You all are too funny. Love the costume ideas.
Being born on Halloween, I took great pride as an adult to make my Halloween costumes and wear them to work. Not too many people were insane enough to dress up, but there were the zany people like me, thank goodness. On of my favorite costumes that one of my co-workers wore was a hospital dressing gown open in the back and he wore a plastic tushy, that from a distance look really real. It wasn't X-rated or anything; but it did get some very funny looks. As I remember, he won first place that year. Some of the ones I did were:
Sylvester the cat, that plush got on everything and everywhere when I sewed it. It was really hot, too. You couldn't wear it at a party, that's for sure!
The next year, I was a bumble bee (bright yellow sweatshirt sewed with black felt stripes and wings made from a pair of white nylons and a head band with big antennas, like the ones they wore in SNL)
The next year I was a killer bee, same costume as above, but I included a big rubber knife with it. Sorry, I didn't have a machine gun, like you did, mores the pity.
The next year everyone had a hard time guessing what I was, which greatly disappointed me. I wore the same bumble bee outfit and a witch's hat. I was supposed to be "bewitched", nobody guessed.
The next year, nobody guessed what I was - at all - I wore one of cozy sacks that you zip up and keep warm while watching TV. I was a sleeping bag.
The last year I dressed up, I put on Mickey Mouse PJ's, green cold cream on my face, I wore curlers on my head and Maxine bunny slippers. The question I was asked the most was, "Did you even dress for work, or did you just roll out of bed and come to work?" If they only knew...
Now, those were the fun birthdays... I don't dress up anymore, I just stay home and watch old horror movies.