Madison Students Hold Halloween Costumes to $100 as U.S. Topping $115 Per Person

Halloween weekend on State Street brings costumed crowds out all night, and with them a question students say they negotiate every year: how to assemble several outfits for one weekend without spending much. The National Retail Federation expects Americans to put $13.5 billion into Halloween shopping this year, an average of $115.14 per person. Three UW-Madison students interviewed for this article said they would not exceed $100 on costumes for the weekend.

Senior Hadley Wendorff said the campus social calendar drives the spending. "If your friends have a great costume you wanna have a great costume too," she said. Junior Matteo Rovera described the same pressure from a different angle. "There's fads for the year," he said. "I would probably only ever wear one Halloween costume a year, but because of what my friends are doing, I have three this year."

Rovera's account of assembling multiple outfits follows a pattern students described: a scramble through closets the night before Halloweekend, then a search through retailers. Junior Lily Myhra said she looks for costumes on Depop and estimated spending "$50 to $100." Costumes seen on campus have ranged from zombies and vampires to characters from "Off-Campus" and "Odyssey," along with internet memes such as Punch the monkey.

Fast-shipping, low-priced options from Amazon, Spirit Halloween and Shein remain available to students who need a costume quickly. Fashion production accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions and pollutes rivers and streams, and 85% of textiles end up in dumps each year, according to figures cited in the reporting behind this article. A costume worn once and discarded fits that pattern.

Students who have been through the process point to thrift stores, Depop, Vinted and Facebook Marketplace for secondhand pieces, and to borrowing or swapping costumes with friends. Others advise checking one's own closet, or a parent's or friend's, and buying clothes that can be worn again after the weekend.

Halloween remains one of the busiest times of the year for Madison's student nightlife, with costumed crowds on the streets through the weekend. Halloween falls on Oct. 31.

None of the three students interviewed said they want to spend more than $100 on costumes for the weekend.