a show that we may all get together and watch on a weekly basis.

Sean was even in the mood for a midnight snack when we got home.

Jonesy never saw it coming.

I’m so glad to find someone whose favourite holiday is also Halloween. Until next year, boo!

View more photos of our Halloween on my Flickr album.