Las Vegas Review-Journal The Online Guy column.(Column)

Byline: Al Gibes

Oct. 30--COSTUMES ARE GETTING TRICKY: Halloween is tomorrow, and if you don't have a costume ready yet, don't fret. I'm with you.

If you're not satisfied with snipping a few openings in an old bed sheet and going as Casper's great uncle, take heart. It's the Web to the rescue!

Head to your browser, go to Google, then type in "last-minute Halloween costumes" and you'll get roughly 850,000 results. Since not many of us venture past page three or four in the search returns, you can narrow the number of results to several dozen.

That's manageable, so get clicking. You'll find everything from basic colored T-shirts and other apparel bearing simple messages, like "This is my Halloween Costume," to a suggestion to head to the corner drug store to buy the makings for a walking, talking Christmas tree.

A message board entry from "emmalola" says: "I was at a party and a guest arrived dressed as a Christmas tree. He even allowed us to plug him in and lit up all pretty and everything. After receiving much appreciation from the rest of the crowd, he mumbled, 'Shucks. You go to Walgreens at 5 (o'clock) on Halloween and they don't have crap for Halloween costumes, but they have tons of Christmas stuff.'"

Finally, a real reason for pushing Santa stuff right after the back-to-school season ends. I'll quit complaining and will always look at garland in a different way.