It’s hard to forget the feeling of being a child on Halloween night. The profound thrill that came with putting on your costume was unmatched. Kids would dress head to toe in ridiculous foam superhero muscles or glittery princess petticoats, going all out without shame. However, kids grow up. As the years pass, less and less costumes shine. And now a decade later, those same eccentric kids are walking the streets in the bare minimum attire.
Whether teens have stopped dressing up because they’re lazy or entirely too concerned with fitting in, the change is apparent. Somewhere along the way, the magic of make-believe got replaced with the fear of looking uncool.
The “cool” thing for teenagers to do now is turn out bland looks. Some examples would be color coded athleisure sets being utilized as a base. Then, an accessory is added; something like animal ears, a tiara or face paint. This combination just barely, laboriously limps across the finish line in the costume department.
A few popular lazy costumes are Alvin and the Chipmunks, Disney Princesses, Monster High characters, DC characters, Coraline characters, anything involving the infamous Amazon corsets, masked slashers and perhaps worst of all, Vector, Minions and The Lorax. That last costume is a particularly unfunny and vicious attack on the general public’s retinas.
One of the main facilitators of these costumes all being so common is social media, specifically TikTok. Every year when September rolls around, a swarm of videos hit the algorithm. The videos in question would have a title saying something like “Halloween Costume Inspo Pt. 16,” then proceed to show the viewer mood boards consisting of the same thing every other teen you know is dressing up as.
Other inspo boards get more specific though, some being titled “Costumes for Cool Whimsical girls,” but this begs the question: are you really whimsical and cool if you have to look up how to do it?
A more authentic way to radiate whimsy would be to simply pull from your interests, rather than what is on trend. If everyone in the world were to pull inspiration from movies or shows they genuinely love, there would be so much more dress-up diversity. And yes, there would obviously still be a handful of Lorax costumes, but they wouldn’t be as suffocating.
While in the minority, there are plenty of teens who stray away from the norm through DIY costumes. No character is too unique or niche for a costume when you can always just make it yourself. In fact, DIY’s go way back to the roots of Halloween. Back in the turn of the 19th Century, before commercial costumes, creativity and effort were staples of the holiday.
Creating your costume is genuinely much cooler than something from a bag. You’ll not only stand out in a costume that you love, but you get to brag about how you built it from the ground up.
It could be argued that the convenience and cost efficiency of store bought, popular costumes, is worth it, but Halloween only happens once a year. Most families splurge for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so what’s the big deal? Besides, creating your own costume from scratch doesn’t have to empty your pockets.
There are plenty of good pieces at second-hand stores such as Goodwill, especially during the Halloween season. Buying good base clothes and then adding on with stand out accessories and hand-made elements is easy and cheap. Don’t underestimate the power of a little hard work and creativity because it could singlehandedly make your Halloween experience much more memorable. This is especially important considering that high school students don’t have many proper childhood Halloweens left.
As adulthood approaches soon we will be the ones either buying and passing out candy or studying tirelessly for the next big college exam, skipping Halloween altogether. If you really want to make the most out of Halloween, put down the hoodies and go back to the drawing board. Ditch the TikTok trends and remember what made Halloween special in the first place. Don’t worry about what others are doing and instead stay authentic. And most of all: Remember that robbing yourself of the fun that comes with wearing a costume that’s uniquely you, for the sake of nonchalance is the greatest scare of all.
