Orange Pulse: One Halloween costume isn’t enough

Halloween is just around the corner, and many Syracuse University students are preparing costumes to show off and celebrate the occasion.

An Orange Pulse survey this week found that roughly 91% of respondents are planning on dressing up this year, indicating high popularity for the holiday.

Halloween has morphed into a huge industry every year, and for many students, one costume for October 31st is not nearly enough. In fact, the holiday has swallowed up the days around it to form an entire “Halloweekend,” a several-day-long celebration in which students feel the need to have numerous different costumes.

“I have five costumes this year,” said Adrianna Sirena, a VPA student. “I think it is a bit excessive. I have five because I wanted five.”

Compared to most other students, five does indeed seem a bit excessive. This year’s calendar appears to suggest that “Halloweekend” will consist of Thursday the 30th, Friday the 31st, and Saturday the 1st of November. Just one of the 122 survey respondents said they would wear five or more costumes.

More often than not, however, respondents did report that they will prepare numerous costumes. Only 16% say they will have one costume, and just 5% won’t dress up at all.

“It’s one of my favorite holidays,” said Jakobi Oliver. “You get to dress up and be somebody else for the night. There’s so much creativity that goes into making a costume and so many different festivities.”

Oliver has three different costumes prepared and says he even stresses about picking costumes. Students must pay fittingly frightening prices for popular costumes and face manufactured pressure to show off when the time eventually comes.

“I want the night to go right, and to make sure I look good and great in my costumes,” Oliver added. “I didn’t make my final decision about my costumes until today. So I do stress about it.”

Popular costumes tend to follow trends in popular culture within the year. Famously, a Princess Leia costume featuring her iconic side buns and white gown took over in 1977 following the release of the original Star Wars film. In 2009, Michael Jackson-themed costumes were at an all-time high following his untimely death, and in 2011, Angry Birds costumes burst onto the scene as the mobile game became the world’s most popular. More recently, Barbie and Ken-themed costumes have been quite common since the release of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s Barbie film in 2023.

This year, there doesn’t quite seem to be one smash hit favorite costume. Our survey asked respondents what they perceived to be the most “trendy” costume this year, and was met with responses as varied as “Labubus”, “Dubai Chocolate”, and “Wicked”. Those three all represent trends or pop culture references relevant in 2025, however none have established themselves as the clear #1.

Instead, the most common response to this question was unexpected – the Lorax. The fictional orange creature, who was the star of a 2012 Universal film inspired by a 1971 Dr. Seuss children’s picture book, has existed as a Halloween costume for years, but appears to be among the trendiest in 2025. 18 of the 122 respondents cited that they perceived it as the most popular, even though almost none said it would be their personal favorite.

When asked to name their favorite costume for this year, responses were even more varied. Many answers included more niche or abstract references, with some of them tying into broader trends from 2025. The only survey respondent who said they had prepared “five or more” costumes listed Caitlin Clark as her favorite costume, referencing the WNBA stars continued rise to superstardom over the last 24 months.

Another sports-related costume, possibly influenced by the events of the last year, was a respondent who said they were preparing a group costume with the theme of the 2004 film Miracle. Nostalgia for the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic ice hockey triumph over the Soviet Union was at an all-time high earlier this year in light of February’s U.S.-Canada series, which took both nations by storm.

Finally, there were plentiful pop culture references relevant to films or songs released in recent months and years. Wizard of Oz themed costumes seem popular, including Dorothy and witches; the 2024 release of Wicked and the anticipated November release of its sequel, Wicked: For Good likely had some influence on that as well.