With Halloween creeping around the corner, students are beginning to think of potential costume ideas. While some students are planning to buy their costumes, others have decided to make theirs. Since the holiday falls on a Thursday this year, many students plan to have multiple costumes to wear throughout the weekend.
Bloomington doesn’t offer all of the clothing stores students typically enjoy. Options are more limited for students when they’re shopping in the college town. Therefore, ordering costumes online is an easy option. Sophomore Emma Rotherberg is planning on having multiple costumes this year.
“I think I’m going to have about three costumes this year,” IU sophomore Emma Rotherberg said. “I’m buying most of them from Amazon.”
For students like Rotherberg, who have chosen to do multiple Halloween costumes this year, the preparation is more extensive. One common costume that has been all over social media this year is a mermaid.
“I’ve recently been seeing Tik Tok videos that list out different Halloween costumes for girls,” Rotherberg said. “Many of them have been of mermaid costumes. My friend and I decided to be that for one of the nights.”
Along with Amazon being a quick and common place to shop for this holiday, some students are ordering from other websites instead of shopping in person. One IU student, Blanca Benitiz, said she had already bought her costume from another online retailer.
“I got my costume this year from Dolls Kill mainly because they have a big range of costumes that are cute, scary and two day shipping,” Benitiz said. “I have also bought stuff from Amazon beforehand for my costumes.”
Purchasing costumes online continues to be a common trend because of the limited number of Halloween stores there are in Bloomington. However, the only Halloween store in town, Spirit Halloween, made its annual return this fall. Along with Spirit Halloween, people can also visit Target and Walmart for costume pieces.
“I usually go to Spirit Halloween to buy my costumes,” IU freshman Sarah Sampat said. “I’m planning to buy an eight ball costume.”
The holiday store is officially open again for the season. Its new location is on College Mall Road, repurposing the old CVS building, which closed in May.
Party City is another popular shopping destination. This storefront is open year round and located on East Third Street. Fortunately, it’s near Spirit Halloween’s new location. Therefore, students can easily visit both stores if one doesn’t have what they’re looking for.
Although some students are buying their costumes this year, others are choosing to make do of what they already have at home. This tends to be repeated by those who don’t plan their costumes until right before Halloween occurs.
“I will typically make my costumes,” IU senior Colin Wright. “Whenever Halloween would roll around I would see what is in my closet and see what kind of existing costume parts my family had accumulated over the years. I’ve been in Party City, but I don’t buy any of those costumes.”
Students at IU have their own Halloween traditions of what they enjoy doing when the holiday comes around. Some may dress up in costumes and go out with their friends, while others will turn on a movie and stay at home for the night.
“I’m a senior now, so my friends and I will sometimes dress up and go out if we feel like it,” Wright said. “When I was younger, I loved going through the closets in my house and finding pieces for my costumes. That was a tradition I always did."
