Why Adult Halloween Parties Are Just Not My Thing

I think my distaste for adult Halloween parties started back when my husband and I were still dating.  We had been together for about a month and my roommate and I decided to throw a housewarming costume party for our friends at our new apartment in Manhattan.  At the time, I was head over heels for my new boyfriend and couldn't wait for him to meet my parents.  And as fate would have it, I was staying at my parents' house in Brooklyn and he was in Queens so he offered to pick me up and take me back into the city for the party.

The costume I wore that night is still a blur.  Maybe I was a cowgirl, or Pocahontas, but what I vividly recall was watching my boyfriend walk up the steps to my parents' house wearing a mini dress and a long black wig.  For some bizarre reason, he thought it would be a great idea to dress up like a woman the same day he met my folks and my closest friends for the first time.  

While I should have just shrugged off that ridiculous costume selection, as a twenty-three-year-old fixated on what my friends and family thought of my new boyfriend, all I remember was that I was completely mortified.  I recall sitting next to him in the car as we drove back to Manhattan and asking him what motivated him to select that costume.  It turns out one of his close girl friends suggested the outfit - perhaps in a bid to sabotage our relationship or to play a practical joke on him. Either way, her comical idea totally backfired.  

The moment we arrived at our apartment, I instantly grabbed a drink and proceeded to down a few more alcoholic beverages until the room started spinning. I'm not proud of my reaction and in hindsight, I really should have had a thicker skin and a better sense of humor.  But at that moment, all I wanted to do was turn back time so I could re-introduce him to my parents and friends while he was disguised as Prince Charming and not someone resembling Morticia Adams or Wilma Flintstone.

Fast forward two decades and that infamous Halloween party marked the official last time that I ever attended another adult costume party with my significant other.  The funny thing is, we were just invited to a Halloween housewarming party.  Wonder if I'll finally put the past behind us and convince my hubby to wear a costume.  As long as that other costume is nowhere to be found, I'm all for playing dress up.  He can play the part of Fred Flintstone and if anyone is going to wear heels, a pre-historic dress and a black wig, it's going to be me.