How to have fun (and get lucky) Halloweekend at ND

Remember when Halloween was about gleefully running from door to door in pursuit of as many Reese’s cups as you could fit in your orange-painted pillowcase? Freshmen, maybe you feel like it wasn’t even that long ago (just kidding). Either way, Halloween in college is a whole different animal—as Cady Heron from Mean Girls so memorably told us, “In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”

Of course, you don’t have to wear the equivalent of underwear and mouse ears to do Halloween right. But in general, Halloweekend is a time for free-flowing pumpkin ale, wild adventures and forgetting midterms are a thing. Here’s The Tab’s definitive guide to making the most of the holiday.

Be sexy, but be creative

You have 31 weekends every school year to go out wearing normal clothes. Halloween is not one of them. This is your chance to push the boundaries (without feeling weird, because that’s the point). So please don’t be the 238,798th sexy cat, nurse or Risky Business Tom Cruise doppelgänger in the room. A creative or punny costume will always start at least one conversation, even at Feve.

You need at least two costumes

That’s right. Arriving here as a freshman I naïvely thought I could hack it with my tried-and-true Pocahontas costume, but no more. Halloween at Notre Dame means at a minimum two nights of going out, and this holiday is the enemy of self-proclaimed outfit repeaters.

Wear something that’s “you”

Birds of a feather flock together. If you don’t dress up as Leslie Knope, how will you ever find your Ben Wyatt? When I was in sixth grade, I was that kid who thought Monty Python was hilarious and dressed up as a knight-who-says-Ni. I’m sure I thought some quirky-but-adorable boy dressed as a Gumby would notice my costume. Unfortunately, I went to an all-girls’ school at the time, and the only person who “got” the costume was my middle-aged science teacher. The point is, none of us have that problem anymore and if you want to meet someone you click with you should dress as something you like!

Don’t pick an expensive or uncomfortable outfit

If you’re going as a flapper, don’t wear the gorgeous dress you bought for a Gatsby party. You will spill an unholy amount of candy-corn-flavored-vodka on it, and you will regret it. It’s hard to imagine something less fun than spending the night in the bathroom with a bottle of Dawn soap while the guy you wanted to flirt with is somewhere else.

Also, don’t dress as a block of cheese or a Tetris piece. Nothing says sexy like being inside a square cardboard box and literally unable to kiss someone.

Pregame

If there’s someone specific you’re really into, invite them to your friends’ pregame or go to theirs. Halloween is a crazy night and the group you initially go out with will doubtless get separated; any bonding or casual flirting you were planning on is best attempted before you end up at Feverween or Finnies.

It’s a stride of pride, not a walk of shame

Let’s face it—this is the least subtle holiday of the year. There’s no chance of casually walking across West Quad with no indication of how you spent your night other than your bare feet and the high heels in your hand. If you go home with someone this weekend and choose to spend the night, you will be walking home at 9am in a ridiculous onesie/lederhosen/giant plastic Starbucks cup, or whatever outfit you thought was cute fourteen hours ago. So no shame allowed—at this point, you have to own it. Hold your head up high, Cleopatra headdress and all.