I had always secretly thought Halloween was a silly idea. I’m not a big fan of Halloween-type things, and I found the costumes to be weirdly revealing. I didn’t really give the issue much thought until one year I got asked to be Batman.

And then, after some thought, I realized that it made sense. The costume provides a way to express a part of yourself that you can’t normally show. It’s like wearing nine different outfits at once: each one is a little bit different, but also kind of the same.

I started seeing other people in costumes too. Then it occurred to me: we’re all dressing up for Halloween anyway! Why not make the best use of our time? And so began my belief that everyone should be wearing costumes this time of year:

A few years ago I found this awesome site that shows hundreds of examples of people wearing “costumes” or “cosplay” (the Japanese word for dressing up as characters from movies, comic books, or video games). There are pictures of everything from Harry Potter to Super Mario Bros.; from people dressed in full-body armor to nurses with blood-spattered scrubs; from Princess Leia and Lara Croft to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader; from Stormtro

Costumes are not just for Halloween. I think everyone should be wearing a costume at least half the time.

It’s good to take an interest in the world around us. We’re more likely to notice things if we try to dress up, and that’s true even if we’re dressed up as ourselves. Dress up as nurses or firemen, for example. It’s not just about learning about other times and places; it’s also about being able to talk about those times and places with people who don’t know them.

And it’s good because it helps make the world more interesting. If you’re always dressed up as yourself, the world ends up being full of the same kinds of people you are, and most of them will be boring or irritating or both. When people dress up as what they see in books, on TV or in movies, they start seeing things differently: they notice things that were taken for granted but that other people never noticed. That wasn’t possible before movies and TV shows came along, because people had to imagine how other people lived and dress themselves accordingly. And now that those media are available on demand all over the world, it is impossible not to see the world differently from everyone else, unless you want to spend your life in

People who wear costumes for Halloween are often seen as odd. But maybe it’s more than that.

People have been dressing up since the dawn of civilization, and we have been marking time since at least as long ago. We’re a very social species, and our most basic form of social interaction is dressing up. We call the clothes we wear “costumes,” not to denote that they are any different from the rest of our wardrobe but because the technical name for them is “costume.” All workdays are costume days, except when they end with our getting paid or rewarded some other way. We all wear costumes in church, although probably not on Halloween. And we still don’t wear costumes everywhere; where we’re really supposed to be dressed in normal clothes is in private.

Costumes aren’t just a way of marking time; they’re also a way of marking political borders, sometimes literally. The Puritans made themselves conspicuous by not wearing costumes on Halloween, lest they give the impression that their religion was nonsense, and the Jews still use it to mark out distinct territories: a good Orthodox Jew has to be dressed all in black, which is why Orthodox Jews never wear Halloween costumes.

I am a Halloween costume designer. I also have a blog, which is why you are reading this.

I think Halloween is the best holiday in the whole year. It’s the only holiday where it is okay to wear your clothes inside out and backward, or a costume that you made yourself that has crazy gear sticking out of it. In other holidays, people are just too uptight about what they wear. You see everyone in their dresses and suits and ties, and if you’re not wearing a dress or suit then you look like you’re in your pajamas or something stupid like that. But in Halloween costumes it’s okay! Really! You can wear anything you want! So why not wear a costume?

I don’t think we should all dress up as animals so much as I think we should all dress up as people who are really good at something. People have different kinds of jobs and hobbies, and we should dress up as those kinds of people because that’s what gives us enjoyment. For example, if you love going to the beach, you should go as a lifeguard; if you love going to museums, you should go as an archaeologist; if you love taking photos, then go as a photographer; and if you love being with friends

Yes, I am wearing a costume. But no, it’s not for Halloween. It’s for the 4th of July.

I’m taking part in what is now called “the Fourth place” tradition. The Fourth of July is a great holiday, and the Fourth place is where it starts: a public gathering that happens all over America at the same time to mark the day. The people in the Fourth place gather together to celebrate, dance and sing and eat barbecue, and they do it with their friends and families. This is one of my favorite things about America.

This year, though, I’m taking part in something different. Instead of spending the day at home with my family, I’m going to turn myself into an American icon for a few hours. We’re celebrating the country’s independence from Britain on 4th of July—and though we are Americans, we are also sometimes British and we have British flags hanging from our houses and cars so that we will always be sure to see them whenever we drive by—so I’m going to wear a British flag as my outfit for this event.

To understand why this idea is so appealing, you need to know that every American man has a hidden side that he keeps hidden from his wives, his girlfriends

The reason we wear costumes at Halloween is that we want to impersonate an idea without the baggage of actually being that person. We want to be someone else for a night and then go back to ordinary life as ourselves.

We want to be a different person but also not too different from our everyday selves. We don’t like being too different, because that makes us stand out, which can make it harder to blend in.

When you’re wearing a costume you can pretend you’re someone else, but you have the option of going back to your usual self any time you want. You can dress up again and go back to being yourself whenever you want. When you dress up, your costume helps you get into character and make various adjustments for how it feels to be someone else: how much makeup is enough; what kind of shoes should I wear; what kind of accessories would work best; in what kind of lighting situation would the costume look best; do I really want to wear this…?

As the holiday approaches, a lot of people are wondering: should I dress up as a character? Or should I just dress normally and fake it? Although some costumes are more fun than others, there’s no reason you can’t have both.

The best way to enjoy Halloween is to dress up as someone else (or in your own original costume). It’s not just about looking weird, it’s also about taking a break from being yourself. There’s nothing wrong with being yourself — that’s what makes you unique!

But sometimes we take this too far. We get so wrapped up in being ourselves that we forget there’s another person inside our head. You can’t truly be yourself all the time; you’re always going to be missing something. And unless you’re an actor, it would be hard to play a character who really is yourself all the time. It wouldn’t be appropriate for your boss or your date, and it certainly wouldn’t make for a good story.

So what are you supposed to do when you go out? Dressing up as someone else helps us see the world through different eyes, so we’re more likely to learn something new. It also makes us feel less alone; going out on Halloween is one of the best opportunities to meet