10 Halloween costumes that only Soton students can get away with

Halloween’s coming up very, veeeery soon and, if you’re anything like me, you completely forgot about it and are now frantically trying to scrape a costume together.

Well, don't panic, we’ve got some banging Halloween costume ideas for you – and the best part is that they’re all highly specific to Southampton, so everyone will know exactly what you are.

Blue and pink Quad Vods

Southampton’s ultimate power couple, this perfect couples costume is sure to go down well at your edgy Halloween house party. The Blue and Pink Quad Vods are the people on campus that absolutely everyone wants to shag or be besties with (or both).

For your costume, the key is finding a suitable partner. After that, it will be easy for you to find all-blue and all-pink outfits: between you and your housemates, you definitely already have clothes that fit the brief.

The Jesters pints

Basically the Blue and Pink Quad Vods, but not quite as iconic. Get a group together, and then dig out your most lurid, brightly-coloured clothes – in the relevant colour for your chosen drink, obvs. The Jesticle and Juicy Lucy will be reserved for the two BNOCs in your group, but there’s always extra room for the Joker, Fuzzy Duck, Classy Darcy and Harlequin.

For a more "horror" twist on this group costume, you can always go as the Jesters Four Corners challenge, and each pick a corner to represent. If you’re a fresher and don’t know what this is, trust me: you don’t want to.

The Switch poo

If you haven't heard about the Switch poo by now, you’ve well and truly been living under a rock. This look has two constituent parts: poo and Switch.

For the poo aspect, find some brown clothes. Have a look in Primark, or else someone in your house will probably have a weird brown top – the one I used for the photo has been in my living room for the past two years, and every single housemate swears it’s not theirs.

Now that you’ve got the "shit" sorted, you need to make it look like you’re on your way to a Switch event, so make sure you’re looking wavy af. Crack out the jazzy sunglasses, the glitter and the bucket hat. If you don’t pull in this incredible costume, I can honestly say that you never will.

The top floor of the Maths Building

The most-hated building on campus, come as the Maths Building and you’ll be sure to inspire fear in the hearts of every student who sees you.

Picture the scene: you’re running late to your 9am. You’re in a rush and you’re panicking, so you’re already a bit sweaty. You double-check your timetable as you power-walk through campus. You realise that your seminar’s in the Maths Building. Oh no.

You arrive at the building from Hell, and see that there are roughly 700 people waiting for what is perhaps the slowest lift in Europe. You take a deep breath, steel yourself, and begin to climb the thousands of steps. You eventually arrive at your seminar room, four minutes late, having an asthma attack and dripping with sweat.

What I've just described is the exact look that you’re trying to recreate in this Halloween costume. If you’re feeling crafty, you could paint some sweat patches on to your top. If not, just cover yourself with water, and remember to top it up regularly throughout the night.

Make sure to wear a grey t-shirt, which will definitely show the "sweat" up best. If you really want to get into character, put some wet-look gel in your hair, and make sure to cover your face in highlighter for that dewy (aka: oily mess) look.

A rat

Perhaps the most ubiquitous and well-known character in Southampton, some people even proclaim to having seen rats the size of small dogs. Freshers may be scared of Southampton’s rodents, but second and third-years have come to know, love and accept them.

To dress up as everyone’s favourite furry friends, get hold of some brown clothes (you can re-use the ones from your poo costume!) and fashion yourself some ears and a tail. If you’re feeling really fancy, you could push the boat out and order a full rat costume from Amazon.

Jesters shoes

Jesters shoes are perhaps the only thing that every fresher actually needs to bring to Southampton with them. We all own them, we all love to hate them, we all have to cover ourselves in bleach after touching them.

This costume requires some preparation work. What you need to do is take your oldest, mankiest clothes, then go to Jesters and make sure to cover yourself in Jesters grime. The next, very, very important step is do not wash your clothes. Re-wear your grimy outfit on Halloween – et voila, Jesters Shoes! You won’t quite have the deeply-ingrained level of grime that most Soton students’ Jesters shoes have, but you’ll be good enough.

Portswood mould

The vast majority of second- and third-years live in Portswood, and each one will tell you that their house is at least 85 per cent mould. You can have a bit of fun with this costume: it’s time to get creative and decide what kind of mould you want to be.

The black speckled-y mould that grows in the shower? Green fluffy mould that appears on the dishes of your housemate who SWEARS that they always wash up as soon as they've cooked? Or the blue lumpy mould that plops on to your cereal with your milk? The choice is yours.

A Mayflower fuckboy

The Mayflower fuck boy is the epitome of the Southampton fuck boy. For your clothes, go for that classic fuck boy look: skinny jeans, a puffer, and as many brand names as humanly possible – the more expensive the label, the better.

While the look may be important for this costume, what really elevates it from “basic fuckboy” to “Mayflower fuckboy” is the persona. Make sure to walk with an air of “Mummy and Daddy give me £500 a week” and “I’ll get a 2.2 and somehow still end up with a job in finance”. Shouting “oi oiiiiiiii lads” every so often wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Tariq Manzils

Owner of the eponymous Indian restaurant, which is a favourite of Soton students for post-night out, 2am curry. Defo the most famous and most loved man in Southampton, anyone who comes to Halloween dressed as Tariq Manzils knows how to have a good time. Take inspo from the legend’s Facebook page, and recreate his look with a jazzy shirt and clashing tie.

Unilink

This last costume is for those of you who not only can’t be bothered to go out and buy a costume, but who can’t even be arsed to do anything for Halloween whatsoever.

You can truly embody the spirit and founding principle of everyone’s favourite bus service, and just not turn up at all. Bonus points if you leave all your friends standing in the rain, waiting for you.