My favorite Halloween

I don't know where the book came from, I think it was a Weekly Reader purchase. In my memory, I paid for it but I probably begged Mom and Dad for it (just like my kids do). It was a whole book on home-made versions of movie monster make up. I don't remember much about it, but there was one where we made wolfman fur by dipping cotton balls in unsweetened chocolate and then gluing it to your face with corn syrup. There was another were we made fangs from cheese wax, drying off your tooth and sticking it to the tooth (never stayed on for more than a couple of minutes). But the part I liked was the step by step, pictures of how to put each part of the Dracula makeup. The ultimate costume though was the guy with the melting face. It had cotton balls glued to your face with corn syrup, and then this oatmeal-like mixture than dripped and stucked to the cotton balls, making the face look all puffy and oozey. I think all of us that year go one or more versions of the costumes in the book.

I can remember going to the store with Mom, feeling weird as we walked through the makeup aisle, buying stuff for my costume (eyeliner, cold cream, etc). But, those were the best costumes of all time!

We lost the book (or maybe Mom threw it out, like a beloved dead goldfish) and since I don't remember the name of the book, I've never been able to replace it.