Spooky season is finally upon us, which means several Halloween stores touting their $70 unicorn costumes have begun to pop up on every major intersection (I’m looking at you, Spirit Halloween). Because of this, you’re practically forced to start stressing about what you’re going to be dressing up as way before you even need to. Of course, school gets in the way like it usually does, and before you know it, you find yourself on October 30th having a pre-Halloween meltdown. You may be tempted to throw on a white sheet with some cut-outs last minute, but I strongly urge against that! Especially not when there are quite a few creative looks you can throw together using things you probably already have (or things you can easily and cheaply acquire).
Violet Beauregarde
From the beloved tale of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, gum chewing champion Violet Beauregarde might not have been your first choice if you happened to be thinking about Roald Dahl-themed costumes. Her character is incredibly underrated and I guarantee no one will expect you to dress up as her.
To recreate her look, you will need a matching purple tracksuit (think early 2000s when Juicy Couture was popular), and a short blonde wig if you can find it (otherwise, just wearing your hair down will work). You will also need an eyeshadow primer, and purple eyeshadow. Once you have those, all you need to do is start packing purple eyeshadow onto your nose, and work your way outwards.
Pop Art Character
If you’re a lover of comic books, then you’re probably no stranger to looks like these. Popularized by Roy Lichtenstein (as well as other pop artists in the 60s), these characters are surprisingly easy to recreate. The outfit is entirely up to you, since the focus is really going to be on the face. If you don’t have a bunch of paint laying around, what you’ll need is a white eyeliner pencil, a black eyeliner pencil and some red lipstick. From there, it would be best to use a reference photo to determine the placement of the dots, as well as how to outline the contours of your face and exaggerate certain features.
Photo from BuzzFeedVideo
Arthur
Once a beloved kids show, now recently turned viral meme, Arthur seems to have found its way into our Instagram and Twitter feeds. This one is an especially easy costume to put together, as I’m sure most people have (or can easily acquire) a yellow sweater and a pair of jeans. You will also need a pair of glasses and and some aardvark ears. It’s understandable if you don’t have those just laying around, but they are super easy to make. All you need is a thin black headband, brown construction paper (cut into two half-moon shapes), pink construction paper (cut into smaller half-moon shapes) and hot glue. Before you know it, you’ve transformed yourself into a viral meme!
Mason Ramsey (yodeling boy)
It’s almost impossible to not recognize the face of Mason Ramsey after a video of him yodeling in Walmart practically took the world by storm. Not only did he become the source of many memes, it also caused a lot of other people to create their own parodies. So this Halloween you can do just that: grab a cowboy hat, a white collared shirt, a red bow tie and a belt with a giant belt buckle and you’re set!
Photo by Nick Swift
Dancing Girl Emoji (red dress)
Going as an emoji almost guarantees that there won’t be anyone else who looks like you at your Halloween party. Because hundreds of them exist, what are the chances of finding another Salsa Girl? Although being one of the less expressive emojis, the spicy flare of the Salsa Girl will definitely add a lot of pizzazz to your party. All you need is a long red dress and a long messy wig, and you have the entire costume.
Photo from Brit + Co
Spooky season comes and goes all too quickly, and what it really all boils down to is a strangely large portion of the population doing mass amounts of prep work and spending quite a bit of money, for one night (and when you’re not even getting free candy anymore, what’s the point?). The important thing is to just enjoy yourself as much as you can in the midst of upcoming tests and exams, and to not stress yourself out even more than you need to.