Students procrastinate on everything including Halloween costumes, but fear not because we have the solution. If you’re a student, you know how huge Halloween is every year, so get up, have a slice of pumpkin pie, turn on Hocus Pocus, and get creative.
Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated each year on Oct. 31. The holiday originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off spirits. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated Nov. 1 as a time to honor all saints, All Saints Day. Eventually All Saints Day started to incorporate some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before Nov. 1, was then known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating sweet treats.
Children are usually the main age group to dress up for Halloween, but teenagers and young adults across the country still participate in the fun festivities and dress up as their favorite superhero, villain, movie protagonist, antagonist or celebrity. Throughout the years our “favorite” icons change and so do our costumes, but that doesn’t mean you have to go out to Party City every year and buy a new outfit.
“DIY costumes have been very popular lately. I hadn’t seen many DIY costumes as much as now. I think they can be efficient, cheap, and cute,” Tammy Sauceda, a mathematics major said.
Being a student is tough. You have to pay for college, books, food, and extra classroom supplies. But you still want to go out with friends on Halloween just like you did when you were younger, and now you still can since various outfits suggested by Good House Keeping and Pinterest can be done at home and many of them are student approved and cost very little.
Minnie mouse, can be achieved with a black shirt, black or red shoes, mouse ears, and a red bow or ribbon. Lois Lane can be created with a white or blue button up, maybe a superman shirt underneath, black skirt or pants, suspenders if you have them, glasses, and a notebook and pen to complete her news reporter style. Guys grab a shirt, put on a jean jacket, a red vest, a skateboard in hand, and your Marty McFly, or grab a white button up shirt, stay in your white underwear and now your Tom Cruise from Risky Business. But if you’re feeling like being really classic grab a black cowboy hat, put on a long sleeve button down, throw on your cowboy boots, and instantly you are John Travolta in Urban Cowboy. These ideas are creative and relatively simple and affordable for struggling students.
However sometimes people have procrastinated to the very last minute so here are some quick and funny ideas to use instead. A purple or pink shirt is perfect for a Halloween costume, and when people ask who you are simply strike a few familiar emoji girl poses and you’re set.
If you have some old academic or athletic medals just hanging around put them around your neck and carry around a loaf of bread and thus you are a “breadwinner.” You can also stop by your local Home Depot or Lowe’s, grab the different palette colors of grey. Then go home, tape them to a shirt and you are “50 shades of grey.” If you’re not feeling any of those go hunt in your closet for a red flannel shirt, grab a roll of Brawny paper towels and you’re the Brawny Man, or add a fanny pack to literally any outfit you already have on and you’re instantly a tourist.
Halloween is less than a week away, but you still have time to put together the most amazing costume and have a great night. As a college student you really shouldn’t have to pinch pennies together for an outfit you will probably only wear once. So, don’t. Go ahead and get crafty with your own ideas. You don’t have to be a fashion god or goddess to put something together, and even if it is a DIY costume don’t be ashamed, be proud because we all know the struggle.
“Growing up we didn’t have a lot of money, but my parents wanted to give us everything they could, so Halloween costumes were no different. My favorite Halloween costume was actually a DIY outfit my mom put together in like 15 minutes. She had some leftover green paint from my sister’s art project and covered me in it, grabbed some old blue shorts, handed me a white Hanes undershirt tore it up a bit, then fluffed my hair, and the hulk was born. It was actually a lot of fun, and my friends thought it was awesome. Now I create my own costumes and help my mom make my little sisters’ costumes just cause it’s easier,” Joe Garcia, a biology m
