When I was young, it seemed we made most of our Halloween costumes. The incredible variety of store bought costumes available today just wasn't around back then.

This led to some interesting and at times quite imaginative looking ghouls and goblins out walking the streets of our hometown. My favorite costumes, though, were of the Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown, as invented by my older sister Sue.

I was in elementary school at the time, maybe 4 th grade. What my sister did still impresses me today with it's originality. She started with the biggest beachball she could find, inflated it and covered it with paper mache'.

Does anyone still do paper mache' today? You start with strips of newspaper and a concoction of flour and water to make a paste. The exact recipe escapes me.

Anyways, she covered the ball with a heavy layer of paper mache', let it dry, then deflated and removed the beachball. Next she cut out openings to get your torso up into this creation, along with arm and eye openings.

Finally came the paint and a perfect rendition of The Great Pumpkin,a sheet dyed black with a hole in the middle to drape over you and voila! You had The Great Pumpkin floating through the night. The whole procedure was repeated to bring Charlie Brown to life as well. They were cool.

These costumes hung around for years. Stored in the attic, they were brought down at Halloween so various kids could wear them. I have no idea what happened to them, and I have tried in vain to find pictures in the family archives.

We had a lot of pretty cool costumes as kids, not the least of which was my Robin (of Batman and Robin fame) outfit hand sewn by my mom, but my sister's creation of The Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown were the best.