Julia Mancini, Life Editor
Photo courtesy of author.
My favorite Halloween costume from the past few years is a toss-up. I usually lean toward television characters or pop culture moments when I plan my costumes. Two years ago, I went as Rachel Green from “Friends” for Halloween. It was fun to get creative and DIY her waitress outfit. I painted the “Central Perk” logo onto an apron. Otherwise, the costume was really simple: I just pulled a few ‘90s-style pieces from my closet, including a mini-skirt, cropped grey long-sleeve shirt, dark opaque tights, scrunchies and Converse. I also channeled my inner Rachel with a 90s lip by using a slightly darker lip liner and a lighter lipstick.
Another favorite was my Ariana Grande costume from last year. Again, this was super easy to pull together. Grande’s most recent signature look has been an oversized sweatshirt, thigh-high boots and that signature high ponytail (a far cry from her bunny ears and babydoll dresses). I ordered a super cheap, brightly-colored XXL hoodie from Walmart the week before Halloween and wore tall black boots. I put my hair up in a tight, high ponytail and did a winged eyeliner look. Since I was channeling a very specific Grande moment (the viral photo of her eyeing then-fiancé Pete Davidson while sucking on a lollipop), the pièce de résistance was the red lollipop I carried around all night. I could’ve gone the extra mile and purchased hair extensions to really emulate the pop-singer, but as far as ease and convenience, I would totally use this costume again.
Melissa Scrivani, Associate Life Editor
Photo courtesy of the author.
I have to say, I miss the days of being a kid and getting super excited to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Every year I would dress up, get together with all of my friends and pick a neighborhood in my town to trick-or-treat in. We were usually on the hunt for the biggest candy bars, and would have one of our parents volunteer to drive us around until we found the perfect spot. Although I do still enjoy dressing up, nothing beats the excitement of going to a Halloween store as a kid to pick out the perfect costume. As your average girly girl, I often went for princess costumes. Ariel has always been my favorite princess, but there was just something really special about the year I dressed up as Sleeping Beauty.
The costume was so pink, sparkly and detailed that I actually felt like a real princess for the night. It had a beautiful sparkly rose design on the skirt of the dress and even came with a jeweled crown and wand. I remember feeling so fancy and pretty that I kept the costume and would play dress up with it for years to come. Another reason this costume in particular sticks out to me is because I wore it the first Halloween after my baby brother was born, and I was so excited to get to spend my first holiday with a sibling. Although he was too little to go out trick-or-treating in the cold, it was still fun to celebrate with him during the day and take pictures with him.
Daniel Cohn, Staff Writer
Did your high school have a scandal?
Mine did! It even has a Wikipedia article, “Robbins v. Lower Merion School District!”
If you’re in a rush and don’t have the time to read nearly 10,000 words about a court case, I’ll summarize: My high school (two years before I got there) spied on one of its students using his school-provided laptop, and the student found out and sued. The relatively unique scandal caught national attention and quickly became my high school’s claim to fame. The other one in my district’s is Kobe Bryant.
This all hit the fan in February 2010, when I was in the thick of my first year of middle school. By October, the case was finally being settled and most had started to forget about it. I was determined to change that. After clearing it with the principal, I was “the webcam scandal” for my 7th grade Halloween, at the middle school that directly feeds 1:1 into ground zero of WebcamGate, as it became colloquially known. The principal only made me take off the fake settlement money I had spread all around my homemade masterpiece. The costume itself was bootlegged as hell: A huge cardboard box suspender-ed on my shoulders, with the front mocking a laptop screen (fitted with an image of myself on the screen not realizing I’m being surveilled), and various elements relating to the case on the back (a “1984” reference, the school logo, etc.).
I got a lot of attention. The teachers loved it, but clearly didn’t want to get too excited about it in fear of their own employment. I’ve had many Halloween costumes since, but that one was absolutely the boldest one I’ll pull in my lifetime, and I can only imagine what would have happened if I did it at the high school itself. They’d probably start to spy on me.
Ian Ward, Campus Correspondent
Photo courtesy of the author.
One of my favorite costumes from when I was younger was when I dressed up as a caterpillar in preschool. looked adorable as a toddler in my little costume. Another favorite costume was when I was Marty McFly from “Back to the Future Part 2.” I dressed up as him for a high school Halloween party I hosted with a friend. I had to borrow the hat Marty wears in the movie from my friend to complete my costume, and it was well worth it. One costume I would love to dress up as would be Jekyll from the novella, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” I have been fascinated with Jekyll for a while and I love the detail in the character’s face. I also dressed up as Donald Trump during my senior year of high school, to mock him and try out my impression of him. I am not planning to dress up as anyone this year, although I may watch a horror movie or go to a Halloween-themed event on campus.
