Save money or buy a Halloween costume: a question for college students

This time of year comes with a price tag for students.

It’s Halloween season, which means three nights of dressing in costume: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And what costume you are wearing is a big deal among college aged people, especially Penn Staters.

So where do such students find the money and time to get costumes for Halloween? There are a couple of options for finding that perfectly adorable and expensive costume, including Gift Adventures on Beaver Avenue or the seasonal Halloween Adventure off Colonnade Road.

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“Girls are willing to splurge; they want their costumes,” said Lauren Wilkes (sophomore-secondary education), who works at Gift Adventures.

Wilkes said there has been no change or surprise in the amount of costumes sold this year. Despite the economy, students are finding the money to spend just as much as they have in previous years.

Earlier this week, she was swamped helping customers try on costumes, ringing up their purchases and offering her advice to college students wanting the best looking, most original outfit for this year.

She predicted that the rest of the week would only get busier.

Gary Filkins, manager of Gift Adventures, said that he hopes to sell every costume, but that has not been the case any year. However, he agreed with Wilkes in saying that the sales have been mirrored to the previous year, and the economy is not an issue when it comes to college students purchasing Halloween attire.

Filkins said that if students are conscious of a budget he does make suggestions to them as opposed to purchasing a pre-made costume, like the $89 gorilla suit. He offers a variety of accessories like sunglasses, Mexican hats, and make-up that can be fashioned into a less expensive “costume.”

For students who are able to travel off campus, the seasonal Halloween Adventure, which is open from Sept. 12 to early November, offers an even bigger selection of the most popular Halloween costumes.

Last weekend, Halloween Adventure had about 100 shoppers, and Mike Clark, store manager for the 15th season, said it was likely to “explode” and double in no time.

Clark said the most expensive costume he ever sold was a life-size queen alien for $25,000 in 1994. This year, his most expensive costumes are adult costume princesses for $130 and Bo Peep for $140.

There has been no difference in the sales since last year, Clark said. He said the economy affects almost every other business except the seasonal shopping for Halloween costumes.

“You can’t put a price tag on fun,” said Clark. “You have to be willing to get dirty to find a job, but everybody needs to chill at some point in the year.”

The costumes Penn State can expect to see too many of are Ghostbusters, Marilyn Monroe, Mario and Luigi, Michael Jackson and the standard “risqué” girl costumes, Clark said.