See below for this year’s top costumes
By Joanna Scholtz
One night every year entire neighborhoods are taken over by dinosaurs, witches and super heroes.
For an elementary student, Halloween is one of the greatest holidays of the year, but for but for college students, October 31 involves lot more partying, dangerous fun and some very risque wardrobes.
“People always get out of hand on Halloween,” says UT junior Ellanna Schreep who once witnessed a pirate and a cow get into a heated argument. “Half the fun is seeing crazy guys do stupid things in funny costumes.”
Not only is this spooky night a time to drink, but the correct attire is imperative.
“It’s a great way to express yourself and show off your humor,” said Tim Russell, a UT sophomore. “Guys always want to have the most original costume.”
Russell plans to be Elf for Halloween because he knew that it would get a lot more attention than being the attractive Captain Jack Sparrow.
For some women, sex sells with naughty nurses and lusty librarians. The essential theme is costumes that start with the words “sexy,,” “slutty” or “naughty.”
Some men go shirtless or have sexy costumes of their own.
UT sophomore Liz Shamy says Halloween is about freedom.
“I personally don’t dress slutty,” she said, “but you want to impress other girls and show off to guys. It’s the one night of the year you can.”
Even classic high school movies of this generation such as, “Mean Girls”, have been caught mocking how girls dress for the occasion: “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it,” said Lindsay Lohan’s character.
Even though it might be fun and games to drink and dress up, the truth is the combination of the two can also be dangerous.
According to statistics on forbes.com the popularity of Halloween for adults has been increasing every year along with its fatalities. In a stretch of three days in the year 2007, Halloween alone resulted in 239 deaths, 129 of which were alcohol related.
Part of the issue could be students take the drinking to a whole different level because it is a holiday.
“Aside from St. Patrick’s day, it’s the only holiday college students really get, so I guess people go all out,” says Schreep.
Though the intentions of some young women on Halloween are to get a little romantic attention, it can be detrimental to a woman’s reputation or safety.
“You want to be careful of how far you take it,” Shamy said, “because even though you want to be noticed, you don’t want it to be for the wrong reasons.”
Lyndsay Magid, a junior, said her roommate once walked all the way from Dale Mabry back to campus alone on Halloween dressed as “Poc-a-hotass,” a take-off on Pocahontas.
“It’s dangerous enough to walk back to UT from that distance,” said Magid. “It’s another thing to walk back alone without decent clothes.”
Some Halloween party-goers put themselves in dangerous situations without realizing it because they are intoxicated.
A way for women—and all revelers–to stay safe would be to bring an extra pair of clothes, charge their cell phones before going out and always stay with their friends in big groups of people.
“Halloween is a great time of year for college students,” Magrid said, “but everyone needs to be conscious that things can go wrong too.”
According to one Halloween Web site, there are a number of hot costumes this year for both sexes (scroll down and click more):
