What to Wear on Halloween

           In Burlington, Halloween is the biggest holiday of the year.  The celebration usually starts the Saturday before October 31^st and continues until the night of September 1^st, which is always filled with tired, stained costumes from its previous nights of being worn.  With this in mind it’s easy to see why we college students need to begin pondering our Halloween costume options around the beginning of August.  After many thoughtful costume discussions with my roommate, Allyson, I have come up with a set of guidelines for sporting the proper attire on All Hallows Eve. 

            1.  Don’t order a fully made costume from online.  It shows that you have no creativity or style, and you will be forced to wear a cheap, 100% polyester outfit that is highly flammable and highly shiny. 

            2.  Don’t spend a lot of money or brag about how much you spent on your costume.  Halloween is all about being resourceful and frugal.  If you want to blow your paycheck, go celebrate Christmas instead.  Usually, clever and inventive costumes made out of items you have in your kitchen drawer are as popular as expensive props bought at a costume store. 

            3.  The best costumes are unexpected and catchy.  Everyone has seen pirates and cowboys and hippies and it’s time to move on from these clichés.  An easy way to come up with new ideas is to think of very specific things, like a flying squirrel, mayonnaise jar, or a red blood cell.  It’s not hard as you think to make these costumes either.  For mayonnaise, all you need is a clear laminating sheet to make a label to wrap around your stomach and a mayonnaise jar cover to wear as a hat.

            4.  Use caution with indecent exposure.  Many girls think that the fun part about Halloween is that they get to wear their lingerie out in public.  While this may seem fun at first, it’s actually trampy and annoying.  I’m not saying that you shouldn’t wear something that you feel good in.  I’m saying that sexy for the sake of being slutty automatically becomes immature.  A costume that is geeky and fun and happens to be sexy is cool. 

            5.  Incorporate something that you already have as your “base” item for a costume.  While it’s fun going to second hand stores to find Halloween apparel, it can be frustrating when you have a specific idea in mind and you can’t find all the parts that fit into it.  That’s why it’s a good idea to build a costume off of some weird hat or funny prop that you already have at home.

            6.  Consider the weather.  October nights are cold in Vermont and it’s no fun walking around Burlington with miniskirts and cut off shorts in 40 degree weather, so keep the forecast in mind while you plan. 

            7.  If you’re thinking of doing a group costume, make sure you are working with motivated, reliable people, or keep the idea very simple.  Groups are hard to coordinate and take a lot of planning, especially if each person needs a unique and specific outfit.  It’s usually best to have a back up idea, in case your crew leaves you hanging.    

            Thursday is October first, so it’s time to start getting ready if you haven’t planned your outfit yet.  Of course, it may end up that you won’t get a burst of creative inspiration for your costume until the night of the 30^th, but even so it’s time to start collecting possibilities and keeping an ongoing Post-it note of your ideas.  Happy October to all and best of luck with your costume endeavors!