Halloweekend in Lawrence is basically the best time ever because instead of only wearing a costume on the 31st, we get to dress up for 3 nights (if you include Thursday as a weekend night, like I do). When walking around Lawrence on these nights, you will find many “sexy” cats or “sexy” police officers, and in my opinion it gets kind of boring. Trust me, I am not hating because I have definitely dressed up as both. However, when I wore those costumes, I realized I was always worrying about how I looked, if my push-up bra was showing, or if my spandex were going too far up my you-know-what. It reminded me of going out on any other normal night, using my Snapchat camera to see if my makeup is still fleek, if my hair is too frizzy, if my outfit is still looking on point, and I’ll do this throughout the night. I feel like we as girls always have this pressure to look pretty and to show off our “assets” when dressing up to go out, and it’s the same for Halloween. When I would wear a “sexy” outfit, I felt like I would worry more about how I look than about having a good, spooky time. Last year’s Halloweekend is when I realized how the power of the “funny” Halloween costume.
I hope the name Bob Ross rings some of your bells, but if it doesn’t, he was a painter who had his own television show where he would teach his audience how to paint. I love to paint and when thinking of a costume idea for the upcoming Halloweekend, I thought: Bob. Ross. Carrying my paint palette and paintbrush with a giant afro on my head, I walked through the streets of Lawrence with more confidence than Kanye West. At first, I didn’t know if it was my bouncing afro or my brush as a dancing prop, but I was having the time of my life. As the night went on, I realized how amazingly carefree I felt because I wasn’t worried about being pretty or sexy, I was just Bob Ross. Besides not caring what I looked like, I also met a lot of people because my costume turned out to be a conversation starter. A bunch of people came up to me to talk about my costume that night and I think it’s because I stood out from all of the sexy animals and firefighters around me. Even though, I am usually not one to fish for compliments, it was a nice change going from no one talking to me about how they really like my cat ears.
Another costume from last year’s Halloweekend (will be disappointed if you don’t understand the vine reference):
The point of my writing this is not to trash on “sexy” costumes or the girls who wear them. If you want to look yummy this Halloween, there is nothing wrong with a sexy bunny, you do you boo! I just think every girl should feel the power of a costume that isn’t sexy because we look hot every other night, why not give yourself a break and some laughs? Dressing up in funny costumes, like Bob Ross or the vine girl, made my spooky nights 10X better because I didn’t care how I looked, it started conversations, and I didn’t look like every other girl in Lawrence. Feeling more confident and carefree than usual just made my night so much more fun and I made some of my favorite memories. After last year, I realized the move for Halloween was to dress up in something that made me happy. So, if you are trying to figure out one of your costumes for Halloweekend, consider a “funny” one because trust me, you’ll have the Best. Night. Ever.