Happy Halloween everyone! We hope you enjoy our thoughts on Halloween and stay spooky this season!!
5 Easy Halloween Costume Ideas- Nishita Patel
Some people starting planning out their Halloween costume(s) months in advance. The following three ideas are perfect for those who love to participate in Halloween festivities but aren’t invested think about them for longer than a day. These might not be the most brilliant costumes, but they’ll get the job done (especially if you don’t have witch hats, nerd glasses and fake blood lying around and just need to make do with what you have in your closet).
Cactus
Fork In the Road
Popcorn
Ice Cream
Formal Apology
1. Ice cream
Just wear any solid-colored shirt and draw different colored lines all over it. If you don’t want to ruin your shirt, you can just cut out small rectangles out of paper and tape them onto your shirt. Then, just wear brown or tan-colored bottoms.
2. Formal apology
Wear a fancy dress or shirt and tape a piece of paper that reads “I’m sorry” onto your outfit. Done!
3. Cactus
Wear any green shirt and tape small pieces of folded white rectangles onto the shirt.
4. Popcorn
Take a few sheets of paper and color one side yellow. Crumple up the paper and tape the paper balls onto a shirt. Then, wear red pants.
5. Fork in the road
Take a piece of paper, cut out a few rectangles, and tape them to a black shirt to create the dashed lines of a road. Then, tape a plastic fork onto the shirt.
I hope these gave you some inspiration if you need to come up with a last-minute Halloween costume. Have a happy and safe Halloween!
Where’s Your Halloween Spirit? -Tanya Banerjee
Keep your spirits high this Halloween! I’m an adult age-wise–but never at heart, which is why I’m a sincerely dedicated, fully costumed trick-or-treater every single Halloween. And I mean this year, too. This will be my last Halloween as an (undergrad) college student, but so what?! There are many more Halloweens to come when I’ll be rocking a costume because who cares what age I am? What I’m trying to tell you is pretty much: never grow up. Embrace what you have loved in your youth and continue to love it. Part of that for me is keeping the Halloween tradition alive and going all out. So in twenty years, if you open your door on Halloween to find a lady dressed up as a witch asking for candy, know that it will probably be me, but ALSO that this woman isn’t afraid to keep her love for Halloween alive–no matter how old she is.
Funny Trick-or-Treating Experience- Aishwarya Madhikar
Hi, I thought I would share with you my funniest trick-or-treating experience. It was when I was around 11-12 years old. I went with my best friend, my brother, and my mom. At the time, we used to live in an apartment development, so trick-or-treating was actually quite fun because a lot of the residents who gave out good candy were nearby! As we were going door-to-door, my friend and I got to this one door on the ground floor; it was open just a crack. As I approached it, I could see it was dark. I wondered if anyone was even home. If they were, then why did they leave their door open?? As I knocked lightly (to not push the door completely open with my forceful knocking), I suddenly saw the door swing open and two greyhounds dashed out the door barking. My best friend and I screamed out loud and ran as fast as we could. We literally dispersed in two different directions because we had no clue where we each were going. My baby brother and my mom were shocked behind us. It was the funniest scene. I am pretty sure you could hear us screaming from a mile away. I will never forget that night. P.S. we each got a bucket full of candy.
Favorite Festive Fall Recipes- Becky Kowalski
I love cooking, so I figured I’d share a few of my favorite fall time recipes for the spooky season (the alliteration in my title is half the reason I’m writing about this…just so you know). One involves pumpkin, so it’s appropriate for Halloween, one was my favorite from when my family ate meat regularly, and I have such fond memories of it that I’m gonna share it anyway. The pumpkin recipe is a basic pumpkin soup that’s soup-er easy to make. Heat up some oil in a pot, cook garlic, onion, celery, and carrot until it’s soft. Then throw in vegetable stock and a whole can of pureed pumpkin (pls not pumpkin pie filling. You will have sugary soup). A bunch of salt and pepper, then you can throw in thyme, rosemary, a little cinnamon, and a little nutmeg if you want, or not if you don’t. Let that cook for like 20 minutes, then if you want you can add a splash of cream, I don’t usually just because we don’t have cream in our house often, but it’ll make for a more velvety soup. That’s it, easy as pumpkin pie.
The meat recipe is also simple, but obviously more expensive cause it like, has meat in it. It also takes time, but it’s easy and honestly so delicious. In a slow cooker (or like a pot if you don’t have one, you’d just leave your stove on super low for a really long time. Good for heating up the house in the fall) you add onions and apples that you cut up into big chunks, whole cloves of garlic, a sprig of rosemary, some cinnamon, pork chops, a little bit of vegetable or chicken broth for your food to cook in, and a bunch of salt and pepper. Just let that heat for forever, and it’s done when the pork is pulled apart with a spoon tender. It’s honestly really delicious (it’d probably be even better if you included a pat of butter into it), and you can serve it with like, roasted potatoes or orzo or something like that. Those are a few of my favorite fall time meals!
Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Orlando
I do not like scary movies. Killers that pop out from behind a door, demons haunting a house, or loud shrieking sounds make me scream like a child in the middle of a movie theater. However, there is something so exhilarating about being scared to death in a simulated haunted house. From October 11th until October 14th, I visited Universal Studios Orlando for their annual Halloween Horror Nights where ‘Scare-acters,’ actual actors who were required to audition, are prepared as unimaginable monsters or your favorite horror movie characters to make guests jump. Guests are haunted in scare zones, where ghouls populate a certain walkway of the park, or haunted houses, where guests navigate a dark, narrow trail with loud noises and Scare-acters. Two scare zones were based off the strange 1980’s horror flick Killer Klowns from Outer Space and the famous killer doll Chucky from the original Child’s Play film. On the other hand, haunted houses were mostly based on famous movies or television shows like Stranger Things, Trick r Treat, Halloween, Poltergeist, The Purge, and Happy Death Day.
Halloween Horror Nights was truly a unique and unforgettable experience. The costumes of the Scare-acters, detail of the haunted houses, and the overall Halloween atmosphere was astonishing. Never before have I felt more in the spirit of Halloween than when I was screaming from Michael Myers slashing at me with his infamous knife. As a devoted Stranger Things fan, being scared to death by a Demogorgon in the Upside-Down was a surreal experience. Although I never saw some of the movies that a few haunted houses were based on, they nevertheless frightened me and probably frightened me even more. In the Trick r Treat house, I was clueless and had no idea what to expect. When I saw an entire werewolf pop out of thin air, I knew that I had to see this movie! If I was a huge fan or never even heard of the inspirational film, Halloween Horror Nights never failed to bring the spookies.
I’m Celebrating Halloween for the First Time This Year – Melanie Raush
Yes, you read that correctly. I’m nineteen years old, a sophomore in college, and I have never celebrated Halloween before. I’m Jewish, so growing up, my sister and I were never allowed to dress up or go trick-or-treating because my mom felt that the holiday wasn’t secular enough for us to be able to celebrate. Every year, while all of my friends wore their costumes to school and went out at night to trick-or-treat or, as we grew up, go to parties, I sat at home with my family, handing out candy at the door whenever the doorbell rang; my parents’ house is on a cul-de-sac, so we rarely even got to participate in the holiday that way. There’s a Jewish holiday called Purim that usually falls in early March during which we dress up and share junk food with friends (among other traditions), and celebrating that was always fun, but it could never hold a candle to the Halloween festivities.
When I started college last year, I decided that I wanted to dress up and celebrate Halloween. I didn’t end up actually putting together a costume or celebrating in any other way last year for whatever reason, so this year will finally be the year that I get to experience everything I’ve been watching from afar throughout my life. I have my costume all ready to go (I’m dressing up as Christine Canigula from the musical Be More Chill, in case you were curious) and I’m going to wear it all day on Wednesday while listening to Halloween-themed music, hanging out with friends, and simply enjoying the holiday. I can’t wait!! Happy Halloween, everyone : )
The Costumes That Made Me – K.C. Wittmaack
Halloween costumes, for a period of about 10 years, were a staple of my childhood. If I put as much effort into school as I did my costumes, I’d be at the top of my class. Every year, most of my time was spent subconsciously plotting my attire for that year, and looking back, each getup seamlessly pinpoints a specific phase of my life (spoiler alert; they’re all embarrassing).
There were three costumes that come to mind the quickest.
One year, I decided to take advantage of my scraggly haircut and be a werewolf, so I greased back my mop of hair and put in a set of fake teeth that gave me this massive underbite. My mom painted my face to look as though I had fur (because in truth, I was not able to grow a beard yet at nine years old), and she glued long stringy sideburns to the edge of my jawline. It was badass at the time, but looking back, I now understand why some moms who opened the door to me holding an outstretched candy bag were actually a bit taken aback; I looked like mid-puberty Chewbacca.
Then, a few years later, my Halloween writer’s block led me to put together a last-minute zombie baseball player. I basically just wore a tattered Yankees jersey and painted my face probably a little bit too pale, and I ended up coming off as a malnourished homeless child who just happened to like the Yankees.
A few years later, I really wanted to go all-out because my school announced that there would be a costume competition with prizes. My mom, who has now become a veteran make-up artist due to all her time spent painting faces every October, whipped out all her kits of face-paint and hairspray and fake teeth and went to work. We settled on Freddie Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street. I had the fedora, the gnarly teeth and sweater, and my mom painted my face to really sell that I was some sort of demon with burnt skin– granted, a little dark for sixth grade. We also bought a pair of the Freddie Krueger claws that were spot-on. However, unbeknownst to me, my middle school had updated its costume policy and no “weapons” were allowed to be incorporated in costumes, so the claws sat in the front office while I walked around looking like a burn-victim with horrible fashion sense. I did win “Scariest Costume” though, complete with a piece of printer paper that had the word “Scariest” on it with a spooky font, but perhaps not for the right reasons; I don’t think anybody really knew who I was and was genuinely frightened of me.
Needless to say, I’m sure everyone has a Halloween costume that they can remember– even if they don’t necessarily want to remember it.
Halloweenie, Don’t be Scared- Neelay Inamdar
I have always loved horror movies! Who doesn’t want to see a killer clown run after a bunch of kids and portray each of their greatest fears! Today’s horror movies, although good, are not as thrilling as those slasher flicks from the ‘80s, like Friday the 13th or Graduation Day or Halloween. Those were suspenseful because they had actual human killers! Anyway, this year, I thought I would relive my mock fear of horror movies by watching IT. You might be thinking that once you watch a horror movie the first time, you know what to expect if you watch it again. That could not be further from the truth. When I watched IT for the first time, I was alone, and although I was a bit reluctant at first, I decided to give it another go at my friend’s house last week. There were 8 of us, and I was one of a couple who had already seen it but wanted to see it again.
Being with my friends allowed me to re-experience the thrills and horror at those points where I got really scared the first time, but when I watched them again, I could make fun of others who were more scared than me! I could even tickle them and make them jump out of their seat before the actual movie scare came. It’s a different experience watching horror movies with friends than when you are alone because you’re challenged to not be that guy who can’t handle the scare! You could easily turn on the lights or pause the movie if you are alone like I did, but with my friends, I didn’t have that option. They even threatened to rewind and replay the scary scenes! Honestly, though, it was still fun, and what made this Halloween special for me since I could learn to face any other fears in real life, a skill we all can use. Happy Halloween everybody! I can’t wait for the second chapter of IT. Hopefully, I can have my revenge on my friends when I watch that the second time at my house…
A Happy Ending Every Halloween- Shrusti Goswami
There are three things that excited me about Halloween when I was a kid: costumes, pumpkins, and candy. Costumes were, naturally, a big deal. Walking around Party City with wide eyes (and my mom reminding me that costumes were expensive) gave me a kind of rush I can’t even try to recreate today. But then October 31st would come and it would be 30 degrees and suddenly my dope ass princess warrior persona came with a jacket or one of those thermal undershirts that my mom pulled out of thin air.
Pumpkins were another big deal. I’d stare out the window on the bus ride home and see them lining houses throughout my neighborhood. Every year I’d wait to pick pumpkins and carve them. I would cut out the top and just stick my hands my hands in pumpkin guts for God knows how long. But nobody tells you that if you do that, you’ll smell like pumpkins for the next three days. And that the pumpkin guts get stuck under your nails and you still feel it even though you know it’s not there anymore. And nobody tells you that if you’re eight years old, your pumpkin is not really going to look okay. The whole process is actually quite morbid too if you really think about it.
Since costumes weren’t really visible and knifing pumpkins quickly became sad, the fate of my Halloween rested on candy. And it never let me down. Every year we’d drive to this huge complex of townhouses and apartments and lose our freakings minds. It didn’t matter if I was a fairy, or candy corn (yes, I was a piece of candy corn), or a ghost (aka a sheet), I could come home at the end of the night with 10 pounds of candy practically falling out of my overused plastic pumpkin basket. My sister and I would sit on the rug in front of our door and dump all our candy onto the ground. Then it was fair trade, and I had enough chocolate to last me the rest of the year. In all seriousness, it’s taught me the life lesson I carry with me every day: chocolate never disappoints.
Films That Actually Terrified Me- Rheana Reyes
I don’t really consider myself the type of person who watches or enjoys horror and supernatural films due to my sometimes excessive paranoia, but I admit that I like getting out of my comfort zone and watching a few during Halloween to get in the full spooky vibe for the season. Out of all the films I’ve seen so far, these two have been the only ones that have stuck in my memory for so long because of the fact that I was pretty terrified of dark places the next few nights after watching them.
The Ring (1998)
The Ring most of us all know has nothing on the original Japanese film. The dreary, cold tones of the movie paired with the unsettlingly, calm atmosphere of certain scenes are enough to make the watchers feel uncomfortable and uneasy. The plotline also draws one in to wait in anticipation for what is to come. And if the thought of Sadako Yamamura crawling out of a TV and into your living room doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what does.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Three film students document their search for the legendary Blair Witch in a familiar “vlog-style” format. The film is a bit slow in the beginning, but the suspense gradually builds up as the film crew begins to have disturbing encounters. However, the realistic way the film is shot almost makes it seem like the Blair Witch is coming for you next…
Although I still have a long way to go in the realm of horror and suspense, I definitely recommend these films if you would like to get an actually good scare. And if you’re like me, nothing’s better than watching a good old DCOM like Halloweentown or Twitches after with the lights on in the background.
