Same Old, Same Old

Kelsey McCormack
Gamma Phi Beta

It’s the beginning of November, a.k.a. the only thing to look forward to right now is Thanksgiving and Winter Break. As excited as I am to not have school and relax for a while, it really means several things I personally despise: unemployment, boredom, snow, and being away from Iowa City. The good stuff is pretty much ending. The weather sucks now, football season is coming to a halt, and the absolute worst of all is that Halloween has come and gone.

Whether you’re into it or not, we spend months pondering and brainstorming what costumes we are going to wear. Most of us spend a little too much hard-earned cash for a college student, and then it’s over in one weekend. All the hype we look forward to by dressing up and going out comes and goes as fast as that. With all the effort we put into Halloween, I wish more came out of it. We’re too old to get bags of free candy that will sit in our pantries until mid spring, and it’s not the easiest task to carve a pumpkin in your dorm room, frat house, etc. Now that we are older, what do we have to show for all that we anticipate for Halloween? There’s only one thing: great costumes.

Every year, there are more and more creative costumes which should be the goal of Halloween. This year, I saw a lot of new ideas and people that probably felt stalked by the paparazzi with all the pictures they were asked to take with strangers; however, I also unfortunately saw something we should care a lot more about to stay away from: boring, repeated, high school-like costumes. Enough is enough! If you’re going to do something so generic, at least add some flare to make it cute enough that you can get away with it. After seeing the same costumes I was hoping not to see this year, I have compiled a list to keep in mind for the years to come of what NOT to wear for Halloween.

Cowboy/Cowgirl: Okay, we get it. Most of us attend barn dances in Greek life anyway, so why do you need to dress up as it twice? Because it’s easy. A plaid shirt, jorts, and a cowboy hat, how creative! Save it for Country Thunder, because this shouldn’t even be considered a costume anymore.

Nurse: I hate to admit it, but I was guilty of this in high school. Good thing I graduated. The fact that we are all over the age of 18 here, I was hoping I wouldn’t see nearly as many of these as I did. Your boyfriend dressing up as the doctor doesn’t make it that much more creative. Try working your butt off by applying to the nursing program at Iowa and then you can have credit to dress up as a nurse. Until then, please refrain.

The Green Man: As funny as it is, it’s getting so old. Guys would try to wear this in high school and normally get sent to the Dean’s office to take it off or at least off of their face. I can’t say I have ever tried one on, but isn’t that uncomfortable? You can’t even drink, and more importantly breathe well, so why is this costume so desirable by college men? P.S.: It’s also a little snug.

Hats: This is only a problem for guys, because I’ve never seen a girl throw on a hat in normal clothes and try to say she was dressed up as something. (Animal ears are excluded from this rule: In the wise words of Karen Smith, “I’m a mouse, duh.”) Stop being so lazy. If you are just going to put on some kind of hat, you should probably not even dress up because it just shows your complete lack of effort. It only happens once a year. Go big or go home.

Store-bought “Sexy _____” Costumes: This is a general category of costumes that should be ready to be thrown out, ladies. Maybe freshman year you can get away with this because you’re new, but after that it has to stop. Girls are known to show some skin on Halloween, but it can be done without buying a prepackaged French Maid costume that cost you fifty bucks. Again, this is a typical costume for a high school girl, and it’s not that cute anymore. Cinderella’s dress was never that short. I was hoping not to see so many of these this year, but I knew I still would. It probably didn’t help that Iowa City got a store downtown this year filled with all these uncreative costumes to purchase. I hope that next year that maybe more girls will branch out, and there will be a hundred or two less of these.

As disappointing as it was to see the same boring costumes this year, there are many people out there with amazing creativity that put their time and ideas to good use. It’s only a holiday, but it’s also the only one we’re here in Iowa City to go out and have fun for. Congratulations to everyone who came up with something different and looked fantastic. For those who's costume made the list, there’s always next year.

Kelsey is a junior studying elementary education. You may contact her at kelsey-mccormack@uiowa.edu.