Well, I thought I’d start this article by stating that I have in no way decided what to be for Halloween this year! I think I’m one of the many people who start thinking about a really out-of-the-box costume idea incredibly early, and then it comes round to the week of Halloween and resort to going as something pretty easy or stereotypical.
Last year was the first time I properly celebrated Halloween, and the array of costumes demonstrated the varying levels of effort that University students put in: with some going all out and looking unbelievably terrifying, and others simply wearing a bit of fake blood on top of what they would usually wear!
A lot of my friends recycled their outfits, for example, my friend wore his schoolgirl outfit- yes, I do mean schoolgirl- that he wore to School Disco in Fresher’s week, and used it again for Halloween. This time, however, he smothered it with blood so he looked like a zombie schoolgirl. Another went as a fallen angel: she wore a black dress, bought a pair of wings, fake blood and black coloured contacts to complete her look. It was original and cost-effective, and she looked incredibly creepy!
Some costume inspiration:
Below are a few examples of costumes of myself and my friends from Halloween last year:
Above is a picture of myself in my costume from last year! I decided to go as the devil, and accessorised my plain red dress with some horns, a tail, a pitchfork and a black cape (which was a lot of fun to annoy people with once I was out). The outfit itself cost around £5 as I already owned the cape and dress, and bought the horns, tail and pitchfork for £3 and fake blood for £2.
My costume wasn’t particularly interesting, but it was slightly scary, unlike my friend Sarah (above) who decided to go as a cat! There were lots of cats out and about last year, and if you are on a low budget nothing is easier than a pair of leggings or disco pants and some cute cat ears!
My friends Alice and Connor decided to go as characters from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Above is Alice, who opted to reuse her ‘Alice in Wonderland’costume for Halloween. She ordered the outfit online, and accentuated it by adding bright blue makeup and backcombing her hair.
Another original costume was Connor’s (below), who went as the Mad Hatter! He bought a rabbit mask and some white gloves, to go with a scarf and old blazer that he already had. The costume was pretty original and looked really authentic.
Other good costume ideas:
1. If you’re going in a group, go as a popular or retro band likethe Spice Girls, S Club 7 or Bewitched. A band that would be instantly recognisable if you dressed up as a member.
2. You could go as a Disney character, that creates so many options, because you could go as a Disney princess OR a Disney villain, thereby you have the choice to be scary or not.
3. Go as animals: cats, lions, leopards, dogs, rabbits. They may not be the scariest options BUT if you’re looking for something cost-effective that involves minimal effort, then this would be a good choice.
4. The typical route of vampire, devil, witch, wizard, mummy is always a safe option: you could always try to mix it up slightly and give your outfit a bit of twist, or go with someone else, like going as a vampire whilst your friend goes as a bat!
5. A lot of people went as scary dolls last year: if you’re into makeup and face paint this would be the option for you. You can wear whatever you want; as long as your makeup is dramatic it will look realistic. There are so many variations of this; you can literally go crazy with your eye and face makeup!
Above is an example that I found online, but if you actually wanted to copy the look, you can follow this link to go to a Youtube tutorial and do the exact makeup for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWP8Ag8n5Lo
I hope that you all have an amazing Halloween whatever you decide to wear, and I thought I’d lastly leave you with a few quick tips and pointers that I learnt from last year:
- Anything is acceptable as long as you are dead: a dead schoolgirl, a dead cat, a dead bus driver etc.
- Onesies are comfy and practical for Halloween;you may as well wear one and make the most of being able to wear one out!
- Fake blood is extremely messy but it can definitely make an outfit.
- Be resourceful: don’t go out and spend loads of money for a costume that you realistically may not ever wear again.
- Wear a cape, capes are fun.
- Coloured contact lenses can make an outfit look incredibly effective, but be careful if you buy some because there are some dodgy ones online that can affect your sight.
- Have an incredible night!
Picture sources:
Pictures 1-4: My own
http://www.abc15.com/gallery/news/news_photo_gallery/Ten-Halloween-Group-Costume-Ideas-2013
http://bigdealmall.com/blog/creepy-doll-halloween-makeup/
By Ella Duffy