For students who use minimal creativity putting together the daily uniform of jeans and yes, another T-shirt, Halloween can be daunting. From the friends who started planning their costumes last year to the overpriced outfits in costume stores, it’s hard to put together a stellar costume without breaking the bank or staying up until the early morning hours learning how to sew. Here’s a guide to conquer all your costuming fears while still leaving you time to finish that essay.
Insider Insight into Costuming: Three Tips
In the back of Mago Hunt Theater is a world unto itself: the land of costumes. Inside, drama students undertake the creation of costumes for campus productions.
As Halloween approaches and we undertake our own costumes, the students who know the most about costume creation, drama majors, offer some tips in response to how to prepare for the year’s biggest costuming holiday.
1. Drama professor Gregory Pulver: Do your research. Use social media sites – an excuse to use Pinterest, as if you needed one – to brainstorm ideas. Go thrift shopping and be inspired by those flannel zebra jammies. Ask friends, and hey, maybe even your grandma. Get creative in the preparatory stages.
Various factors should be taken into consideration, including color, texture and silhouette.
Drama professor Gregory Pulver, who gives support to the drama students producing costumes, recommends really delving into the persona.
“If you’re gonna be a bad witch, are you going to be a green bad witch, a black bad witch, a sexy bad witch…?” Pulver said.
2. Junior Shen Telles: Decide on a price range. If you start early, you’ll have time to find the bargains. But if you’re throwing the budget to the wind, that’s great too. Just have a price point in mind before you start shopping.
When putting together costumes, junior drama major Shen Telles frequents thrift shops and fabric stores.
“If you go to thrift stores, that’ll be the cheapest way to find things that will work for you,” Telles said. “(And) with that stuff, you can always take a needle and thread to it.”
Thrift stores worth your while:
1. Buffalo Exchange: 1036 W Burnside St. 2. Goodwill: 1943 SE 6th Ave. 3. Hollywood Vintage: 2757 NE Pacific St. 4. Red Light: 3590 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 5. Value Village: 5050 SE 82nd Ave. 6. Amazon and eBay are resources to find more obscure items.
Costume shops for those in a pinch:
1. Helen’s Pacific: 7501 NE Glisan St. 2. Hollywood Portland Costumes: 635 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 3. Lippman: 50 SE Yamhill St. 4. Wigland: 1011 NE Broadway St. 5. Buycostumes.com provides prepared costumes if you’re striking out in the stores.
3. Junior Annie Ganousis: Be innovative and step outside your comfort zone. Sometimes, the best costumes take time in the planning and execution stages. Taking that extra time will pay off Halloween night.
“Don’t be boring. People hate boring,” junior drama major Annie Ganousis said.
Costume titles chosen by college students often require more creativity than the least-amount-of-clothing approach. Ganousis advocates thoroughly developing costume ideas.
“If you’re just putting ‘slutty’ in front of a costume, that’s probably not a costume,” she said.
Costume Ideas in Numbers
One · Santa Claus (Get the most out of your money – once December rolls around, you can drag the costume out again.) · Candy - to inspire people to give you more candy, should you find yourself trick-or-treating. · Superheroes or presidents. · A mash-up of a few famous people, for a guaranteed original.
Two · Brad and Angelina, using stuffed animals to represent their growing family. · Pick your pair: Fisherman and fish, gatherer and berry, flower and bumblebee, waterfall and bottle, singer and microphone or iPhone and ear buds. · Your favorite singing duo, for a rare opportunity to sing their songs all night long, without even being annoying (right?).
Three · Woody, Buzz, and Andy: the true Three Musketeers · Choose two other friends and dress up as each other, exaggerating each other’s quirks. · Animals (To all cat lovers: Now is your chance to gather and form a litter of kittens.) · Angel and devil on someone’s shoulder
Four or More · Tourists of various cities (A great excuse to pull out that “I Love NYC” t-shirt you never wear.) · Highlighters, a fruit bowl, ice cream, Skittles … Just deck out in all one color. (Comfort, warmth and ease? Costumes don’t get much better.) · The Duggar clan - we’re all waiting for it to be done. · Characters from literature, for example Shakespeare’s King Henry at every stage of his life, from Prince Hal to dead. Or, if you’re more into picture books, the Three BlindMmice. · Characters from film: Andy’s toys, Flintstones, Friends, Scoobydoo, How I Met Your Mother… There’s no excuse to be stumped with so much inspiration out there. Which gives you permission to watch TV this month – as research for your costume. How to eat your pumpkin By Erika Murphy and Emily Neelon
Pumpkin Bread
2 cups brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 1 cup canola oil 4 eggs, beaten 1 15 ounce can (1 3/4 cups) pumpkin NOTE: Use plain canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. 2/3 cup water 3 1/2 cups flour 2 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. allspice 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
Cream sugars and oil together. Add eggs and pumpkin; mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients; add dry ingredients alternately with water, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour batter into two well-greased and floured 9x5-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until it tests done. Let stand 10 minutes on a cooling rack before removing from pans to cool completely.
Individual Pumpkin Custards Submitted by Ashley Hanna, freshman
½ cup ground sugar ½ teaspoon ground ginger ¼ ground cloves 1 can of canned pumpkin 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 2 large eggs 1 can of evaporated milk
Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Gradually stir in pumpkin, eggs and evaporated milk. Pour the mixture into eight custard cups and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 300 degrees. Let cool for two hours and enjoy!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies Submitted by Allison Zimmerman, freshman
1/2 cup pumpkin puree 1 whole egg 2 egg whites 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp salt 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line an 11x7-inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs and oil until smooth. Set aside.
In a separate medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, spices, salt and brown sugar. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until it passes toothpick test. Cool completely before cutting.
Sweet and Salty Pumpkin Seeds Submitted by Hanna Herin, Junior
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups raw pumpkin seeds, washed and patted dry
- 1 tbsp. organic coconut oil (or any oil will do)
- ¼ tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. sea salt
1. Remove seeds from pumpkin, wash in colander, remove bits of pulp, and pat dry. (Or use store-bought pumpkin seeds) 2. In a small bowl, toss seeds, oil (you may have to heat it on the stovetop to get it to liquefy), cinnamon, and salt. 3. Spread evenly on baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through.
Halloween Activities On The Bluff
-HALLoween: Residence halls are decorating for Halloween and providing and giving out treats to neighborhood trick-or-treaters.
-UP Ghost Tour: Taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 30, students can tour around campus and learn about ghost sightings at UP. Event starts at 8 p.m. in front of Bauccio Commons.
Fall Activities around Portland
-The Pumpkin Patch * Family Farm, Produce Market, Gift Shop, Cafe, and Corn Maize *No entrance fee and free activities including daily hay rides * Hours: Sunday through Thursday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. *16511 Northwest Gillihan Loop Road Portland, OR 97231
-Fright Town *Entire Block of Haunted Attractions, voted best in Oregon * Oct. 4-6, 16-20, 23-27, 30 - Nov. 1 *Sunday-Thursday: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. *Friday-Saturday: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. *$20 a person, coupons available at frighttown.com *300 Winning Way Portland, OR 97227 Neighborhoods: North Portland, Lloyd District
-Scream Portland *Haunted House Attractions *Oct. 22-31, Nov. 1-2 * Sunday through Thursday: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. *$25 for admission *1940 N Victory Blvd Portland, OR 97217
