What’s the first thing you do when you’re done rocking out at this year’s Snowdown? Peel yourself off the floor, take an ibuprofen, and begin preparing for the next one.
This year, the people who put on Snowdown began the festival the Sunday before the rest of the fest with an opening ceremony at Purgatory Resort. In addition to a skier parade and the ceremonial lighting of a barbecue grill, the organizers of the event announced next year’s theme, “A Magical Mystical Snowdown: We Put a Spell on You,” The Durango Herald reported.
Dawn James-Staten, vice president of the Snowdown board of directors, told the Herald, “Think of Harry Potter, Gandalf, witches, good witches and evil witches, and fairies.”
Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and The Wizard of Oz are all well and good, but a bit obvious. Here are some suggestions for other wizards, mages, and sorcerers you can spend the next year getting ready to dress up as:
Doctor StrangeThe Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe is probably one of the funnest superheroes to dress up as. You get to say things like “by the Hoary Host of Hoggoth,” wear the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, and wave your hands around while making fun gestures as you cast spells. The second Doctor Strange movie, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” currently has a release date of May 7, 2021, which means you can hold onto your costume and wear it a second time (assuming you haven’t already done so for Halloween).
The Child[image:2]Yeah, sure, Star Wars is set in space, but it’s totally a fantasy series. Midichlorians, schmidiclorians … the “Force” is magic. The Jedi “Knights” even fight with swords (albeit glowing ones) for goodness’ sake. Both the Jedi and the Sith are basically wizards – and one of the most legendary among them is Yoda. But why dress up as venerable old Yoda, when you can be the cute “Baby Yoda” from The Mandalorian. To complete the meme, you can even include a cup of tea (or whatever you want – *wink, wink*) to keep you warm during Snowdown.
Willow[image:3]Not the titular character from the 1988 Ron Howard movie – though that’s fantastic too, if you can pull it off. We’re thinking Buffy’s spell-casting friend from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Especially after she turns evil and gets all dark and veiny toward the end of season six. Oh, did we just spoil something from 18 years ago? Get over it. Slap on a little bit of face paint and get your closest blonde friend to carry around a wooden stake.
Tim the Enchanter[image:4]Merlin and Morgan le Fay are the predictable wizards of Arthurian legend, as far as costumes go. But we prefer this John Cleese character from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” It’s actually really easy to find fake ram horns for your head online – there are even some people selling crocheted caps, which seem perfect for January – and the rest of the costume shouldn’t be that hard to assemble either. For bonus points, carry along a killer rabbit.
Zatanna[image:5]Like top hats and fishnets? Those are perfect if you want to dress up as the Justice League’s resident magic user. A stage magician, actual magician, and friend of Batman, she casts spells just by saying words backwards. “Gnirb em a Nwodwons reeb,” for instance. Pair her with a John Constantine for a perfect comic book couples costume.
Nick Gonzales
