It’s that time of year, ladies and gentlemen. It is time to choose one costume to stunt for the Halloween festivities. If you’re anything like me, this is one of the hardest choices to make. There are dozens of ideas and themes to choose from. Ironically, people start their quest for Halloween costumes as early as July, yet they wait until the absolute last minute to decide on and purchase, or create, their ensemble. Popular social media platforms and websites such as Instagram or Pinterest circulate trendy costume ideas for individuals and groups alike. The problem is that we have only one night to show off our costume. There is so much pressure to look cute, be comfortable, and also appear fashionable. Let’s delve into the top six struggles we all endure during the Halloween costume hunt.
1. It's not cute unless it's sexy.
As we grow older, the only recurring Halloween trend becomes showing more skin and less clothing. Especially in high school and college, there is an increasing amount of peer pressure to use Halloween to flaunt off our bodies. Have you ever noticed that in the adults’ Halloween costumes consist of both “ordinary” costumes and “sexy” costumes? I rest my case.
2. Pinterest makes it too easy.
Do not be deceived by the “Do It Yourself” clearly written below the picture of the costume. Although many costumes seem easy to put together, in reality many need a lot of preparation time. Also, the cost of materials can add up fairly quickly. It’s not as simple as putting a sheet over our heads and claiming ourselves as ghosts.
3. You really want to dress up with friends, but you can never agree.
It’s all fun and games, until you and your friends can’t make a decision on what the squad should dress up as for Halloween. There’s always that one friend who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money, the friend that already has her outfit planned out, or the friend that wants to dress with her boyfriend. In my case, majority never wins because we have an even number of friends.
4. There is a fine line between creative and ridiculous.![]()
Many times, we fear our imaginations have run a little too wild and no one will understand our Halloween costumes. There’s a certain amount stress on us to think outside of the box and avoid being “basic” in the eyes of our peers. But, if we go too outside the box, then we are criticized. Dressing up as a Starbucks cup? Creative. Dressing up as Kim Kardashian when she was a victim of theft? Ridiculous.
5. Is this costume Instagram worthy ?
In a world where every moment needs to be Instagrammed, Tweeted, or Facebooked we need to find a costume that we won’t mind spreading all over social media. We have to find a costume that holds a pun-tastic caption. More than anything, we need to strut around in costumes that are worthy of our timelines and other people’s timelines.
6. Worst of all, we may not even have Halloween plans.
Imagine finding the perfect ensemble to strut your stuff in, but realizing that you never actually made plans. That sounds like a scary situation. Especially since Halloween falls on a Monday this year, it is very difficult to plan anything due to hectic work and school schedules.
For those of you who have already figured out their costumes, I truly commend you. For those of you (like me) who have not chosen your costume, may the costume gods be ever in your favor as you put together an ensemble. Remember: you have less than a week to finalize your ghoulish wardrobes.
