I am a 41-year-old woman whose Halloween costume this year is Elsa from Frozen. You might think someone who dedicates her blog to Halloween each October would come up with a more original Halloween costume. You might also be think that I’m a bit old to be dressing up like a Disney Princess (although, technically, by the time she’s in the blue dress Elsa is a queen). I understand these potential objections, but it doesn’t change the fact that I wore an Elsa from Frozen Halloween costume to a party on Saturday and will wear it again to greet trick-or-treaters on Friday. I am a grown woman in an Elsa costume, and I’m not ashamed of that.
After I took my kids to see Frozen in the theater last winter, I asked my friend Erin Gallagher if she could make an Elsa costume for me to wear on Halloween. I enjoyed the movie, and I figured it would be fun to wear a pretty Halloween costume this year after dressing as scary Maleficent (old school, not Jolie) last year.
However, as the months went by it became apparent that Frozen Halloween costumes were going to be everywhere this year. Even weeks before Halloween I saw preemptive backlash articles and tweets about the anticipated preponderance of Elsa Halloween costumes. Plus, having a Disney Princess Halloween costume (even if she is technically a queen) seemed a bit hypocritical for someone who wrote a post about better Halloween costumes for women and girls.
I started to reconsider my Halloween costume choice, but Erin already bought a secondhand dress to use as a base for the Elsa costume. I couldn’t back out. I briefly considered doing some sort of modified Elsa Halloween costume, but being a zombie Elsa seemed worse than just being Elsa. Besides, I still liked the idea of wearing an Elsa costume.
There is a reason why popular Halloween costumes are popular. The popular costumes celebrate things that a lot of people enjoy such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, zombies, super heroes, or Frozen. What’s wrong with that?
Erin made an Elsa dress and restyled my Daenerys Targaryen wig into a loose braid. I got purple eye shadow, black eyeliner, and fake eyelashes. I was ready to be Elsa.
The Halloween party I went to on Saturday was fully of the sort of highly creative people who wear costumes based on characters from the Welcome to Night Vale podcast (which I admit I had to look up), a Shepard Fairy poster, and “Hank Hogan” (Hulk Hogan’s brother who is an insurance salesman). There were two German beer wenches, but I was the only Elsa.
One guy didn’t recognize my costume at all. Even after I told him who I was supposed to be he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’ve never seen it.”
I know that won’t be the case on Halloween. In fact, I know that at least one other Elsa will be at my house, not to mention the many Elsas that will come to trick-or-treat. That’s okay. We can all celebrate Halloween and Frozen together.
Of course, there is still the other question of whether a grown woman should dress up as a Disney Princess (even if the character is technically a queen).
I am not a fan of adult Halloween costumes that are sexy versions of children’s characters, particularly if they are going to be worn where children will see them. (This year I had a special frustration with the widespread availability of sexy R2-D2 costumes.) However, I don’t see anything wrong with an adult wearing a non-sexyfied costume of whatever character she or he likes. Halloween would be pretty limiting if we are only allowed to dress as characters that are our own age or older.
I don’t think I am Elsa. I don’t want to be Elsa. I’m not obsessed with Elsa. (In fact, I’ve only seen the movie Frozen once.) I just thought it would be fun to wear a pretty dress from a good movie for a couple nights in October. If you have a problem with that, you really need to let it go.
RELATED POSTS:
- My 3 best Halloween costumes
- Better Halloween costumes for women and girls
- Frozen leggings let Elsa keep an eye on your crotch
- Boo humbug: Dear Prudence tells off a snobby Halloween scrooge
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Kim Z. Dale 