Nose for News, By Sarah Stultz

The month of October is here, and that means one thing for my family: Halloween.

My husband spends a good chunk of the year finding the perfect costume to wear to an annual Halloween party we attend, and this year he also signed up to volunteer at a haunted attraction in Waseca a few nights this month.

My son loves to dress up any chance he can get. He has probably over a dozen masks that he has collected in the last few years. Halloween is extra exciting for him to combine his love of dressing up with an opportunity to get candy.

Then there’s me, who last year put on a cat ear headband, painted some whiskers and a nose on my face and called it good for the night. Pathetic, right?

I can’t say I dislike Halloween — in fact, I enjoy going to at least one haunted attraction each year with my husband, and I enjoy going trick-or-treating with my son — but I sure don’t have near the enthusiasm as my family members to dress up on this holiday.

This year, I’m determined to put a little more effort into my costume, so I thought I’d start thinking of it a little earlier than I normally do — which typically is only a few days before our friends’ Halloween party.

I’ve seen some great costumes throughout the years of my time at the Tribune. We’ve had Halloween costume contests here in the past, and I must say, I work with some incredibly creative people.

Looking back through some old photos, there were co-workers who dressed up as Tribune Barbie, a Rubik’s cube, a film strip, Mary Poppins, a member of the Tribune SWAT team (with fly swatters) and a bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans, to name a few.

I’ve also seen some really creative costumes at the Halloween party we attend, and there are scores of costume ideas on the internet. It’s not like there are a lack of ideas.

Through my initial Google searches, there are even pages with costumes for people who hate dressing up — and I guess that includes me.

As I continue to weed through the hundreds of costumes ideas, I’m curious to see if any of you have ideas for costumes that were a hit and and that didn’t break the bank.

We still have a few weeks to go until Halloween is here, so I’d be appreciative of any ideas you might have.

Maybe it’s just that I haven’t had a good costume in years past that has made me less than thrilled about dressing up.

Only time will tell.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.