Whether you start planning months in advance or scramble to put something together at the last minute, choosing a costume for Halloween is serious business for students who want to stand out from the crowd and earn their treats.
“Some of the best costumes these days are classic ones with a modern twist or just about anything creative that a lot of people wouldn’t really expect,” said William King, a second-year CE major. “I know a girl who’s dressing up as a zombie Amy Winehouse and I’m thinking about going as Leslie Chow from The Hangover.”
“The coolest costumes are the most unique…of course, seeing the same costume everywhere can be really boring, so the more interesting and unexpected the better” said Blair Park, a first-year MGT major.
In addition to being creative, for some students Halloween is all about finding the perfect character costume. “I think that going as a character gives you a greater range of originality…especially if someone can find an obscure movie character or an older TV show like Invader Zim to reference for their costume,” said Christopher Foy, a third-year PHYS major.
“Character costumes are great, I went as Batman once. But I say if you can pull it off, then you can basically wear whatever you want,” said Diya Radha Krishna, a second-year PHYS major.
For other students, avoiding an outdated or generic costume idea at all costs is the most important part of making the decision.
“I’d have to say that the sexy cop, sexy nurse, sexy-whatever costumes are really out of date. You can’t really be unique when you’re wearing something like that, and I think you should want to put more effort into it,” said Sapphire Liu, a third-year IAML major.
While many students love putting together couple’s costumes with their significant others, not everyone feels that matching outfits are inevitably brilliant.
“When it comes to a non-typical theme like pirates vs. ninjas for a couple’s costume, I’m totally for that. But some ideas, like the really corny ones where you have a donkey, and someone’s the head and someone else is the butt…that’s not cool,” Liu said.
In the end, if you’re a college student on a budget or simply running out of time to decide on a costume, sometimes keeping it simple is just the best option.
“I like to wear something different every year…if I can afford it” said Maddie Becker, a third-year IAML major. “I originally wanted to go as Rapunzel from Tangled, but it was hard to find the right dress and everything, so I’ll probably wear an 80’s costume with brightly colored tights instead.”