Halloween is a holiday that most would recognize as spooky and frightening. Whether it’s ghosts, goblins, vampires, or witches, these are the things we immediately associate with Halloween. In the past and normally with a larger staff, we’ve always had at least one of these “darker” costumes; however, this year at Southgate Coins, the staff only consisted of welcoming magical characters, life savers, and even took us back in time to the “groovy” 1960s. Read on to see what Rusty, Marie, Maya, and Nicole surprised the customers with this year.

As many of you know, Southgate Coins holds firm to traditions, and Halloween dress-up day has always been one that the staff enjoys every year. After getting all the right accessories together, it’s such a thrill to get into character and become something or someone that you wouldn’t normally ever have the chance to be! This year, I (Nicole) didn’t have a clear goal in mind for what I wanted to dress up as, but when I found my outfit on accident, I knew it would work perfectly with my personality.

I greeted Marie and Maya (Maya will tell you about their outfits below) Halloween morning, October 31st, in my kaleidoscope-colored dress and head wrap, which was completely covered in iridescent sequins. I was a disco hippy from the 1960s. Along with a big peace sign necklace and my added hair extensions for the day, Rusty and Marie commented on how I could easily tell customers that I was 1960 icons Pattie Boyd or Kam Nelson.

Anticipation always builds up in the morning while we wait for Rusty to arrive, since his costumes are always the most elaborate and the biggest surprise! This year he made his way into the store, in a flawlessly ideal costume—a wizard! It couldn’t have been more perfect, and I instantly thought of the infamous sign above his office door that states, “Nobody gets in to see the wizard, not nobody, not no how.” He was dressed up from head to toe, including a deluxe blue cloak with gold stars and moons, a staff, and a tall, maroon wizard’s hat. His costume was complete with long white hair, a thick white beard, and he even wore an aged mask, since we all know Rusty has aged much more gracefully than any wizard has been known to, haha!

It was great to see everyone dressed up, with huge smiles on our faces as we looked at each other’s diverse costumes. We also got smiles and a few laughs from the customers, which is something we always look forward to and expect. Of course, we took a picture with Brain, our mailman, who has experienced many of our dress-up events, so he happily played along as Rusty donned a second wizard hat on him.

Here’s Maya to describe Marie’s costume and her own:

Each Halloween, I (Maya) always come to work wondering what everyone will be dressed as. Marie has always chosen classy, feminine outfits in the time I’ve been at Southgate, and her costume this year didn’t disappoint. When I got to the store, all I could see through Marie’s desk window was that her hair was up. But, when I walked into the back office, I saw that she was decked-out head-to-toe in a stewardess’s outfit.

Now, this does not look like any modern day “flight attendant’s” outfit where they just wear khakis and a polo shirt. No, this was a tailored, knee-length, navy-blue-with-red-accents, double-breasted suit-dress. You know, the kind stewardesses wore to compliment the captain’s attire. She even had on a military-style pillbox hat that matched perfectly. She completed the costume with professional-looking flats, as well as an American Airlines’ wings pin on her lapel, and an aerial brooch on her hat.

To top off the great costume, Marie surprised us all with an actual in-flight menu from 1960, when airlines served real, “Chef’s Special”-type meals. Imagine all that preparation for full meals in the air—and as Marie reminded us, there weren’t even microwaves!

This year, I challenged myself to be something from the present day—no dated or fictional characters. So, I chose to be a modern-day nurse. I already had a real-life stethoscope from a high school class I took, and I was able to pick up a nice set of scrubs at the uniform store. Of course, I accented the costume with an empty, needleless syringe, a thermometer, and a medical facemask. This was the first Halloween that I’ve been able to walk into public without having too many heads turn!

With Rusty as a wizard, Nicole as a spot-on hippy from 1969, and Marie as a stewardess, I certainly felt I was the only character from this century! In any case, there was no denying what any of us were dressed up as this year, and all our customers enjoyed seeing us all dressed up.

We’re all happy to once again be apart of an undying Southgate Coins company tradition. Thanks, Rusty and Marie, for adding yet some more “fun disguised as work” into our jobs!

From everyone at Southgate Coins, Happy Halloween!

Nicole and Maya