Halloween in college isn’t just a day; it’s an event. If trick-or-treating as a kid is a concert, Halloween in college in a multi-day festival. And this festival is called Halloweekend.
Halloweekend can sometimes spread between Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, regardless of the day on which the holiday actually falls. That means three costumes, three nights downtown, and three nights to remember (or perhaps, to not).
While the stereotype is that everyone goes out on all three days, I am an exception. I had two tests on Friday that prevented a Thursday night on State Street, and, as I learned after Friday night, one night out is enough for me.
While many people hit up frat parties, I instead went to an apartment downtown. At this apartment I ran into many interesting characters, including a Bob Marley wannabe, a cop sporting illicit drug paraphernalia (perhaps confiscated from the reggae impersonator?), and a guy dressed as a girl dressed as a cat.
This brave young man, who wore one of my favorite costumes of the night, was dressed complete with leggings, cat ears, fake eyelashes, and sparkling silver fake nails. When one partygoer asked him to explain his costume, the boy-girl-cat tried to explain that it was a satire, making fun of every basic white girl you’ve seen at any dress-up party ever. That English-class response was accepted just as well as you imagine it would be at midnight on Halloween. The asker walked away confused, probably regretting that he bothered to ask at all.
As for myself, I was Wonder Woman. I was fighting crime, fighting the patriarchy, and fighting the social construct of wearing pants (although I do admit bringing sweats to the party was probably the smartest thing I did all night).
One of the biggest deterrents for going out a second night came when I was trying to get home. I waited for maybe a half hour before I was able to get onto a bus, but I heard stories of people waiting for much longer. Trying to hail a cab or chase a bus is annoying enough on the rare nice days here, but the process is especially hellish when it’s the wee hours of November 1st and most girls are wearing crop tops with short skirts or spandex as pants. This mess on State Street arose because of police checkpoints stopping every vehicle on the way back to campus. Of course, these checkpoints were a very smart and effective way to prevent drunk driving, but the cab system here is way less effective when drivers aren’t allowing 13 passengers into a vehicle that could safely fit 6.
While downtown nightlife was bumping just as much on Saturday night as it was on Friday, I closed my Halloweekend in a much quieter way on campus with the SA BUMP show (so maybe it wasn’t so much quieter, and I am so sorry for my pun). BUMP is the branch of the Student Association Programing Board that brings underground bands to play on campus, for free. This weekend, they transformed UU209 into a concert venue for the Australian psychedelic rock band, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Yes, that does win the award for best hipster band name of all time. Or the worst, depending on how you look at it.
All in all, I think my Halloweekend was a success. Maybe it wasn’t so traditional, but a good time regardless. My only complaint was the lack of candy. To anyone planning on hosting a Halloween party in the future: I think you need some food to go along with all those “beverages” you’re handing out. Make the trip to Walmart and splurge on some fun sized candy. Falling asleep because of a crashed sugar rush beats a hangover any day.