Happy Halloween. Trick or treating at the Garment District in Boston!

Trick-or-treat! Dressed up and ready to go. But hang on - are you
 sure that this is me and not some other ghoulish fiend?

When our children were younger, they would start planning their Halloween costumes weeks in advance. Sara usually wanted to be something pretty, like a princess or a ballerina, while Philippe always wanted to be something scary - like the year that he insisted on being a lime green ghost even after I explained that ghosts are almost always white. Upon hearing that they were going shopping together for their Halloween costumes at The Garment District last year, I imaged the two of them trying on masks and giggling like a pair of co-conspirators.

But since it didn't seem fair that they should have all of the fun, I decided to visit The Garment District while I was in Boston at the beginning of October after being reminded of it in a post written by Penny at Boston Zest. (If you're a resident of Boston or planning a trip to the city, be sure to take a look at this website because it's full of useful information)

Grab whatever you want. Dresses, scarves, capes, curtains for $1.50 per pound.
 It's even a better bargain on Friday when the price drops to $1.00 a pound

With over 40,000 pieces of vintage and contemporary clothing organized by decade and style, Sara and I were like a couple of kids in a candy store...or in a costume shop. Laughing as we tried on monster masks and capes, we caused quite a scene.

I didn't see a JFK, Obama, Schwarzenegger or Kermit the Frog mask at the costume stores in Paris. On the other hand, I didn't see a Sarkozy or Tintin mask at The Garment District in Boston!


Am I on the left or the right? I'll give you a hint - which one of these two characters would have been "out and about" in Paris during an earlier time? As soon as I started waving my swashbuckling sword over my head and fighting a fierce duel with an imaginary opponent, one of the stores security guards decide that he better keep a close eye on us. With my knack for getting into character, it's a good thing that I didn't follow Sara's suggestion to try on a French Can-can costume with these sparkling shoes. Red glitter would have flown all over the place as I did high kicks and danced like a performer at the  Moulin Rouge while the guard escorted us out the door.

Happy Halloween, everyone! What's your "trick or treat" for the day?

200 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139


Comments

  1. You have delivered my treat for the day. I'm so happy that you had a great time playing at the Garment District. And, this is another place where travelers coming to Boston or Paris should add to their research links.

    So, will you be Tintin tonight? My Westie, Maggie Mae wants to know!

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  2. I attended two parties Saturday night, I'm not sure there are any adult parties tonight--maybe a couple. And living now in a 8 story building with no children means I won't have the pleasure of giving out treats. Drat.

    On Saturday night I was a secret agent James Bond type character in formal dress with a black mask.. I had tricks up my sleeve. There were lots of pirates for the men and flight attendants for the women. Nurses seemed to be popular too. But nothing beats the children dressing up and coming to the front door.

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  3. I liked your costume today. Halloween was never a big deal in my family. First I was born and raise on a farm, so our neighbors were not very close. Second my dad grew up during the depression and he always thought of it as begging for candy. He did change once they moved into town and had grandkids. Amazing how things change once there are grandkids involved.

    Tom

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  4. Penny, Please put Maggie Mae (I love that name!) on a plane to Paris ASAP. I've got on my red wig and my detective clothes and am ready to go trick or treating. Just waiting for a Snowy look alike to complete the Tintin costume!

    Joseph, I agree that nothing beats trick or treaters on Halloween. I'm at my parents-in-law's house in Geneva and it has been a very quiet evening. Every year, a few kids would ring our doorbell when we lived in Montreux and say, "Farce ou friandise" but not here. :-(

    Thanks for telling me about your costume. I was wondering what you ended up wearing. It sounds as if it was a fun evening. Were there any Occupy Wall Street costumes? I heard on the news that they were expecting that to be one of the more popular costumes this year.

    Tom, My father grew up on a farm in Iowa and I remember him telling us about the tricks that they would pull on their neighbors. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that it was for Halloween. I wonder when we started "trick or treating" in the United States.

    Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays when I was a child. There was always something so special about being allowed to go out at night without my parents and to come home with a pillowcase full of candy. Those were the days!

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  5. I went to a party here on Elm St, aptly named "Nightmare on Elm St". The hosts did a horror/occupy theme - they had signs hanging from their neck saying:
    "Occupy Elm St." and
    "We are the 0.01% (Child murderers)

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  6. How fun! How much were these costumes? Yours looks very well done, almost movie quality!

    I think I would have liked to see you try on the Can-can outfit. You probably would have gotten a lot of appreciative comments. ;)

    -nycgirl

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  7. Sara, I can't wait to see your photos of the 0.01%!

    nycgirl, We had so much fun trying on the costumes that I didn't really look at the prices. Sara tried on a beautiful vintage wedding dress for $30 and the prices that I did see were not as high as I expected and certainly not as high as the prices at the costume stores in Paris!

    There are a couple of things that I'm just not brave enough to do -- and wearing a Can-can dress is one of them!

    NYC must have some great costume shops.

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  8. I didn't see a lot of Occupy Wall Street costumes--how would you know they were in costume? David Letterman had his trick or treat segment last night and he had some funny ones, I especially like the Hoarders costume--a young boy just covered with stacks and bags of paper and stuff, like a hoarder. It was very funny.

    Sara's "we are the 0.01%" is just a little too frightening for me, so gruesome to think about.

    Well today's All Saint's Day, so all is right with the world.

    Oh, I love knowing how to say trick or treat in French now. If I can remember it.

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