Faith’s Findings // Halloween

Hey friends,

Time really seems to be flying by. It feels like just yesterday I was a scared first-year, thrown into a new city with new people and new classes. But now, as a grown-up adult — I’m a sophomore — I know how silly it was for me to be nervous. I’ve learned so many new things over the course of my time in college so far and have fallen in love with the city of Pittsburgh.

So I know you all will be reading this during the month of November, but my latest discovery is actually about Halloween. I hope no one packed up their decorations and ate all of their candy just yet, because boy do I have a lot to say. Strap in and get comfortable as I take you down my thought process of this spooky holiday. 

Growing up, it used to be my absolute favorite time of the year. I have always been a fan of dressing up and putting together a cute outfit. I was the type of kid who used to lay out their Halloween costume months in advance, planning out every last detail. My excitement would grow with every passing day, and honestly, I think I had more fun waiting for the actual holiday than the holiday itself. 

I’ve dressed up as every type of character you can think of. I tried scary costumes like a vampire, but also cute ones like an angel or mermaid. I was a bit of a theatrical child, so one of my personal favorites was a movie star costume which was basically a knockoff Marilyn Monroe, white fur scarf and all. One time, I even went as Darla from “Finding Nemo.” You know, the crazy niece of the dentist who was an absolute menace to her pet fish. Most kids were dressed as something fun like a pirate, but I proudly marched around in dental headgear and a plaid skirt, holding a plastic bag with a fake Nemo inside. 

Halloween is a time when people like me can express themselves in fun, inventive ways. The holiday draws out the artistic side of people, giving everyone creative freedom with their costumes. You might be thinking, “But Faith, what did you discover?” and I promise I’m getting there. This week I discovered a wide array of new costumes. I’ll share with you some of my favorites and then give you all some ideas for next year. So everyone get your pens and paper out and start taking notes. 

I’m going to split my review into two categories — funny and cute. There were some other categories, like scary, but these were my favorites. 

I saw so many funny costumes this weekend that it was genuinely hard to narrow down my list. But first, we have Pitbull. If you have access to a bald cap, black sunglasses and a white collared shirt, this is an easy costume for you. I usually see groups of people go as Pitbull, which makes it even funnier because they travel in a pack together. Similarly, any time I see a Guy Fieri costume, it always makes my day. 

Some fun duo costumes were Bob and Linda from the TV show “Bob’s Burgers,” as well as Jedediah and Octavius from the movie “Night at the Museum” — although I’m biased toward the last one because that was me and my roommate’s costume this year. 

One of the most popular and creative group costumes was “party animals” where each person would dress as something like a cheetah, leopard, giraffe or zebra and then wear a party hat and fun boa. A lot of people with birthdays around Halloween did this and then wore a Happy Birthday sash as well. 

Moving onto cute costumes — this category is so broad, but always looks good with the most attention to detail. I saw quite a lot of royalty costumes, like Princesses, queens, jesters and my personal favorite, Marie Antoinette. I think the latter is so fun to create because everyone interprets it differently. I’ve seen full dresses with hoop skirts on social media but also the more toned-down side, like frilly lace shorts and pink corsets. There are almost always fun accessories like pearls, and most people wear them with fun, sparkly makeup. 

Some cute group costumes for girls were Bratz Dolls, Barbies, the Pixie Hollow Fairies and Alice in Wonderland. I like these in particular because you can make them as complex or simple as you like. For example, if you wanted to do a group of Barbies, you could just all wear pink. But if you wanted to take it one step further, each person could recreate a specific Barbie look from different movies. 

I wanted to wrap up this post by giving you all some costume ideas for next year — you can never be too prepared. If you aren’t a lover of Halloween — unlike myself — but you still want to dress up, an easy idea is going as your favorite character from a TV show, movie or video game. If you think about it, these characters are most likely humans and wear everyday clothes that you probably have in your closet.

For example, let’s say you wanted to dress up as Linda from “Bob’s Burgers,” like I mentioned earlier. All you need is a red top, jeans and glasses. If you really wanted to get fancy, you could add her cooking apron, which can be shipped from Amazon in a few days at most. Since she is a mom, her clothing is easy to copy. 

Another simple costume for last minute could be buying a pack of animal ears and pairing it with black clothing. Sure, it might be basic, but it gets the job done. You could also do this with tiaras and wear any color of the rainbow. Odds are you will most likely correspond with one of the many Disney Princesses.

Now if you’re like me and are already counting down the days until next year’s Halloween, I have a few suggestions. I think dressing as a personal icon would be so fun, so for me, Sharpay Evans from “High School Musical,” Elle Woods from “Legally Blonde” and Lady Gaga are definitely on my list. I feel like these characters have such iconic looks, but honestly, this would work for any of your favorite singers or actors.

For group costumes, I know we see it every year, but dressing as the “Scooby-Doo” group is always a great idea. If you are looking for something more creative, the “Total Drama Island” show has so many different characters to choose from. The characters from the board game “Clue” could be another fun one. You could pair this with a mystery-themed dinner or game night where each person is assigned a role, one being the secret killer. Then the rest of the night you have to try and figure out who did it.

Halloween may not be everyone’s thing, but at the very least, it’s a day when you can hang out with your friends and slip into an alternate world. A day where if you desire, you can be anything you want and dress however you truly feel. I’m not saying you can’t express yourself in your day-to-day life, but at the very least, it gives an opportunity to those who need a little push to do so. 

Happy Halloween, everyone!