Halloween and Me

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Playing dress-up is my THING. I love that you tell a story just by wearing clothes.

There’s a beautiful intentionality. Every piece means something. And plus, it was just plain cool to be a wizard. Pic of baby Xand for proof.

Author Xand Griffin as a young kid, dressed in a homemade purple wizard costume.

When I got older, I discovered cosplay. Cosplay is the art of dressing up as a fictional character from things like movies, books, or tv shows. My favorite part was connecting with someone immediately over our shared love of a character.

I moved into speaking at conventions on how to start cosplaying as a beginner on a budget. This gave me my first experiences of speaking publicly to a large scale audience.

Although I don’t cosplay anymore, it was such a valuable part of my life.

I learned:

• You should let people help you, they want to share what they know

• To keep things interesting, create novelty through something unexpected

• We all want to be validated and seen for the things we care about

And yes, I will 100% go to your theme party in costume.

AND, I get dressed up to go to renaissance faires.

ANDDDD, I Disneybound when I go to Disney. IYKYK.

🤨 Why do I share this?

I want you to know who I am. And I want you to know that you can be a successful adult who still plays dress-up. 💁‍♀️ I also just wanted to show off how cute I was as a kid, I mean LOOK AT ME.