The month of October brings in the real start of fall, over-sized flannels, crunchy leaves, reruns of Halloweentown and Hocus Pocus, and, of course, Halloween. Maybe we don’t eat as much candy as we used to (or maybe some of us eat more), but the stress of finding a costume has only gotten harder. No more easy, store-bought costumes or cliche ideas; we have to get creative. So, here are the steps taken to get us to one of our favorite nights of the year as told by dogs, because pictures of dogs make everything better.
1. You realize Halloween is much sooner than you thought
“What do you mean it’s already October 12th!” Yes, it sneaks up on you before you can even realize it’s mid-October because it is still 70* and doesn’t feel like fall yet. Your mind goes into overtime because now you’re faced with the daunting task of figuring out a clever AND cute costume.
2. You scramble to Pinterest and, in desperate moments, Google Images
You begin your search for your costume on a trusted site like Pinterest. Many people are so clever; there has to be something easy and funny, right? When you realize the people of Pinterest are way above your skill set, you may even have to turn to Google Images and hope for the best.
3. You ask your friends what they’re doing and ask if you guys should do coordinating costumes
Maybe they were smarter than you and planned ahead, but most likely not. You are now faced with the question of whether there should be partner costumes, or even a group one. Cue the debate.
4. You finally have an idea and a back-up idea in case of emergencies
Your light bulb has gone off and you can now sit back and relax, but only for a little while — you still have an entire costume to put together. You tell all your friends your idea and make sure it checks out as funny and cool.
5. You try to find the easiest and cheapest way to make your costume
Now that you have the idea, you have to bring it to life, so you try to think of the easiest and cheapest ways to find all the pieces. Forget buying every piece, you’re on a budget and need to be resourceful. You’ll hit up Michael’s or Target for all the other pieces.
6. You start to rethink everything
This is the point when you begin to wonder if this is the best costume you can do. Even though you had the idea, you still check Pinterest to make sure you couldn’t do better. This is a short period that only lasts a day or two, or if you’re lucky you skip this step, and usually you end up with the original idea.
7. You finally get your costume together
Everything is starting to come together and you put on your costume and make sure everything looks right, even though there really is no turning back now.
8. You think of a witty Instagram caption before you head out
Not only does your costume have to be cute and clever, but your Instagram caption has to be too. Maybe you thought ahead and have been planning for a few days, or maybe you’re just being faced with the task now. Think “Heel-oween”.
9. You finally go out and have a great night
Now, you bask in the compliments and have a fun night!
10. Post Halloween: candy coma
While this technically does not count as getting ready, it is still worth mentioning and preparing for. Walgreens and CVS now have all candy half off, so it can be assumed you will be spending the next few days working your way through a bag of mixed fun-sized candies. You’ll go to the gym later, right?
No matter what your costume ends up being, the most important part is to have fun! Can’t wait to see everyone’s costumes on Franklin Street this year!