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Embarrasing childhood Halloween costumesBack in the day when you were a kid, before Halloween became a chance for you to put on your sexy referee costume, it was a time when your parents would either embarrass you or allow you to embarrass yourself with costumes from one of the following categories: A) totally inappropriate, B) cost under five dollars to make, C) made no sense, or D) a magical combination of all of the above.

With the big day just around the corner, we looked deep into our psyche to find those Halloween costumes that will haunt us forever. MWAHAHAHA!

Susan: My brother and I dressed up as George and Martha Washington one year. (My Dad was a big history buff.) Yup, it was incredibly nerdy. And also kind of funny that I was about a foot taller than "George Washington." (pictured, above).

Andrea: I was Waldo from "Where's Waldo?" I wore my dad's old glasses with the lenses popped out, my grandma knitted me a striped scarf, and I carried a hiking stick. This was in my teen years where, with my short hair, I was often mistaken for a dude, so it worked out well.

Emerald: My mom dressed me up as a spider -- she stuffed really cheap nylon stockings and attached them to a black sweat suit. Except she's not very crafty, so it looked like I had six wangs growing out of my sides.

Keep reading for more terrifying humiliations.

Emily M.: I really wanted to be a California Raisin one year, so my mom put me in a trash bag and I wore white shades and gloves. I was also a butterfly once, which was nice, except that my giant cardboard wings were so big I had to turn sideways in people's doorways to even ring the bell.

Bonnie: Giant red crayon.

Emily F.: My parents divorced when I was 3, and my mother never celebrated Halloween because her crazy religion didn't allow it. Dad arrived one year we didn't have costumes, and he had no desire to endure the picked-through pink princesses and black wigs of K-Mart. He did, however, have a few sheets in his car -- a pale-blue sheet and a Budweiser sheet. (Maybe he'd just done laundry? Or knew we wouldn't be dressed up?) A few holes and a piece of string or two later, my sister Jo and I were instantly transformed into ghosts. I don't remember which one of us actually ended up as the Budweiser ghost; I know neither of us wanted to be, and we fought about it. I also know my dad felt bad, but what I wouldn't give to be the Budweiser ghost now.

Liz: I was a computer one year. Grey sweatsuit with puffy paint on it to indicate I was a monitor. And then I carried around a keyboard and mouse. I was THE COOLEST when I was a kid.

Lauren: I was Cleopatra, which meant in the sixth grade I wore my mom's purple negligee to school and this long (and very hot, since I was in Miami) black wig. I realize now how wrong it was that I wore an adult's nightgown to school all day.

What was your most embarrassing Halloween costume?