Munster Mash

When Lillian Munster Gets Her Badass On    

Yup, that’s me many years ago—giving my husband the evil-eye at a Halloween party.

In my upcoming book, The Green Velvet Chair, I write about various ways that our lives are touched by art and design.

One of the chapters details the creativity that comes with making Halloween costumes. I have always loved this time of year and would go to great lengths to create some fun get-ups. One year, I transformed my husband and I into Herman and Lily Munster. It was fun to sew the outfits, design the jewellery, and of course, do the elaborate makeup, based on this old TV Show from the ‘60s.

As a fresh graduate from art college, my first job was working in the advertising department of a national home improvement retailer. My new boss was having a big Halloween party, and I just had to impress her with my creativity—I was so much more than lumber. I wanted her to see my creative flair for costume-making. For weeks before the boss’s party I worked hard to get all the details just right.

The day of the party was spent doing hair and make-up, which took much longer than I anticipated. While I worked hard to get all the details right, I missed one very important one—eating! So, my husband and I went to the party with empty stomachs. No problem, I thought. We could eat upon our arrival. That might have been our plan, but our fellow party-goers intercepted us upon arrival with “oohs and aahs.” At that point, we didn’t want to mess up our makeup—but we did start to drink, and drink, and drink.

Halfway into the night, and much to my chagrin, my husband became very inebriated. So much so that while we were lined up waiting for the washroom in the basement party area, he felt sick and vomited in my boss’s washing machine. He just lifted the lid and emptied his guts… proceeded to put some laundry soap into the drum, and then turned on the machine.

My plan was to impress my boss, but by the end of the night I wondered if I would have a job to go to on Monday morning.

There were more antics and mishaps throughout the night that turned my white face beet red.

Talk about a horrific evening!

As things turned out, I ended up working at this head office for over five years. But I will never forget that Halloween party. More details to this Halloween blunder, and others, are in my upcoming book, The Green Velvet Chair—a collection of heartfelt stories of art and design in everyday life.

Download an excerpt on my website: https://badass-ballerini.com/download-excerpt/