Back at home in Latvia, we don’t really celebrate Halloween once we get out of middle school. Thus, I am not an expert on Halloween outfits. However, on those rare occasions when we had to dress up for school events or themed house parties, the scarier you looked the better, whether it was blood and bruises covering your body, black or red contact lenses, ripped clothing or a fake knife stabbed in somebody’s head.

That’s really not the case on our campus.

In my four years of college and Halloween celebrations, I haven’t seen that many scary outfits. Half naked costumes or gag get-ups seem to be the norm for college students.

People have transformed themselves into Taco Bell sauces, Where is Waldo?, one of the seven dwarfs, Spice Girls, etc. Though the aforementioned examples are innocent, there are also some that are way more inappropriate: the “bad” nurses, French maids or suggestive police officers. are also some that are way more inappropriate:

the “bad” nurses, French maids or suggestive police officers.

If you have seen the movie “Mean Girls,” you probably remember the quote, “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.” Alright, so I won’t say anything about it. I just hope you will not go that route.

Like any other Halloween, I’m not going to dress up even if I go somewhere. That just takes too much effort, time and thought. That said, I do hope that I will see more appropriate Halloween costumes on other students this year — something scary and ugly. That’s what Halloween is about. In my opinion, some costumes can wait until other themed parties. Then there are some that should never be worn. Period.

If you are about to invest your time in this, then why not take it a step farther and actually be creative? It’s OK if you want to be some famous movie, book or band character; just adapt it to the Halloween theme. Spice things up with fake blood or smeared mascara, not a bare butt or poorly covered breasts.