Although Athens boasts numerous costume stores, many students have decided to make their own costume rather than buy one for Halloween.
Halloween is notorious on Ohio University’s campus, because the block party is one of the largest in the country. Therefore, it's no surprise that many students take their costumes seriously.
For some, the choice to do a DIY costume comes from the desire to spend as little money as possible. Sara Barnett, a freshman studying mechanical engineering, plans to wear a homemade strawberry costume on Saturday.
“It’s cheaper,” Barnett said. “I just bought a shirt at Wal-Mart … I spent six dollars.”
Along with being cheaper, Barnett said making her own costume is a point of pride.
“You can tell people, if you get a compliment on your costume, ‘Yeah, I made this,’ ” she said.
Dakota Palmer, a sophomore studying child and family studies, made her costume hoping to save money, too.
“I’m cheap," Palmer said. "I’m a broke college student. I went to the Halloween store … and all their costumes were like fifty dollars. I’m not about to spend fifty dollars on a costume that I’m going to wear maybe twice.”
Although saving money is a popular reason to choose the DIY route, it's not the only reason. Lauren Andrzejewski, a freshman studying animation and game design, is a cosplayer and makes costumes often. For her, creating a costume is about customizing an outfit to give it the perfect look and creating something that can’t be found in a store.
“Yeah, you can buy those really bad outfits at costume stores,” she said. “But when you make your own, you can add things to it. You can make it original.”
Andrzejewski also said when someone makes their own costume, the clothes used can be worn again in everyday life.
“I could be wearing a black pair of jeans," Andrzejewski said. "I could be wearing them any other day of the week and then, just for my costume, it looks fantastic.”
A common stereotype is that only artistic people make costumes. Palmer said that isn’t true — anyone can make a costume.
For one of her costumes, which is an escaped patient from The Ridges, Palmer said it was only a matter of making a large shirt look like something a patient would wear.
“Literally (my costume) is a 3X T-shirt from Wal-Mart that I just, like, ripped and used mud for (the design),” Palmer said. “A five-year-old could probably do that.”
