Do-It-Yourself: Last-minute Costume Ideas

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Author: Gerry Maravilla

Every year on the thirty-first of October millions of goblins, witches and wizards roam the streets. Of course, they aren’t real goblins and witches, but mere mortals celebrating the tradition of dressing up for Halloween.

With everyone’s busy schedule, the costume often gets overlooked until it seems that it’s too late to come up with anything creative. If you’re one of those last-minute costume-less students, don’t fret. There are many inexpensive and quick costume ideas that will have you ready for a Halloween party in no time.

Togas from last week are the perfect citizen of Rome costume. Or if you fancy yourself especially witty, you can even pull off a Greek Philosopher. Throw on a sheet and tote around your copy of Plato’s “Phaedo” and you’re all set. If that does not seem to suit your tastes just snip three round holes in that white sheet and you’ve got the quintessential ghost costume.

With the surging popularity in George Romero’s Dead series, a zombie is often the perfect choice for a last-minute Halloween costume. You have everything you need right in your own closet. Amanda Navetta and Naguine Bensimon-Tree (juniors) decided during their first year to transform into zombies using materials found just in their dorm rooms. Using make-up they already had, they were able to apply zombie and gore effects. Black makeup around the eyes and white foundation are essential in creating the illusion of the risen dead. Red lipstick and lip-gloss became the perfect fake blood.

“The glow and shiny texture of lip-gloss makes it appear as very realistic and fresh blood,” Bensimon-Tree said.

Along with smeared lipstick on her clothes and face to imitate blood, she also rolled around in the dirt to resemble a zombie who had crawled straight out of the grave. Some old clothes allowed for plenty of tearing and dirtying needed to acquire the desired zombie effect and provided the perfect attire for the undead.

Navetta took a slightly different approach. She tore the fabric of an old black dress. After applying some fake blood, she ventured forth that night as a “risen prom queen.”

Nothing at the moment seems trendier than pirates. Grab some ratty black pants, a striped shirt and fashion an eye patch out of black fabric. If you’re feeling extra creative, cut a knife out of cardboard, wrap the “blade” in tin foil and you’ll be swash buckling in no time. Old-fashion pirate costumes are sure to be a welcome break from the countless Jack Sparrows wandering the streets Halloween night making middle school girls around the country go wild.

Cross-dressing is always a can’t-miss. Men, borrow some of your girlfriend’s clothing and doll it up. Slap on some makeup, stuff a bra, and introduce yourself as Wanda. Women, wear your ex-boyfriend’s oversized t-shirts and jeans along with a baseball cap. Draw a mustache with some eyeliner or create some cool sideburns. Couples can even go as each other.

How about dressing as the emo kid of everyone’s nightmares? Guys should borrow their girlfriend’s jeans and push their unwashed hair into their faces, and wear a My Chemical Romance t-shirt. Don’t forget to whine a lot about how your girlfriend dumped you and complain about how your heart is forever broken. Just don’t be surprised if some metal kids give you a wedgie and throw you in a dumpster.

One of the cheapest, easiest costumes is to take whatever sports jersey you already have and go as your favorite athlete. Bandwagon Red Sox fans can make this their first opportunity to wear their newly bought apparel. Staying away from Michael Vick jerseys might be smart, unless you find yourself particularly tactless and a fan of controversy.

Aside from transforming into athletes and cartoon characters, dressing as popular musicians is also a good idea. Albert Vasquez (senior) dressed as Jack White from the White Stripes by simply wearing a white t-shirt and some red pants he found at a thrift store.

While wearing underwear outside of your pants may not be acceptable other days of the year, it is on Halloween if you are claiming to be a Super Hero. Throw a blanket around your neck as your cape and draw your first initial on your shirt with a sharpie. By the way, oven mittens make great “Gloves of Justice.”

Jenny Berg (junior) will be Super Jenny when she takes a group of preschoolers trick-or-treating. Berg, an Art History and Visual Arts Major, will make her own super hero costume. In order to become Super Jenny she will puff paint a shirt, use a sheet as a crown, and place a crown on her head to top it all off. She will be dressing up to take the kids of the Childhood Development Center trick or treating and admits, “I am really excited about taking the little kids.”

Never, ever underestimate the potential of a good cardboard box. It can be transformed into many fun costumes with a little imagination: bus, refrigerator, airplane, time machine, submarine. With some crayons, markers and a little effort you can be anything you want. Just don’t forget to think outside the box.

Wrap yourself in toilet paper and you’re an instant mummy. Throw on an oversized button-down, some socks, and a pair of wayfarers and you’re Tom Cruise in Risky Business. You can even dress up as your favorite professor.

Actually, many of the professors here in Oxy’s Math Department enjoy dressing up for Halloween. Last year, five of its professors (and two pets) came to Oxy in costumes for their departmental meeting. Eric Sundberg came as a bag of Trader Joes’s groceries, Ramin Naimi as Frankenstein’s monster, Don Lawrence as a Dark Wizard, Soyeon Lee as a fairy and Angela Gallegos as the Joker with her two dogs Roman and Linus as Batman and Robin.

If traditional monsters, ghouls and ghosts seem slightly outside of one’s particular taste, and there is not a particular professor you wish to dress as, there are other sources for costume inspiration. Deanna Diaz of the AV department will be going as her boss and the head of AV Neil Bornn-Gilman. While finding the proper pants and shirt to imitate Mr. Gilman was a simple task, acquiring realistic, yet artificial facial hair proved to be more difficult. In the end it took a specialty costume shop in Hollywood to complete the costume.

Sasha Becerra (junior) is using her creativity for an original idea that requires less traveling and is still rather inexpensive. She plans on being a frosted and sprinkled circus animal cookie.

“I got a pink dress from a thrift store and I painted some Styrofoam balls that I painted. I will stick them to myself.” Becerra said.

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