Halloween is at the end of the month, and some people like to dress up in costumes to celebrate it. However, how much can a student do? Here are some fun and easy ways to put on a costume this year.
Do you want to spend as little as possible or nothing at all on your costumes?
Starting with my favourite idea, which does not require any spending. It is easily the simplest and easiest way to dress up for Halloween: colour coding. Just choose a character in movies, cartoons, video games, and find its colour palette. It should not be more than three colours, depending on the character. Most people will look at this colour palette and figure out who it is.
And you can adapt this idea to whatever you have in your wardrobe. You only wear black clothes? You can be a someone from The Matrix. Is your hair blonde? Pun on some jeans and a black t-shirt and you’re Johnny Bravo. You can make this a couple or friend group costume. The Power-puff Girls, The Adams Family, Scooby Doo … It doesn’t even have to be characters! It can be some fruit, a vegetable, or an animal. Imagine you and your friends all dressed in black — that’s a murder!
It doesn’t have to be obvious, and it can be a good conversation starter. You can even not think about it and have people guess. The possibilities are endless.
Moving on, if you are a person who uses make-up, just look for a black eyeliner, concealer or foundation, and something red (preferably a lip liner), and you can easily create scars or wounds. If you can’t do that, just give yourself huge, all around the eye dark circles. Or do a strong smokey eye — that never fails. Although it is a bit of work, which can be time consuming, the results can be quite good. Not on VFX make-up level, of course, but good enough. Add disheveled or black clothes and that’s a costume!
You can always just paint your face white like a skull. Or a panda. Make-up doesn’t have to be all black and white on Halloween, though. Pastel colours can sell the idea of a princess. Red and green can transform you into a dragon.
Now, if you are willing to spend a little money on your look, you can look for something small like cat ears, cheap wigs, a clown nose, vampire teeth, or just ruin a white bedsheet for the classic ghost costume. There are thrift stores or party shops where you can find fun and cheap accessories that can be part of your look. If you want to dress up for Halloween, remember that you don’t need to have a full body costume. Tiny things in your attire can do fine and are more than enough. The same as with the make-up: details can sell a look.
We should not have to put in a lot of effort for our Halloween costumes. We don’t even have to dress up at all. It’s a choice, and the amount of effort you are willing to put into this is up to you. So, finally, if you can afford an entire costume, go for it. If you want to have a safe costume, go the popular route, like superheroes or characters. If you want to, however, you can choose the niche way, like a meme or a pop culture moment.
If you want to spend money on your costume, be it a complete one or just accessories, you should budget well for it and buy responsibly. Make sure that what you buy won’t end up forgotten in your wardrobe or thrown away. You can always check out thrift stores first, then try to look for ways to donate or sell the costumes afterwards, if you know you won’t have a need for them.
Lastly, keep in mind that you should do what makes you feel comfortable. On October 31st, or whenever you celebrate Halloween this year, just remember to have fun! A costume is just your way of expressing yourself, and it is up to you if you choose to go all out or not. Whatever it may be, enjoy it! Happy Halloween!
