Curating Your Halloween at Centre

By Linley Mueller
Halloween is one of those holidays that I think can be difficult to celebrate in college. There is usually a lot of pressure to have the perfect costume, go to the perfect party, and somehow make the entire night feel like something out of a movie. However, I think Halloween can be much more enjoyable when it is treated less like one specific event and more like an atmosphere that you create throughout the month. At Centre, there are a lot of different ways to curate that atmosphere without necessarily having to leave campus. Between decorating your dorm, spending time outside, getting food at Cowan, listening to the right music, and taking a walk around Danville, there are plenty of opportunities to make October feel different from the rest of the semester.
I think one of the easiest ways to start creating a Halloween atmosphere is with your dorm. Centre has a lot of communal spaces where small decorations can make a bigger difference than you might expect. Living spaces on campus can be decorated with things like fake cobwebs, pumpkins, orange lights, or whatever else fits the mood. I do not think you need to completely transform your room into a haunted house unless you really, really want to. Sometimes a few decorations are enough to make coming back from class feel a little more seasonal. The firepits on campus are other places that I think works well for getting in the Halloween mood. They make it a nice place to sit outside, and I think the combination of cool weather, a fire, and a group of friends is one of the easiest ways to create a Halloween atmosphere. Sitting outside at night, listening to music, talking with friends, or playing guitar can make an ordinary night feel much more festive!
One of the most important parts of curating a good Halloween atmosphere–in my opinion–has to do with the music you listen to. I think the right playlist can completely change the feeling of a room or a walk around campus. Songs that feel dark, nostalgic, dramatic, or strange can work just as well as classic Halloween songs like “Monster Mash” or “This is Halloween.” Some good examples of this are “Dracula” by Tame Impala, “Kill Bill” by SZA, and “Vampire Hour” by Ken Carson. I think October is a great excuse to listen to more music that you might not normally put on.
Cowan can also become part of the Halloween experience even though it is somewhere most Centre students visit every day. I think one of the easiest ways to make Halloween feel more present is to take normal activities and make them slightly more seasonal. Going to dinner with friends while wearing costumes or bringing food back to your dorm to watch a scary movie while eating are simple ways to make a normal night feel different. I also think that being outside of campus can be a good way to make Halloween feel more like an actual season rather than just another week at Centre. Downtown Danville is close enough that students can easily walk or drive over for coffee, food, shopping, or events. Getting a warm drink from Drystack or The Hub and walking around Main Street is something that I think fits the fall atmosphere particularly well.
For people who want to go to events more directly related to Halloween, Danville can make it possible! Witches Night, taking place downtown on October 15, will include costumes, live music, a Cauldron Crawl, and a witch costume contest. I think this is a good option for students who want to do something Halloween-related without having to organize their own event. It also gives Centre students a chance to engage with the larger Danville community.
Getting coffee, looking around a bookstore, walking around downtown, and then coming back to campus to watch a movie with friends sounds like a pretty good October day to me. Ultimately, I think curating a good Halloween atmosphere at Centre is less about finding one perfect activity and more about paying attention to the small things that make autumn feel special. Halloween does not have to be one night where everything happens at once. I think it is more fun when the entire month gradually starts to feel a little stranger, colder, and more eventful. At Centre, there are enough places and people around campus to make that happen if you are looking to get in the Halloween mood.