Boo! Are you ready for Halloween 2017, collegiettes? Whether your plans include attending a crazy party, hosting a scary movie marathon or participating in your school’s favorite Halloween tradition, you’re going to need a costume as awesome as you are.
And what message will your costume convey? You may not realize it, but what you dress up as on Halloween says a lot about you!
You and your besties dress up as a group—how else will everyone know how undyingly devoted you are to one another? The group costume exists to send the message that you freakin’ love your best friends (and you don’t care who knows it!). So you whip out your best ‘90s gear as the Spice Girls, duct-tape yourselves into pseudo-iPhone dresses or go wild as zookeepers and animals.
If you’re going to look ridiculous, the group costume ensures that you don’t look ridiculous alone. You may be an individual on any other given day of the year, but Halloween is not that day.
Hi! My name's Kimmy, Kimmy Schmidt! I think Titus and Jacqueline are out trick or treating... Hashbrown no filter!
You have tabs on everything that goes on in Hollywood. Like, literal tabs. On your computer. At any given time, you have E!, Just Jared, Perez and People up on your screen, perusing the newest and most ridiculous celebrity news. You also host Oscar parties, tweet at Kim Kardashian regularly in hopes that she’ll respond and are genuinely pissed that Brad and Angie didn’t invite you when they tied the knot.
You’ll dress up as Kimmy Schmidt, Eleven from Stranger Things or Taylor Swift from her "Look What You Made Me Do" video… and you’ll rock it!
You literally live for Halloween. Not only does it give you the chance to stretch your creative muscles and concoct a costume that everyone will be envious of, but it also means it’s time for your to start making your signature pumpkin cookies that everyone dies for. You start planning weeks (nay, months) in advance for the holiday, perusing Pinterest boards and selling items through your Etsy shop to raise funds for your endeavor.
Eventually, you decide on a costume. Mother Goose. Hermione Granger. Martha Stewart as Medusa. Each of these options speaks to your true self, the one you feel aligned with during the Halloween season. After knitting your entire outfit and making a few dozen cookies for your friends, you still have some time to spare. So you make another costume. Just in case.
It’s no surprise that you and your significant other are attached at the hip: You’re veritably obsessed with each other! No matter what party you end up at on Halloween, it’s a good bet that you and your SO will be matching in totally awesome costumes.
The obvious choice is to be Beyoncé and Jay Z. Or, wait, a better option may be Kim and Kanye. Don’t like the idea of dressing as celebrities? No problem. Matching costumes are just as cute. How about dressing up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse? Adorable!
Whatever you decide, everyone you run into will know that you and your SO are a C-O-U-P-L-E, and you don’t care who knows it. Even if matching costumes are kind of a punch in the face to your single friends, you don’t care. You and bae look super cute. Plus, there’s a fantastic Facebook profile pic in the works with a couple costume. Just wait; come November first, the likes will start rolling in.
You’re probably an English major, and you think that playing with words is basically the most hilarious thing ever. You’ll dress up as a “cereal killer” by splashing red paint across a Cheerios box and sticking it to your front, or you’ll cover your body in sponges, claiming to be “self-absorbed.” People usually don’t get your punny costume unless you explain it to them first, but that’s okay. It allows you the chance to show your intellectual superiority and wit.
You’ll go to a party for a total of 45 minutes before growing increasingly annoyed with the silly drunk kids running around like idiots, so after sipping on a glass of white wine at some guy’s cousin’s pregame, you’ll go home to read a book.
It’s a category all on its own because of its prevalence across college campuses all over the country. Collegiettes love dressing up as princesses (because we basically are royalty… right?), and those of the Disney variety are the crème de la crème.
If you dress up as Cinderella, Pocahontas or Belle, you’re probably an elementary ed major who is having a really hard time letting go of your childhood. Instead of pre-gaming, you’ll be microwaving chicken nuggets (you’re too scared to use a stove) and sipping on a Capri Sun. Your favorite dance songs are from musicals, obviously, and you count the dolls on your bed among your bestest of friends. You do you, girlfriend—as long as you’re in bed by midnight when the princess magic runs out.
Chances are you’ll see approximately a million pointy-eared felines prowling Halloween parties across campus come October 31. And why shouldn’t you? Black cats strike the perfect balance between kinda eerie and super cute. If a kitty-cat is your purr-fect costume, then you probably like to play it safe when it comes to dressing up. It’s a costume that people are used to seeing, it doesn’t have much of a shock factor, and it can be dressed up all sexayyy if you so choose.
Your idea of a perfect Halloween costume? Something bloody, gory and actually terrifying. You laugh in the face of those who have commercialized a day meant to inspire fear in the hearts of people everywhere, and you’re doing your part to bring the holiday back to its intended purpose.
You listen to Evanescence unironically, count American Horror Story as one of your favorite TV shows and read Gothic fiction for fun. These sources of inspiration lead you to dress up as a bloody undertaker or mass murderer. You think dressing up as Charles Manson is totally appropriate and doesn’t cross any boundaries whatsoever. You also kill insects for fun.
What are you dressing up as for Halloween this year, collegiettes? Did we nail down what your costume says about the true you? Let us know in the comments below!
Maddie is a senior at Boston College, where she spends her days fawning over literature and Art History textbooks. She was previously an editorial intern at Her Campus, and is now a HC contributing writer and blogger. Follow her on twitter @madschmitz for a collection of vaguely amusing tweets.