By Michael Lin, Staff Writer

Celebrated on October 31, Halloween is a holiday that officially is meant to ward off ghosts according to Celtic people of Europe. Pope Gregory III attempted to erase this Pagan tradition by making November 1 “All Saints Day” and the night before “All Hallows Eve.” This failed, as ghostly practices persisted, and today children and adults from around the world continue to tell spooky stories and relish in the age-old celebration, stories such as “Sleepy Hollow”, “Dracula”, or “Frankenstein”. Whether by dressing up, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, or simply enjoying candy, everyone can participate in the festivities.

After two years of a celebration hiatus due to COVID-19, Mills High School students are once again looking forward to donning costumes and trick-or-treating around Millbrae.

Arguably one of the most iconic aspects of Halloween are costumes. Due to the ever increasing price for a costume, some would take matters into their own hands and craft their own costumes. I, for one, find pleasure strolling in a mall and hunting for my costume.

In order to save money and perhaps initiate some form of family bonding, many households prefer to hand make their own costume and potentially create equal or better results. However, in my opinion,  time is a major factor in producing quality costumes; therefore, people would visit their local stores for goods and services.

Mills student Brendan Phimsoutham(12)purchased a costume due to the limited time in his daily agenda.  Senior Daniel Gao (12) also claimed he bought costumes due to their convenience and simplicity stating, “I decided I’ll just buy a costume, similar to my friends.” Based on their responses, it can be concluded that many students prefer to buy their own costume simply because of convenience. I think this is a common factor amongst patrons and students alike. It would appear that students, especially seniors, lack time and motivation to formulate and make costumes, with only some outliers that have considered the idea.

 Nowadays there are social obstacles that would certainly shrink the flexibility of ones’ schedule. Particularly for seniors, Halloween equates to the frightening prospect of college applications and looming deadlines. It is preposterous to spend money designing lavish and time-consuming concoctions while college applications await.   

Other than the inevitable burden of college applications, many can agree that there are many advantages to purchasing a costume. The first reason would be that you will definitely achieve the image you are aiming for because store-bought costumes are manufactured.Many a time I have been the victim of “identity theft.” Rather than believing that I am an evil clown, the Joker, or a dead motorist, I was confused with myriads of fictional personages. 

Buying a costume is also cheaper, depending on how intricate one intends for their costume’s accuracy. Getting cloth, buying thread, and piecing together the bits and pieces is actually much more expensive, certain materials may cost more, some fabric range from the price of $15 and $50, combining other decorative items like plastic crystals ($8) this is a rather hefty price for as a result, it may not meet expectations . For example, the costume Chucky at Spirit Halloween is $36Scooby Doo is only $49 dollars and Willy Wonky is $69 dollars. There is no way that anyone can beat those prices!

As fun as it may be, creating your own costume not only consumes a significant amount of time, but also might prove to be a disappointment. Could you imagine spending hours and days and weeks on creating a costume and at the end, it does not look like what you expected? What if it does not fit? It is possible that it falls apart since the threading is not professionally made. 

All in all, making a costume is a risk that is not worth taking. You will spend more time making it, spend more money, and end up hating it anyways.

Go ahead and do yourself a favor and go to Party City or Spirit Halloween. There you will find thousands of affordable and fun costumes that will be a delightful surprise for your friends and family.