As one of the most celebrated holidays on college campuses across the nation, Halloween is a time for Collegiettes everywhere to forget about the stress of midterms and enjoy themselves. But unless you want your body and your health in general to end up like a horror movie once Halloween is over or unless you want to wake up looking like a zombie from the Walking Dead, I recommend following these simple tips to ensure a happy and healthy Halloween celebration.
1. For Collegiettes in colder environments, prepare for the colder weather!
Many Collegiettes will probably be following the Mean Girl’s adage this Halloween. As Cady Heron famously proclaimed: “In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” If you are one of those girls who will be prancing around in “hardcore lingerie and some form of animal ears” and attend school in colder regions, you are hereby warned, you will be freezing! Although your mother’s warnings of “if you do not wear a jacket, you will get sick” may not be entirely true there is a serious danger of freezing in your cute Halloween costume, especially if you consume alcohol. Even though you may feel warmer when you consume alcohol, alcohol actually decreases your internal body temperature. Just because you feel warmer after the couple of shots you drank, does not mean your body is actually at a higher temperature. If you spend too much time in the cold intoxicated, you run the risk of developing hypothermia. A simple solution to the problem is to wear a coat or a sweatshirt over your costume until you arrive at the party. If you are worried about losing the coat or having it taken, wear a sweatshirt or fleece you may not care about. You can take it off as soon as you arrive. Another simple solution is to wear tights with your costume if you can. Even a pair of nylons will add a little more warmth then just your bear legs (and cover up the fact your summer tan has disappeared). If you have to travel far, find a designated driver or have everyone chip in for a taxi.
2. Even if you are dressed up as a “naughty nurse,” make sure you do not end up in the ER!
The most common reasons people are sent to the ER on Halloween are pedestrians being hit by cars, cuts from carving pumpkins, and consuming dry ice accidentally. First of all, even all the “superheroes” are not invincible on Halloween. The same basic street rules apply. The car speeding at you at 40 mph in the dark may not stop regardless of whether you are dressed up as a cute Minnie Mouse or are wearing your normal clothes. If you are the one operating a vehicle on Halloween night, also be mindful of the fact that more children will be out trick-or-treating, so drive with caution. Second of all, it may seem like an amazing idea to carve pumpkins with your girlfriends while downing the “creepy cocktails” you found on Pinterest, but unfortunately mixing alcohol and sharp knives is not the safest idea. A simple solution is to carve the pumpkins and then indulge in the festive drinks, or avoid the carving all together, have a few drinks and draw faces on your pumpkins with sharpies! While you are concocting your “witch’s brew” for you and your friends to enjoy, be cautious of the dangers of dry ice. Making drinks with dry ice can be fun and create a great Halloween effect, but dry ice can immediately burn your skin if you come into contact with it. If dry ice can burn your skin, imagine what I can do to your mouth, esophagus, and stomach if you accidentally swallow some in your drink. Drink your witch’s brew with caution or skip the dry ice all together!
3. Your “lady parts” may not appreciate your costume as much as you would like them to…
As uncomfortable as it is to talk about, one of the most common causes of yeast infections is clothing and underwear that trap in moisture and heat. If your leather Catwoman costume does not permit you to wear underwear, you may be headed for an unpleasant situation “down there.” Even tights, panty hose, and skin tight clothing can lead to yeast infections. Obviously, do not let the worry of a yeast infection prevent you from wearing your black spandex leotard in your portrayal of Beyonce in her “Single Ladies” music video, but as soon as you get home for the night, take off your costume and throw on a simple pair of cotton undies. It may be tempting to pass out with your costume on after a long night, but do yourself a favor and take the costume off as soon as you can.
4. Wash the cat whiskers off your face before going to bed…
Just as Halloween is the one night a year “girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it,” it is also the one night of the year Collegiettes can wear whatever they want for makeup and it is acceptable. Many girls have enjoyed playing with makeup ever since they were little girls and they snuck into their mom’s cosmetic bag. Halloween is like a grown up version of playing in your mom’s cosmetic bag. It is the one night of the year you can pull off blue eye shadow and fake eyelashes. You can finally wear that red lipstick you bought at Sephora. You can even draw whiskers on your face with eyeliner. However, once you finally make it back to your place after 2:00 AM, the motivation to wash off the eyeliner, lipstick, eye shadow, and glitter may be non-existent. It is common knowledge that sleeping with makeup on will clog your pores and you will not only wake up with smudged liner but you will also probably discover some unwelcome acne. Because you probably wear more makeup on Halloween than a regular day, make sure, despite how tired and otherwise impaired you are at the end of the night, that you thoroughly remove your makeup. No one wants to wake up looking like Freddy Krueger from a “Nightmare on Elm Street.”
5. Don’t completely deprive yourself of Halloween candy.
If you do, you may end up over indulging. One of the biggest diet mistakes people make is not allowing themselves to indulge in something sweet every once and a while. What ends up happening is individuals who completely cut out sweets may end up having a moment of weakness and over- indulging in what they have been missing out on. Candy is a staple of Halloween and a Halloween without candy is like a birthday without cake. It just does not seem right! So treat yourself and enjoy one or two pieces a day of your favorite mini candies. By doing this, you are much more apt to avoid a candy overload and can save yourself all the guilt of a candy binge. However, if you are trying to be weight conscious is drinking alcohol and eating candy together. A shot of vodka has approximately 70 calories and a light beer has around a 100 calories. If you have 3 Twizzlers (150 calories), 1 mini Butterfinger (85 calories), and a fun size Kit Kat Bar (70 calories), and wash it all down with two shots and two beers, you have consumed 645 calories. For women who are on a diet it is frequently suggested that they consume about 1200-1500 calories a day. With those drinks and that candy, a Collegiette on a diet would have just consumed about half of her daily allowance of calories without a single meal. Again, don’t go completely without, after all it is Halloween, but don’t go overboard because the results could be scary.