As midterms wrap up and October comes to a close, students emerge from the depths of the library and face a new challenge: finding a last-minute Halloween costume. Some go above and beyond to make their character come to life. Some throw on a sports jersey and claim it’s good enough. As I celebrated Halloween last weekend in my La Croix costume, I took note of some of what I believe to be the best costumes. 

Most artistic costume: Claude Monet was seen showing off one of his masterpieces this weekend due to the artistic talents of sophomores Sophia Widmer and Katie Villa. Monet and “a Monet” won the most artistic costume on two fronts. 

“We painted a ‘Water Lilies’ painting on a T-shirt for the costume,” Widmer said. “I’m not sure why we thought it’d be easy to recreate a Monet on a T-shirt with acrylic paint, but it was a lot harder than we expected. We spent almost four hours painting it and it surprisingly turned out really well!”

Best Seasonal Costume: Christmas arrived a few days early with the Grinch, Max and Cindy Lou Who. Junior Erika Mogelvang, senior Taylor Royston, and sophomore Lauren Wetzstein embodied the Christmas spirit of their characters over Halloweekend.

Best Details: Snake necklaces, bracelets, and rings transformed senior Maggie Wackenhut into Medusa, topped with a dramatic headpiece. 

“I’ve always loved Greek mythology and sympathized with Medusa,” Wackenhut said. “I wanted to make her alluring and beautiful, not dark and scary. I also already had a sparkly dress in my closet.”

Most Classic Group Costume: Every Halloween has characters from the classic “Wizard of Oz” in attendance. Seniors housemates Emma Widmer as the Scarecrow, Mary Ann Powers as the Cowardly Lion, Lindsey Cool as Dorothy, Grace Hearne as the Tin Man, Elizabeth Troutman as Glenda the Good Witch, and Caroline Beal as the Wicked Witch of the West committed to their role, complete with a stuffed Toto in Cool’s basket. 

Best Movie Reference: Fans of the Disney movie “Ratatouille” would be shocked to see the resemblance between Linguine and sophomore Thomas McKenna. With a chef’s hat on his head, plastic rat on his shoulder and wooden spoon in hand, McKenna looked like the animated character in real life. 

Best Couples Costume: Sophomores Anna West and Sam Swisher channeled their love for hockey into their hockey player and Stanley Cup costume.

 “I found the idea on Pinterest and thought it was perfect because Sam is a hockey player,” West said. “The only issue is I didn’t have a silver dress, so I ended up finding one at Walmart 20 minutes before getting ready to go.” 

Best (Cinematic) Sports Costume:  Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa put aside their rivalry for the night to celebrate Halloween. Senior Noah Parlee dressed-up as Rocky, junior Dravyn Spies as Apollo, and sophomore Patrick Hamilton stepped in as a referee to ensure they remained civil.

“Being able to go and dress up with friends is way more enjoyable than doing it by yourself,” Parlee said. 

Best Disney Group(s): Disney’s animated characters of Peter Pan faced-off with the intergalactic characters of Star Wars in a competition for Graceland’s best group costume contest. While the lightsabers that juniors McKayla Faust, Owen Gerth, Gavin Listro, Bella Dix, and Isaac Green carried added a dramatic effect, the commitment to Peter Pan characters made them the winners in my book. 

I apologize to all the Barbies and “Kiss, Marry, Kill” groups I saw, but I saw too many of these groups for them to make the cut. At least they didn’t fall into the worst costume category: anyone wearing a cowboy hat with jeans.