With the bleakness of Hurricane Sandy closing in all around—at least on the East Coast—let us not forget that Halloween is also nearly here. To better get our minds off the violent terror that is Mother Nature, we thought it might be a good idea to revel in the slightly less damaging terror of humiliating old Halloween costumes. Because what better way to while away the hours inside than by remembering what a cute or stunningly awkward and lonely child you used to be?

I'll get us started: Here is me as The Littlest Punk at the age of four. It would be years before I knew that glittery butterfly face tattoos and apples were about as far from punk as it gets—needs more heroin!—but, hey, it was the '80s and punk was still an emerging and difficult to understand subculture. Also, I was only four.

Share your most embarrassing (or adorable) costume below, and on Wednesday we'll include the best ones in a gallery.