Borrower seeks Lender (of costume ideas)

October 9, 2008 10:26 AM

Costume Filter: I'm going as the subprime mortgage crisis this year. Need some help figuring how to pull this off.

So how would I go this Halloween as the subprime mortgage crisis? Any ideas?

posted by cazoo to society & culture (29 comments total)

A big, round, clear, bubble with you + some little houses inside of it.
posted by nitsuj at 10:34 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

You could be a for sale sign with a bunch of these foreclosure tabs under each arm.
posted by lee at 10:36 AM on October 9, 2008

I would add a slot that says "PLEASE INSERT 700 BILLION DOLLARS" to your costume.

That, and a lot of little bitty square mirror pieces, so people can see themselves in it.
posted by adipocere at 10:36 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Have a bunch of "NO MONEY DOWN!" loan agreements coming out of your ass.
posted by bondcliff at 10:42 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Make yourself a sandwich sign with a pair of plummeting graphs on it. You don't even really need to define your axises: everyone will know what you mean.
posted by valkyryn at 10:52 AM on October 9, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

You could make a sandwich board decorated with mortgage pages (there's a form here, but you could play with the language to make it more fun), and a halo-style headpiece with a sign that says "PRIME" floating over your head.
posted by hovizette at 10:52 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

NINJA!
posted by brandman at 10:53 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

A monopoly property deed turned over.
posted by troy at 10:54 AM on October 9, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

you could dress like a ninja & hand out tons of play money....
posted by jammy at 10:55 AM on October 9, 2008

bonus points for dressing up as Casey Serin (there on the left)
posted by troy at 10:56 AM on October 9, 2008

oops! brandman, I owe you a beer...
posted by jammy at 10:56 AM on October 9, 2008

Going literal can be fun - how about an outlandish hat emblazoned with a string of prime numbers? When the hat's on your head, you're sub-prime.
posted by onshi at 10:56 AM on October 9, 2008

Actually, "Choice" is below "Prime". So your sandwich-board mortgage could have that stamped on it.

Onshi's hat idea would be awesome. Then all you'd need would a Mort Sahl mask with a pair of calipers attached to it.
posted by codswallop at 11:27 AM on October 9, 2008

A big, round, clear, bubble with you + some little houses inside of it.

And a big pin poised to pop your bubble.
posted by never used baby shoes at 11:35 AM on October 9, 2008

Dangle some house keys just out of your reach (ala Donkey W/ a carrot), then tie a string of cut up credit cards and foreclosure notices, etc behind you. Put on an Uncle Sam hat with Monopoly money stuffed around your collar. Pull your pocket liners out. Postcards from Iceland. Be creative!
posted by self at 12:16 PM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wear your very best suit and power tie. Pocket square. Tassled loafers. Dress to the nines.

Now add devil horns and a tail peeking out from under your coat.

Stick on one of those "Hi, my name is..." badges.

Have it read...

I CAN REFINANCE YOUR HOUSE.
ASK ME HOW!
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:19 PM on October 9, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

A depressed house

Or...have a table with settings for four resting on your shoulders. Go as the generic CEO with your "head on the platter". Have a silver platter around your neck - heavy foil over a Chinette serving plate.
posted by lysdexic at 12:35 PM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

It's a complex mess, so just hit on the aftermath:

Wear a T-shirt with a picture of the NYSE on it and suspend little power-suited guys jumping from the windows. Add a Wilhelm for appropriate sound effects.
posted by catkins at 12:40 PM on October 9, 2008

I was thinking of something similar, I was going to buy a fedora & briefcase from Goodwill and then wear a barrel with straps like they did in old-timey cartoons. I had no idea how to do the barrel with straps though. Maybe someone else can drop some knowledge.
posted by mattholomew at 12:44 PM on October 9, 2008

A house that's upside-down.

Or a mortgage that's upside-down, but I think a house is more graphic.
posted by ROTFL at 2:12 PM on October 9, 2008

My friend went as a stretch of highway one year; she velcroed the cars to her shirt. You could do that with the (Monopoly or Fisher Price) houses...building a bubble is another story.
posted by deliriouscool at 2:12 PM on October 9, 2008

I am thinking something with a periscope
posted by timsteil at 2:16 PM on October 9, 2008

Make yourself a sandwich sign with a pair of plummeting graphs on it. You don't even really need to define your axises: everyone will know what you mean.

I was going to suggest something like this. actually, what would be funnier is if you just made a giant foam red jaggy-plummeting arrow and somehow affixed it to yourself. It could start above your right shoulder and end up pointing to the ground beside your left foot.
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:21 PM on October 9, 2008

(like this [img])
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:22 PM on October 9, 2008

(or this)
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:23 PM on October 9, 2008

What about a sandwich board, one side can be a foreclosure real estate sign of the type that are popping up outside houses all over the US, and the other perhaps a mock up of a trading board (The Big Board?) with all the stocks in red? Should be easy to pull off.
posted by mattoxic at 5:46 PM on October 9, 2008

Oh, if you can dress as Uncle Sam while wearing the boards, this will be far better.
posted by mattoxic at 6:35 PM on October 9, 2008

I was planning on a suit & tie, burgler mask, black watch cap, white bag with big dollar signs on the side and name tag that says "wall street."
posted by shothotbot at 7:47 PM on October 9, 2008

what you've forgotten is this one big bubble is really made up of lots of little bubbles: the housing, the CDSs, etc. Sooo... you wrap yourself in bubble wrap, and tie on some thumbtacks, needles, what-have-you, so everyone can pop the bubble. People who have been burned recently may still prefer the manual method, but that's a risk you have to be wililng to take here.
posted by whatzit at 4:10 AM on October 10, 2008