As Halloween celebrations extend across two weekends, students are split between prioritizing sustainability and opting for convenient costume choices — some turned to thrifting and reusing, while others are sticking to quick online buys.
Boston University freshman Lucy Brisman said even though students are considering celebrating Halloween over both weekends, she does not plan on “buying five whole costumes.”
“I feel like that’s a lot of money, and it’s bad for the environment,” Brisman said. Instead, she ordered things from Amazon and Party City and used items she already owns.
Eric Propp runs the rentals and costume department at Boston Costume, a store associated with The Garment District. He said the store has a do-it-yourself section, where buyers can find unique pieces and assemble their own Halloween costumes to give the garments a new life.
“The strength of The Garment District is that we’re going to have actual, real clothing from decades [before],” Propp said. “We have anything from used, packaged costume pieces to just really one-off items.”
Propp said however, there has been a “giant shift” towards thrifting for costumes recently.
Tongie Johnson, a floor associate at Goodwill on Commonwealth Avenue, said shopping at Goodwill is the best way to find affordable costumes.
“You can get a whole costume for, like, $4 or $5,” Johnson said. “Instead of going on Amazon and spending $40, $50, even $30 dollars on a whole costume.”
Alexa Hankins, a junior at BU, said she first went thrifting to search for her costume. After going to Buffalo Exchange and Goodwill a few times without finding the items she needed, she turned to Amazon, which had the items she was looking for.
“As punishment for that, Amazon is not giving me the vest until Nov. 3, so that’s what I deserve, and I’m gonna send it back after,” Hankins said. “It’s either you choose convenience or affordability and sustainability.”
BU sophomore Eleez Omar said she has reused costumes in the past, but this year she bought items from Party City after many items on Amazon were out of stock due to “high demand.”
“It’s truly about convenience,” Omar said. “That’s what it boiled down to.”
On the other hand, BU junior Catia Mehring did not buy any new costumes for Halloween this year.
“I’m just kind of sick of spending my money on that,” Mehring said. “I genuinely just don’t like wasting the costumes after I wear them.”
