Since many pre packaged costumes targeted towards our age group are hypersexualized (skirts on Little Bo Peep and Little Red Riding Hood were surely not that short in the original tale, and I can’t recall them wearing high-high white socks), it’s difficult to even find a costume that you feel comfortable wearing to school or trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Though there may be a place and time for these scintillating outfits, is $70 really a fair price for the amount of cloth you are given? Halloween has become a multi-million dollar industry, with store owners raking in cash due to the heavy demand for store-bought costumes. With each costume for adults costing upwards of $50, it seems that was has become the norm is actually an insane trend. It’s easy to decide to purchase a prepackaged, unoriginal costume at the local Target, or to order one from Party City with a click of a finger (often with free shipping!), but it’s unlikely that your costume will be remembered for years to come.
These concerns have led to the revival of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) costume phenomenon, the original Halloween trend. Being able to create your own costume with items from thrift stores, your own closet, or even household items is a much more cost-savvy alternative, with an even larger array of possibilities to boot.
One of the best things about DIY costumes is that you can adjust your costume to pop culture at the time. You may be able to find a fox costume, but what if you decided to create a shirt with parts of the lyrics to “What Does the Fox Say” and wear some ears and a tail instead? Or instead of being another cat in a mass of black cats this Thursday, why don’t you dress up as the Youtube icon Grumpy Cat, wearing a gray shirt, cat ears, and a frown? It’s more memorable for sure, and people will have a laugh.
DIY costumes can be as time-consuming or quickly-made as desired. For instance, you could decide to go all the way and be a filing cabinet (famously worn by East alumni Bobby Finley in years past) by using a large, spray painted cardboard box, or use clothing items you might already own (90s scrunchies, a tied white button-down, plaid skirt, cardigan, knee socks, and high braided pigtails) and go as “Baby One More Time” era Britney Spears, like senior Julie Adams did in 2011. You could even go for commercial icon Flo, the Progressive girl, by wearing all white and a headband, or be Breaking Bad’s Walter White by magic marker-ing (not sharpie-ing, as that probably isn’t the best idea) a goatee on, wearing yellow, and looking sketchy.
The best option, it seems, is to mix and match DIY and store-bought costume items. For instance, you may have a hard time building cat ears from scratch for your Grumpy Cat costume, but a trip to the Transit Target may yield a cat costume kit for under $5, including a set of ears and clip on tail. Even if you spend a few bucks on an item or two, you’ll still be utilizing your creativity and won’t look like anyone else.
The feeling of satisfaction you get from wearing a DIY costume is something that’s worth the extra effort. And knowing that no one else will be wearing the same exact Superwoman costume as you? Priceless.
