Halloween. A night renowned amongst students for being a blurry, crazy and alcohol-fuelled celebration – often resulting in a horror of a hangover! Although this typical Halloween night can be fun, it becomes easy to forget that it is possible to celebrate the spooky season without having to deal with a splitting headache the next day, or feeling frightfully nauseous. To help you out, I’ve put together a couple of ideas for you and your friends, so you can celebrate Halloween without the copious amounts of booze.
1. Baking! ‘Dead’ fun to do as a group and, what with Bake Off being the highlight of our Tuesday evenings, finding inspiration for some ‘beastly bakes’ isn’t hard! From biscuits to tiered masterpieces, group baking is an easy way to have fun this Halloween – ideas can include skeleton gingerbread men, marshmallow ghosts and spider cake pops! Splitting the cost of ingredients with friends makes this a cheap way to celebrate – plus you’ll get some tasty treats to take into university and munch on between classes (or during!)
2. Movie Night! You can also munch on your spooky bakes whilst cosying up in front of a Halloween-themed movie! Or ANY movie of your choice! From classic horror to comedy, inviting some mates round for a film is a very relaxed way of enjoying the Halloween season without staying up late, or forking out on a costume only for it to be collecting dust in the back of your wardrobe for the remaining 364 days of the year. If you fancy treating yourselves to a cinema trip, Halloween has recently received rave reviews if you want a scary watch!
3. Pumpkin carving contest! Guaranteed a good laugh with your flat/house mates! You could go for an intricately detailed carving, or simply try and create the funniest pumpkin face to make fellow residents giggle when they walk past your house window. WARNING: expect things to get competitive. Extremely competitive…
You could even get your pumpkins from a nearby pumpkin farm, such as Copley Corn Maze and PYO – a good way to spend a sunny autumnal day choosing the fattest pumpkins and enjoying the chill in the autumn air.
4. Autumnal stroll! A relaxed way to wind down over Halloween, after a long week celebrating with baking, movies and pumpkin-carving perhaps! Venturing out the Yorkshire Dales, or even a small trip to popular local countryside spot Ilkley Moors, a walk is a lovely way to enjoy the autumnal scenery and weather, as well as de-stress in general. You could even head out in the evening to admire the gorgeous sunsets we’ve been enjoying lately!
Enjoy celebrating this Halloween, stay safe, and have a spook-tacular time!
Megan Wall