Does this happen in other places?
I find I’m asking myself this all the time living up here in the Yukon.
Most recently it is with regard to Yukoners and their costumes.
We’re talking about people going to one another’s homes drinking beer, wine or what have you and doing so while dressed up.
I’m not just talking about Halloween either, although there was no shortage of that this year.
I’m still trying to get the image of a large pink bunny spooning big bird while a guy in a banana suit gives the play by play.
The medication is helping.
No, I’m talking about year-round events.
I recently attended a “hip-hop” party.
And, as you guessed it, everyone was dressed up like their favourite” homey”.
There were Vanilla Ices, Tu-Pacs, Dre’s, you name it, they were there.
There was even cardboard on the floor in the living room to allow for better break dancing.
And that is just one example.
A few years back, I went to a superhero-themed party, not to be confused with last year’s superhero party or the one held just recently in September as a fundraiser for a group of Yukon women attending a feminism conference.
No, this particular party was in 2004 and it was grand.
Close to 100 people, young professionals, lawyers, nurses, YTGers, dressed up as their favourite superhero.
The evening was then capped with a mock street fight; the good superheroes versus the evil-doers.
Right there on Main Street, outside Lizards, Batman and Robin was in battle with Spidey and the Green Lantern.
It was an event that would bring a smile to “tickle-trunkers” of all ages including Ernie Coombs, Casey and Finnegan.
Like a few things in my life, I thought my tickle trunk would be locked upon my move north, but I couldn’t be more wrong.
Just a few weeks ago, I found myself dressed up like a kangaroo playing hockey on Chadburn Lake.
At one point, I was facing off against what looked to be “Kiss on Ice”, the Yukon’s very own Gene Simmons’ Ice Capades.
There was also a team of synchronized swimmers, some “Russkies” and what looked to be the cast from Slap-Shot, just to name a few.
Yes, the amount of times I’ve put on a costume just to go over to a friend’s house and drink beer seems endless.
Seventies, Eighties, Nineties-theme parties … hip hop parties, superhero parties.
I even went to an orange-themed party once and, being a thespian of the arts, I loved it.
But with the liberation and joy of dressing up comes the challenges.
The biggest one being the pending awkwardness I am going to face when I head home to Victoria for a visit.
I can see it now.
People gathered in the kitchen, egg nog in hand as the faint sound of Christmas carols fills the room.
And then there I’ll be: red satin suit, white beard and possible reindeer antlers.
It’ll be awkward no doubt, but at least I’ll be smiling and somewhere up there I’ll bet the late Ernie Coombs will be, too.
