Since 2010, the year before my husband and I married, we have been dressing up in some kind of couple’s costume for Halloween. We both teach at the same middle school, so dressing up for Halloween is something we just don’t seem to grow out of since it’s now expected by our current and former students and our friends and colleagues that Mr. and Mrs. Handford will dress up for Halloween. There’s always a little pressure to come up with something that might top the previous year.
These have been our costumes so far:
2010 – Elvis and Vegas Showgirl
2011 – Gilligan and Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island
2012 – I think we didn’t dress up that year. We just stayed home and passed out candy and sent our daughter out trick-or-treating with friends.
2013 – Elvis, Ace of Hearts, and Queen of Hearts (This was a school costume when our daughter was in 6th grade and was in both of our classes.)
2014 – Schroeder and Lucy from Peanuts
2015 – Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep from Mary Poppins
2016 – Popeye and Olive Oyl
2017 – Dolly Parton (my hero) and Willie Nelson
2018 – Sheldon and Amy from Big Bang Theory
2019 – Charles and Caroline Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie
2020 – Morticia, Gomez, and Pugsley from The Addams Family (Our dog Malibu even dressed up that year, and we still had over 400 trick-or-treaters during a pandemic.)
2021 – Another year that we did not dress up. Our principal decided there would be no costumes at school since student behavior had been so bad so far that year. We needed a year where students could just learn how to do school again after the pandemic. My husband also had a symphony concert on Halloween that year, so we just skipped the costumes in 2021.
2022 – The Grinch, Martha May Whovier, and Max from How the Grinch Stole Christmas
2023 – Charles and Lettie Conrad – They are the founding family of our town. My husband Hank and I are both tour guides at the Conrad Mansion in the summer, so we even got to make our Halloween costumes more authentic by taking some photos inside the Mansion.
And this year our costumes are going to be…high school us. We usually don’t reveal our costumes ahead of time, but since it’s my Sunday blog day and Halloween is on Thursday, I guess this year everyone will know ahead of time. They just won’t know how it will turn out.
My husband and I didn’t know each other in high school. He’s five years older than me and grew up in the next town over from mine. He was in band all four years of high school and was the drum major during his senior year, and he has now taught middle school band for over 30 years. He was in the class of 88 in high school, and the inspiration for his costume this year will be his senior picture, the one of him in his drum major uniform. His school colors were orange, black, and white.
I graduated high school in the class of 94. I was a cheerleader, and during my senior year, I was the captain of our squad. Our school colors were blue, white, and red. I think teaching and cheerleading go hand and hand. Back then I was voted “most spirited” in my class. I still like to lead the crowd in my classroom, and I still think I have lots of school spirit. The inspiration for my Halloween costume this year will be one of my old cheerleading photos.
We’ll see how we can pull this couple’s costume off this year. There are a few challenges. It’s been over 30 years since either of us were in high school. Finding vintage-looking uniforms that fit us was one of the challenges. Luckily, we both have some of our old accessories for the costumes though.
It’s always an exciting, fun, scary, exhausting day when Halloween falls on a school day. We’ll teach all day in costume and come home and pass out candy at our house from about 4:00 to 9:00 or so. Last year we had 704 trick-or-treaters. We have a counter that we use to keep track since we’re right in the middle of the biggest trick-or-treating neighborhood in our town. We’ll see if this year breaks last year’s count.
Another tradition we have is having tater-tot casserole for dinner that night. We make it up the night before, so it’s ready to just put in the oven. Sometimes we take turns eating dinner, so one of us can pass out candy while the other one eats. Sometimes we just eat late when all the trick-or-treaters have gone. Tater-tot casserole is a traditional Halloween dinner from my husband’s childhood.
Here is a link to the recipe if you want to try it. It is by Brenda Score on her website A Farmgirl’s Dabbles. My husband uses the first recipe, the one with homemade gravy. It’s the perfect comfort food for a busy trick-or-treat night. Tater Tot Hotdish {2 ways…with and withOUT canned soup!} – A Farmgirl’s Dabbles
While we’re eating and passing out candy, one Halloween special or another is usually on the TV. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is my favorite and brings me right back to my childhood Halloweens with my mom and little sister in our living room.
Our dog Malibu loves Halloween. His costume this year is a sweater that looks like a candy-corn. It has no hat with it, so he kind of likes this costume. It says “Boo!” on the back, which is perfect for Mal-i-boo! He loves answering the door and all the attention he gets. “Can I pet your dog?” they all ask. Malibu loves Halloween even more than Christmas.
Out on the front porch, we usually have some kind of space heater set up. Halloween is usually cold here in Montana. This year’s forecast calls for scattered rain and temperatures in the mid-40s. Kids will have to bundle up over those costumes.
It’s fun that we get to see so many of our students on Halloween. “Hi, Mr. Handford! Hi, Mrs. Handford! Your dog is so cute!” It makes our town feel old fashioned and small when so many kids know our names. I love that.
After all the excitement of Halloween night, we’ll be back in school on Friday with all the tired, sugar-saturated students who come to school that day. The elementary schools in our area have parent teacher conferences on Friday, so the young kids have no school, but middle and high school students do. We’ll see how many show up.
Happy Halloween week to everyone! Mr. and Mrs. Handford hope you enjoy all your favorite Halloween traditions.
