Halloween has always been considered to be the scariest time of the year. There are ghosts and ghouls, bones and blood, and horror-themed decorations hung everywhere. Although these things may seem scary, Halloween actually gives people the opportunity to express themselves in ways they otherwise never could. Adults and children alike are able to celebrate their differences through their many costumes, whether it be store bought or handmade. Halloween allows people the chance to share their love for a certain fandom, to come to events and socialize in ways they otherwise wouldn’t, and to experiment on their true selves through gender affirming costumes wherever they go.

When it comes to sharing interests with others, it can be hard to find what other people are into. Sometimes our interests can be so niche that we don’t even bother seeing if our friends are into them too. However, when it comes to Halloween, people get to wear their love for a certain franchise on their skin. Even if people may not know the franchise, it allows people to be aware of and possibly even look into it. When I was in high school, I made a Papyrus costume from “Undertale,” which was my favorite game at the time. Although it was very low quality — I made my boots by covering a pair of old sneakers I had with red duct tape — I remember a friend group at the cafeteria seeing my costume and screaming like a bunch of fangirls. They all wanted to take photos with me and I loved being recognized. Even when my classmates didn’t know who I was, some people still asked me about the costume and would look up the game. It made me feel good knowing my costume was drawing interest in people.

Cristina, as a cosplayer, can also relate to the fact how communities can be found through costume wearing, especially on Halloween! As a child, she had an active imagination and an obsession with fantasy worlds. Cristina recently completed a Princess Peach cosplay that she debuted at Galaxycon in Austin. She’s excited to showcase this cosplay at all the Halloween events at UTD. 

“In my little mind, donning princess dresses and fairy wings was the surest way to become part of those worlds,” Cristina says. “It was an expression of what I loved and what I felt was part of my identity.” 

By participating in the various costume contests on Halloween, it allows Cristina to not only show off her most recent work as a cosplayer, but also find other cosplayers who are just as invested in making and wearing costumes as she is.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed putting a smile on people’s faces through my costumes without the need of people knowing who I was. With masks being predominant during Halloween time, that also meant giving people the ability to be anonymous at events. As a kid, I asked my parents to buy me an inflatable Baymax costume off of Amazon for Halloween, and with it, I was able to act in character and get noticed without anyone actually knowing who I was. It didn’t matter if I was a boy or a girl, young or old, cute or ugly, they simply saw me as Baymax — someone who is kind and fun to be around. I love seeing all the positive reactions that people would get from my costume. No one would ever treat me differently because of who I was. To this day I still cherish this costume and still wear it to a lot of Halloween parties on campus.

Zethin, who often dresses up as his red fox character for Halloween, even to class, feels free to express himself without the fear of being judged or being treated differently. Without his costume, he would’ve participated in a lot fewer social events. 

“Any other day of the year wearing any of it just makes you a weirdo, but this one day everyone is just going all out being silly wearing costumes and it’s so fun and freeing!” Zethin said. By wearing his unique costume that Zethin personally identifies with, he also feels less self-conscious when socializing with other people.

Not only do costumes on Halloween allow someone to hide one’s identity, it also allows them to experiment with it! With the ability to dress up as characters that the LGBTQ+ community connects with, it allows members of the community to experiment with what truly makes them happy without judgment. River, who identifies themself as mascandrogyne, dressed up as Red Guy from “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared”, who was one of the first characters that made them realize they weren’t cisgender. With the ability to cover their face as Red Guy, it provided River the ability to be anonymous, thus preventing anyone from assuming their gender. 

“It was a way for me to explore my gender presentation and expression as well as dressing up as a character I loved,” says River. “It was incredible to see how differently I was treated when people couldn’t tell if I was a man or woman.”

Rosa also takes advantage of Halloween’s tradition of costume-wearing to experiment on different outfits. Being already out as transfemme, Rosa has been more willing to try more costumes that fit her comfort zone without the need of being anonymous. Last Halloween, she dressed as a catgirl maid and was able to try out fishnets for the first time. Since she named herself after the “Mario” character Rosalina, she plans on going as Rosalina next Halloween. 

“It’s a very easy excuse for trying things that you otherwise wouldn’t,” says Rosa. “Nobody really questions people wearing things not traditionally worn by their assumed gender just because of the nature of the holiday.”

As Halloween promotes the idea of unique costumes, people of the LGBTQ+ community don’t need to worry about the judgment of colleagues or even family. River was often judged by their parents as a child over what they could wear and was often met with discouraging comments. When it came to costumes for Halloween however, their parents were surprisingly lax. By the time River got away from home and started going to Halloween events on campus, they were able to express themself to the max.

Halloween is more than just a holiday to occupy the kids and stuff them with candy. Costumes are for adults too just as much as candy is! It is the one time of the year where communities can grow, whether it be in a fandom, in the LGBTQ+ community, or small groups of friends. It allows participants of the holiday to explore themselves in ways they otherwise wouldn’t and to make new friends. So, if you’re struggling to find yourself and don’t know how to go about it, Halloween is the perfect opportunity to search around Spirit Halloween, Party City, or even your own closet and find your thing that clicks!