Everyone’s favorite holiday is just around the corner: that glorious day when, according to LiLo’s Mean Girls character Cady Heron “a girl can dress as slutty as she wants, and no other girls can say anything about it”. Whether you’re looking to push the envelope and be just as risqué as indecent exposure laws will allow or err on the side of caution,
at Her Campus we have a great selection of costumes and the best places to find them on short notice or a short budget.
These days you can get almost anything you want online, and Halloween costumes are no exception. This is your place for unique costumes you definitely won’t see on anyone else in town: my fave five were Marie Antoinette, Helen of Troy, Judge Judy, Marie Curie and Diana Ross. Lots of sites retail through Ebay and sell costumes direct from abroad so you can take advantage of lower costs (albeit often marginally offset by higher shipping rates) and many of the better ones will actually make or tailor costumes to your specific measurements at no extra charge. This can be crucial for especially thin, tall or busty girls often frustrated by the one size (doesn’t!) fit all costumes sold locally at costume outlets. Just make sure you order in time! Nothing is worse than ordering a costume and having it arrive November first. Though it is almost double the cost, priority shipping is a must this late in the month if your retailer is outside of North America.
If you’re intent on finding a costume somewhere closer to campus, check out the Halloween Outlet at Richmond and Oxford for all your staples. They have several variations of the five best classics: cop, crook, nurse, angel and bunny costumes, as well as some other standards you’re less likely to see on someone else at the bar on the big night: the gladiatrix, lady vampire and betty boop outfits were close runners up to our best five classics. They also carried a surprising number of couple’s costumes outside the usual nurse and doctor, cop and crook choices; from Major Nelson and Genie to Bella and Edward!
Though more expensive generally, the stag shop and adult superstore have a wider variety of costumes than the downtown outlet and they offer most in sizes that range from extra small to extra large. If you’re pinched for time and want a unique, sexy costume with a great fit this is the place for you. Our favorite five
slutty costumes were the privates’ investigator, the cheerleader, the gold-digger, the French maid and the Deutsche girl. However I recommend buying your costume supplements (stockings, garters, wigs etcetera) at Value Village or another second hand store; the sex shops’ are wildly overpriced, and for something you’ll likely never wear again there’s no point in breaking the bank. If you’re especially short on cash, why not make the village your first and last stop? You may not get the same variety but if you really scrounge around there’s almost always something to be found that will suit your purpose. However, we recommend you avoid the following five tired costumes that have positively been done to death; first, the clown: nobody looks good in white face paint and vertical stripes! Second, Marilyn Monroe: unless you’re Lee from Desperate Housewives, forget it, it’s dated. Third, fourth and fifth: any of the Sailor Moon characters. Yes, we all loved the cartoons and their outfits are undeniably cute, but unless you want to be the fifth sailor Jupiter at Jacks pick something more innovative.