Long gone are the days of heading to your local department store and searching the racks until inevitably finding the perfect costume. I remember the anticipation and excitement of picking out my Halloween costume each year and returning from the store with one that suited me perfectly.

I would wear that costume to school, parties, parades and trick or treating, excited each time to put it on and show it off. There was no pressure, stress or insecurity involved in picking that Halloween costume, it was just fun. 

So what changed? 

As a college female, it is now the standard to have a minimum of three costumes. Unless they make it two weekends, then you better have five to six. And don’t forget that it has to be original, you don’t want to be basic. But also make sure it is something everyone will understand, nothing is worse than no one knowing who you are dressed up as. 

Then poses the question of sexy or funny? Either way, somebody will probably have something to say about the way you are dressed. If you decide to dress sexy, then you’re being too revealing, but if you decide to dress funny, then you’re just hating on girls who dress sexy. And either way, you definitely just want attention.

Picking the perfect costumes means weeks if not months of scrolling through Pinterest, endless TikTok guides for the “It Girl Costume,” and a multitude of purchases for items you will only wear once. No matter how early you start, somehow you will still have to resort to putting on all black and drawing on some whiskers. 

When I stopped to think about Halloween and choosing a costume I came to a groundbreaking realization… It is just a costume. 

Halloween is exactly meant to be how it was when we were younger—just fun. It is an opportunity to dress up as your favorite character, to explore an alter ego and live in someone else’s shoes for a night. You can be whoever and whatever you want, so why not choose a costume that stays true to who you are? 

It is time to surrender to the stress of finding the perfect Halloween costume, because in reality the perfect costume will never exist. 

The most important thing to keep in mind when choosing your costumes for Halloween this year is choosing ones that make you feel like you. Be funny, be sexy, be weird, because it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you feel confident and that you love what you are wearing. 

If you do find the perfect costume like we did when we were kids, wear it to every party and post it in every Instagram post. Because all of the time and money spent on costumes will never be worth sacrificing the feeling of being authentically yourself.

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Hi! I’m Hannah Planey, A Magazine’s editor-in-chief. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.