Halloween has always been my absolute favorite holiday of the year. When I tell you this is my favorite time of year, I mean it. I had Halloween decorations on my door the minute fall came around, much to the dismay of a particular neighbor down the hall who was very passionate about letting me know that “It’s September” was on the whiteboard outside my door. Maybe they had a point, but I just couldn’t help myself. I love decorating, carving pumpkins, going to parties, and the frightening thrill of a good haunted house… but to be honest, the holiday expenses are the scariest part, especially as a college student on a budget.
Despite the lack of funds, I’ve managed to get even more invested in the spooky spirit than I ever have before. This year, I went the whole nine yards when it comes to Halloween preparations, and I’m going to share some tips and tricks on just how I did it.
First things first, figure out what you want to dress up as for Halloween! You’ll definitely want to know this in advance by at least a month, so you can make sure you get a hold of all your costume pieces and supplies on time. Usually, I have such a hard time deciding what I want to dress up as, but this year I felt possessed (haha, get it?) to dress up as Emily from Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride.
Now, it’s easy to just drop by the Spirit Halloween that has made a home out of your hometown’s hollowed-out former Office Max and pick up a premade costume, but where’s the spirit in that? After my own trip to Spirit Halloween and seeing their cheap rendition of The Corpse Bride, I decided to leave the store with only a cheap blue wig. I even considered leaving the wig at the store because it kills me to spend money on cheap, shiny, synthetic wigs, but there aren’t a lot of more affordable options. Thankfully, I know a few cosplayers who were able to teach me a few things over the years about how to make a cheap wig look good.
The first thing I did when I got back to my dorm was give my shiny new budget wig a bath in fabric softener. Unfortunately, my dorm sink isn’t quite big enough to give it a good soak, and my room only has a shower. Instead, I filled a plastic tub that my roommate stores her tupperware in with a concoction of 150 mL of Downy Fabric Softener, a shot of dish soap and a cup of cold water. I let my wig soak for 2 hours before taking it out and rinsing it in the shower and letting it dry. You really aren’t supposed to use heat on synthetic wigs, but I did end up getting impatient and taking a blow dryer to it, and it turned out just fine. Once it dried, I applied my second technique: dousing the entire wig in baby powder. Dry shampoo also works, but I found it was more expensive than baby powder. This dulled out the shine of the wig and made the hair look more natural.
Next, I spent a few days scouring local thrift stores for wedding dresses. Usually, I see them all the time, but I guess this time around I was very unlucky. So I turned to my next best cheap option: Shein. I ended up getting a long white tulle skirt, a white corset, and accessories all for 47 dollars. Then I headed to Michaels to pick up some Rit fabric dye, air-dry modeling clay, a miniature glue gun, and some blue fabric paint to complete my look.
Living in a dorm, there isn’t a lot of room to do projects like this, but I came up with some creative solutions. To dye my fabric, I used a tote that I filled with boiling water to dye my skirt and accessories. Despite my lack of space and “proper” equipment, the dye turned out fantastic. Then I molded some ribs that I hot glued to my corset for the illusion of my ribs showing through. I wish I could show you how great the costume ultimately turned out! It just goes to show just how much you can do with a small budget and some crafting skills.
When it comes to decorations, I found a lot of great cheap options. Michael’s has the cutest Halloween decorations I was able to pick up for 50-70% off the original price. For my door decorations, I picked up some battery operated pumpkin string lights from Walmart, a black curtain to drape above my door, and the cutest window decorations from Dollar Tree that I was able to apply to my door. My boyfriend and I also hand carved styrofoam pumpkins from Michael’s and lit them up with battery-operated tea lights.
The finishing touches included a 5 dollar fall-themed doormat and wreath from Five Below and a little cardboard bucket that I filled with Halloween candy and hung on the outside of my dorm for my neighbors to grab a treat from. In full honesty, the candy is the most expensive part. I combatted this by putting my Venmo on my door and asking my neighbors to pitch in 50 cents so I can keep buying candy, and surprisingly, people like the candy so much that I’ve gotten a few donations!
So many people wrongfully believe that Halloween is only fun for kids, but it doesn’t have to be. There’s something so rewarding about really putting some effort into a costume and decorating for the holiday that I think more people should consider. College is stressful, why not enjoy the little things when you can? Halloween only comes once a year, so get creative and get spooky!