Monday 16 November 2015

The Game Is Afoot!

So at the end of October, My Rare One and I went to Manitoba for her niece's "social," which is an engagement ritual unique to our home province. About six months to a year before engaged people get married, a big community dance is held in a local hall to raise money for the happy couple. You purchase tickets to get in, all the beer-and-liquor-sale profits go to the couple, and there are always 50/50 and doorprize tickets to buy as well. If the bride and groom come from different communities, a social will often be held in each of their towns. The couple use the profits from the social(s) to help pay for the wedding, honeymoon or what-have-you.

Anyway, because this social was held on October 30th, it was also a Halloween costume party! My Rare One went as Sherlock Holmes and I was Dr. Watson . . . sheesh, if you can't cross-dress at Halloween, when can you?

Here we are in the foyer of the Legion --


Not perhaps the most flattering of photos (note to self: lose that paunch!) but I thought you'd get a kick out of seeing our costumes. We dug deep, deep into our Tickle Trunks to put the costumes together -- the only things we actually had to buy were the deerstalker hat, the bowler hat and the pipe. By the way, in case you're wondering, that's a stethoscope I'm fiddling with.

It was a wonderful social -- just packed with people! Everyone went way above and beyond for their costumes too. There were so many awesome ones! We had a great time.

(P.S. Bigga bigga thanks to John M at REFLECTIONS blog for telling me about the free website software that allowed me to pixellate our faces -- FotoFlexer.)

45 comments:

anne marie in philly said...

clever costumes; and I have never heard of the "social" engagement custom - interesting!

Hot guys said...

Nice ones, I like the costumes. :)

DEZMOND said...

Now that is some clever disguise :)
And how very practical to gather money for the wedding... all people should do it around the world. But then again, at our wedding here, people often give money as a wedding gift so you pay half of the ceremony with that money :)

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic idea on how to raise money for the couple! And an even better idea to make it a costume party. You two look great and I'm sure under that pixelated picture, you're both smiling brightly. Like this: :)

Mark said...

Those are great costumes. I'd heard of socials but I thought they were just social gatherings. That's a really nice thing for a community to do and I hope it was a rousing success, as well as being super fun.

mxtodis123 said...

Great costumes. Sounds like so much fun and such a great tradition.
Mary

LL Cool Joe said...

Ha ha, like the outfits, and we finally get to almost see both of you. Cool!

Jeanne said...

Marvelous! **claps hands in delight** Love those costumes! And what a lovely tradition. So glad to see something old still being carried on in this day & age.

Mistress Maddie said...

HA! How perfect!!! I can't say I ever saw a Holmes Watson combo in my years at a costume party. I too love tradition so it is refreshing to see a place still continuing with them.

Willym said...

Okay now on first quick glance, and before my morning tea and toast, I said to myself - oh look they went as Laurel and Hardy. It took some time to figure out Holmes and Watson.. hey I'm not at my brightest first thing in the morning, or late morning, or early afternoon or....

Debi said...

Love your character choices, perfect indeed! Such a fun, clever couple! xo

A Beer for the Shower said...

A social to raise money for the groom/bride AND a costume party? Why do we have nothing cool like that here? Also, those are some fantastic costumes, and I really hope that pipe is the kind that blows bubble.

Unknown said...

Those costumes are BRILLIANT! Well done!

Miss Val's Creations said...

Great couple costumes! That must have been a blast seeing everyone dressed up. I love the idea of these socials for engaged couples. It is ridiculous how much weddings cost!

Anonymous said...

Awesome costumes!!! You both look great and so well accessorized :-). What a great idea to donate money to engaged couples in such a fun way!

Unknown said...

Looks like fun.

Do they have de-pixellating software, too?

Unknown said...

That is such a nice tradition, such a sense of community and caring about that.

You two look fab together and I hope you fiddled with more than that stethoscope later that nite :0)

Leanna said...

Great costumes! What an idea! Mexican couples do this too, but it's a bit different. They ask people and small businesses to "sponsor them". That means some sponsor buys the cake or brides dress, or the venue for the party. In return, they are invited to the wedding. It's a big deal to be invited to a Mexican wedding, quinceanera, or what have you.

Adam said...

cool costumes

The Happy Whisk said...

Love it, love it, love it. So much fun and what a neat thing to do for an upcoming married couple.

Martha said...

I LOVE this! Great costumes.

MrsDuncanMahogany said...

I think that's the best thing about this province... :)

You both look fabulous for the social! :)

Bill Lisleman said...

that's great idea to help young couples with weddings. This post gave me an idea for a Halloween costume - a pixellated face

BB said...

Great costumes! Here in the states we call these "Jack and Jill's" and they are so much more fun and helpful financially to the couple. Having a costume theme would be fun anytime of year I think!!

Birdie said...

I have always wanted my own tickle trunk but now that I am older I just can't imagine it being filled with anything but sex toys.

Jim said...

You two are too funny! Great costumes too! Sounds like a good tradition and the couple can get a few $$$ in the process!

Guillaume said...

Cool costumes!

Linda @ Life and Linda said...

Clever costumes and good times.

Rosemary said...

That sounds both fun and also a good way of helping the couple especially as everything is so expensive today.

Lowcarb team member said...

Sounds fun and such brilliant costumes ...
Have a good week ahead.

All the best Jan

yellowdoggranny said...

what a terrific idea..and I think the costumes rocked.

Sparkless said...

Love your costumes, so much better than a sexy cat.

Insomniac's Attic said...

A social is a brilliant idea! Why don't we have that here in Alberta? I'm secretly hoping both the offspring will elope and save everyone a bundle.

Brilliant costumes!

Kay G. said...

Very good costumes!
I also think that the social is such a very good idea!

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

You look like a sleuthly duo, especially with the pixellated faces. It's a fun photo, and thanks for posting it.

Anonymous said...

The costumes are pretty great. I don't know where you get a pipe like that. I thought the pixelation was a part of the costume at first, like somehow you made a pixelation so that you could be anonymous detectives? I don't know.

Magaly Guerrero said...

Brilliant costumes! And custom, too!! You should've told me about this Social bit before I got married!!!

This N That said...

Clever costumes..I haven't been to a costume party for a very long time..They are usually a blast..

OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...

Oh you crazy one. Love the costumes, the custom and the sound of the fun of the event. Life is wonderful if you just put the right bits together. xoxo Oma Linda

klahanie said...

What an awesome time, eh! Interesting last photo. Not so sure about the application of the make up, eh!

Gary :)

greekwitch said...

Those are great costumes. So much fun!

Lady M said...

I hate to break this news to you but you are missing a few features on your face. Great costumes!

The Dancing Crone said...

Hey, that is so cool!! And it is a great custom too!

Magic Love Crow said...

Love the costumes! What fun!

DB Stewart said...

Great costumes and great custom.