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A Spooky Season to Remember!

 

As the leaves turn orange and the sun starts to depart from the sky sooner, we arrive at one of the most exciting festivities the year has to offer: Halloween! Not to worry, we won’t be giving you a history lesson of all the spooky tales of Groningen just yet, but we are here to spice up the 31st of October for you. At the end of the day, no matter the excitement Halloween causes, it is also a time of many decisions and we’re here to help with those!

Looking for costume ideas?

If you’re staring at your closet unsure which what trousers fit best with what shirt so that you don’t have to explain to everyone that you’re dressed as a clown: not to worry we’ve got some ideas for you.

Firstly, there is no need to go out and buy a whole new costume. It’s far more sustainable not to, so head to those thrift stores! Of course you can also just use clothes you already own. There might just be one or two things you’ll have to buy; the occasional blood face paint or fake vampire teeth, but you don’t need to add more stress to your plate during the exam season. So, interested in some ideas? Why don’t you try out going as a pirate this year? Just grab an oversized white blouse that’s loose. Pair that with some coloured jeans and long black boots. Then you can either match that with a black vest or corset and ultimately put on some jewellery, and a colourful headscarf and finish it off with a one-eyed mask if you have one lying around.

Not trying to go as mainstream as a pirate? Not to worry, we’ve got ideas for everyone. You could be the next drama queen. Get dressed up in a prom dress but then put a twist to it with some fake blood and makeup. If you’re not feeling the dress since it’s already 5 degrees outside, how about being the next Frankenstein? All you need is to dress up in all black, some silver jewellery and lots (and I mean lots) of green paint. Nonetheless, costumes leave room for a lot of creativity, and we’re excited to see what you come up with this year- maybe you’ll even be the inspiration for the theme of our next blog, you never know!

Not sure how to have that festive vibe right inside your home?

If you’re anything like me, you like to have a little bit of the seasonal vibe on your desk at home. Thus, get your old glue stick back from school out and those scissors you had to buy for that one art project back in 6th grade- they still have their purpose. 

In terms of decorations, one of my favourites for Halloween are ghosts and blood shot eyes. For the ghosts you can use some tissues, and a hair tie to attach it to the inside of a toilet roll to create a mini ghost that you can draw some eyes to with a marker. Then, hang it up with a piece of string to greet those who enter your room. In case the ghosts aren’t enough, host a little art evening with your friends and get to painting skull heads, graveyards and witches on white painted rocks. Don’t worry we’re not quite encouraging you to start a rock collection… or are we? Maybe ghosts seem a little spooky to you, but not to worry, why don’t you try a more fall-inspired approach? If you have some orange wool left and green stripes of paper, you can make a little string that you can attach to your bed frame so that when you wake you see dangling pumpkins. Who doesn’t want that? I mean you can also get real pumpkins and make soup or carve them but that’s just too expected. 

Want inspiration on how to spend the last days of October? 

On the topic of pumpkin carving, we want to allow you to obtain that work-life balance. All that studying means you deserve a break. And what better way to have a better break than to get your friends involved and create your own board game inspired by Halloween and all the spooky tales inspired by Dutch history? You could even host a spooky dinner or just organize a horror film marathon. But, in case you’re searching for tips on what to do on Halloween itself, then you’re at the right place considering ESN is hosting a Halloween party from 11PM on the 31st of October at Ocean41. See you there!

Now we hope we’ve inspired you to take a little time for yourself while you work hard and make this the most memorable Halloween to come.  

 

– Written by Annika. K