Choosing creative, inexpensive costumes this year is a popular choice among students as they repurpose old clothes and accessories for Halloween. 

Freshman visual communication design major Joe Caraher is part of a trio dressing up as the three main characters from the recent movie “Challengers.” 

“I believe it’s one of the new great American films,” Caraher said. “These are characters that people love and that I love, and this is why we’re doing the costume.” 

While thrifting, Caraher and his friends found clothes they thought were perfect for the occasion. 

“We’ve got regular pajama outfits from the flashback and, of course, we’ve got tennis outfits for the matches,” Caraher said. 

The group plans to incorporate those different looks throughout the day, with tennis outfits in the afternoon and the pajama costumes at night.

For accessories, Caraher turned to what he already owned, using his old middle school tennis gear to complete the costumes. 

“We’ve also got tennis rackets and tennis balls,” Caraher said. “When people see us holding the rackets, they’ll realize who we are, even if they don’t catch it right away.” 

Mary Rose Bihler, a graduate student in the College of Communication and Information, is planning on dressing up as “Bob’s Burgers” character Louise Belcher, which Bihler described as a simple but fun costume to prepare.  

Planning this costume a few weeks ahead of time helped Bihler exercise creativity and add personal flare to the look. 

“Honestly, it was kind of random,” Bihler said. “I realized that I had a dress in my closet that was very similar to what the character wears, and I crochet, so I thought, what if I made the hat?” 

After ordering a crochet pattern on Etsy, Bihler said the only thing left to do is to start working on making the pink hat come to life.  

Since this costume will be worn at a work party, Bihler said it will be easy to make the look more casual while working. 

“I had a different costume in mind, but this turned out to be a way easier alternative,” Bihler said. 

By creating a costume with what they already own, Bihler is among many students choosing to forgo spending money on new outfits and instead give their old clothing and accessories a new purpose.  

“I don’t really like buying new costumes every year,” Bihler said. “Costumes are expensive, and buying new pieces is time-consuming. I like to reuse or repurpose what I have.” 

Kayla Gleason is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].