Whose Holiday Is It, Anyway?

"If you're going to give me a chance to costume, I'll try, and I'll try to do it easily," he said while shopping last week at Masters Costumes in Arlington. Easily and cheaply.

According to Duke Middleton, costume manager at Masters, adults typically spend upward of $50 for a costume and accessories, and those who buy last minute will readily spend $100.

Dunn, who this year will hit the clubs as the hybrid squid-lobster character Dr. Zoidberg from the animated series "Futurama," will spend about $30 on his costume. He found a lab coat at Masters for $20, and, though Zoidberg's lobster claws had him momentarily stumped, he'll fashion facial tentacles out of latex gloves. He'll paint his face red, talk silly, act stupid and -- presto! -- Dr. Zoidberg.

"The reaction is more of a compliment than anything people are going to say to me," Dunn said. "If people say, 'Whoa!,' it's a great feeling." Thus, evident effort begets appreciation -- whether for the laboriousness of a costume or the cleverness of the idea.

"Even if it doesn't come out perfect, it's nice to see people think of something and try to have fun wearing it," said Cathlin Tully, 30, who lives with Silverman and four others in an Adams Morgan townhouse. Tully will come dressed as a bubble bath to their party, affixing iridescent balloons and rubber duckies to a Velcro wrap. "I'm not a huge fan of the 'slutty whatever' costume," she added.

But "slutty whatever" sells: The stewardess costume that appears to use one-twentieth of the fabric of an American Airlines uniform. The skimpy winter fairy costume that promises frostbite to anyone who wears it, even in October. The bikini-topped mermaid suit. The proverbial kitten in a body suit.

At Backstage Inc., owner Sandra Smoker-Duraes sells body-baring women's costumes -- roughly $40 each -- in sizes from small to 3X. BuyCostumes.com's Hofkamp said sexy women's costumes have been so popular that the company recently broke them down by category so women could search more easily for "Classic Sexy" (police officer, nurse, referee), "Sexy Fantasy" (Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Red Riding Hood) or "Sexy Plus Size."

"I have girls that come in here that seem so shy and right away put on the cute, sexy outfit that they would never wear any other time of year," Smoker-Duraes said.

Halloween a night for escapism? Go figure.

When it comes to costumes, store owners say, men want funny, and, for college-age men, cruder is better. Smoker-Duraes keeps a few of the "S#!T" collection handy: foam fecal-shaped costumes that pun on expressions relating to the four-letter word. (The "bull" version, for example, has horns at the top; the "holy" version switches it up with a halo and a cross.) At Masters Costumes in Arlington, an entire aisle is devoted to packaged costumes designed to appeal to the fraternity brother: "Wet T-Shirt Contest" (faux breasts shining through a shirt), the superhero-themed "Super Sperm," "Beer Keg" and more. Middleton said his store sells out of fake breasts and buttocks every year.

Hmm. Provocative costumes, booze, escapism and a devil-may-care attitude: What was that about nostalgia for our youth?

Ah, yes. A time to socialize with friends, to run wild for a few hours. Costumes, after all, are meant to be displayed. And they're instant conversation starters.