Halloween: The People Yearn for Costume Parties

Halloween is the one night a year a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girl can say anything about it. - Cady Heron

Halloween for me is an excuse to have fun while playing dress-up, whether I’m wearing an eccentric outfit or a suit and a wig, I am going to have a good time. This year was no different, aside from the lack of a wig. In my experience there are two kinds of people when it comes to this holiday, you either love it and go all in, or you’re indifferent to it. Personally, celebrating Halloween is one of my favorite nights of the year because it gives me loads of inspiration for my next costume. I celebrated Halloweekend this past Friday and Saturday and not only am I still writing in pain, but I successfully began my Halloween 2025 Pinterest board. So today we will instead be discussing Halloween celebrations and how lowering your expectations allows for more fun, freedom, and flirtations… unless you're me. You don't have to endure a night of tricks, you can savor the sweet taste of treats. But only if you cut out the bullshit and lower your expectations to allow yourself a good time. So grab a drink, get comfortable, let’s keep this short n’ sweet.

For the past four years I have been out of town on Halloweekend, traveling to Pittsburgh or Dayton to experience this holiday basking in frat basements, walking miles in heels for an over-priced well-drink, or standing in a crowd of thousand people just to say I’ve been to a college darty. This year, not only am I no longer a college student, but I also don’t have the desire to drive upwards of three hours in hopes of a good time. If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to be let down. You wait all year to dress up and have fun with your girlfriends, nobody wants to spend loads of money on a costume because you have to pay for drinks or a ticket to a function. So how can you ensure a good time when plans are uncertain and you're balling on a budget? If I have learned anything in the past four years, it would be to surround myself with fun people so there’s never a feeling of being let down or disappointed by shitty plans. As long as I’m with my best friends and my sister, I know I am going to have a good time, so I honestly don’t care where we go or what we do as long as we’re all together. Thankfully this Halloween we were, prior to this year my sister and I hadn’t celebrated Halloween together since 2020. Friday my friends and I went to a house party where I dressed as a sad clown and jumped in a bounce house for hours on end. Saturday we went to a bar crawl where I was Dorothy and clicked my heels and carried around a stuffed dog. I can safely say I had the most fun out of all my Halloweens, just being in the presence of my closest friends. In the past I have spent so much time worrying over my outfit, my hair and makeup, the perfect ratio of meals and alcohol, but most of all I was always preoccupied with the potential for romance that consumed almost all of me the entire weekend. For some reason, this year everything just fell into place on its own. I definitely still looked great and had really cool costumes, but this time around the overbearing weight of presumptions wasn’t looming over me. With Halloween, one thing is always certain, and that my friends is the choice of a costume! The hardest choice you should have to make is whether or not you're going to dress up and go full out, or just slap on a pair of wings and call yourself Juliet or Felix.

Lowering your expectations can open the door to a more carefree and enjoyable experience, particularly when it comes to navigating holiday traditions like Halloween, especially in college. When you over-plan or try curating the perfect night, you miss out on the joy that comes with spontaneity. During Halloweekend in college, for instance, it’s easy to get swept up in the pressure to make everything larger-than-life. In one instance, my friends and I booked an Airbnb, spent months planning the ultimate weekend, only to part-take in the Freshman shuffle around the city of Pittsburgh. Despite all the preparation, the night ended up as a long search for something memorable that never quite matched our expectations. In contrast, this year, I threw on a $10 dress from Depop, left the planning to chance (and my sister), and ended up having one of the best nights out with my friends—feet aching, but it didn’t hit me till much later. It wasn’t just about the outfit or the setting; it was about letting go of the unrealistic hopes of making it a “perfect” night or finding a specific someone. The real magic of these traditions lies in being fully present and finding joy in the unexpected moments with people who matter. Whether or not there are hot people at the bar crawl or epic parties, the essence of Halloween—or any holiday, college tradition—is in embracing whatever happens with the people you’re with. Lower your expectations, and you might find that a less curated night ends up becoming an unforgettable one.

Movies and TV shows often portray Halloween parties as these huge, once-in-a-lifetime extravaganzas. Like the iconic scene in Mean Girls or the glamorous college parties in Scream Queens. Even in slashers like Scream or plain party flicks in general, like Project X or Superbad. In these scenes, everyone’s decked out in perfect costumes, the atmosphere is electric, and the night always ends with some unforgettable drama or a fairytale romance. What makes a great party is great people, and if you actively choose to surround yourself with shitty ones, well then you may just find yourself actively having a shitty time. It's not always about where you are or what you're doing, a lot of the time it's about who you surround yourself with. This includes lowering your expectation of finding a decently attractive, mediocre man, wearing face paint or a sports jersey. Decentering men from most holidays, traditions, or functions has freed up a lot more space for fun! Don’t get me wrong I still like to look, just no touching or prolonged talking. I find it’s more fun to walk and talk than to fall deep into conversation with someone who’s choice form of communication is Snapchat. Maybe that's the key! Perhaps you don’t have to lower your expectations at all, just remove the burden of boys from your itinerary and you’ll have a really good time. You don’t have to spend your time making sure everyone else is entertained, you should focus on yourself, especially if nobody else is. It’s ok to say no to things you don’t wanna do, and yes to those you do- like green tea shots or gin and tonics. I'd love to meet my Romeo at a costume party dressed as a night in shining armor just like anybody else, but this isn't Verona, or Saltburn.

At the end of the day, Halloween isn’t about perfect costumes (it is for me though and just because my dress was $10 doesn’t mean I didn’t look amazing), epic parties (though a bounce house will make your parties way more lively), or finding that fleeting romance—it’s about creating memories with the people who make you feel alive. The most fun isn’t found in extravagant plans or meticulously curated nights; it’s in the laughter shared with your best friends. Halloween isn’t really about where you are, it’s about who you’re with—and nothing beats making memories with your favorite people. Cheers to more messy, memorable nights and making friendship the real tradition! That being said, you can still go out on a pre-planned evening and have fun. It’s all about intention. So lower your expectations and do what you want with the people you prefer. Stay in and carve pumpkins and bake cookies, or responsibly drink several Huggie bombs. The world is really your oyster, especially when you get to conquer it in costume. Till next time, stay flirty, stay thirsty, and relax- do so in a clown costume cause it's surprisingly comfortable. The people yearn for costume parties, there's a reason there's so many masquerades in the movies. Costumes should not be limited to Halloween, let's dress up all time!

See you soon,

Paige B.