Drake is gearing up for the looming Halloween. Campus is filled with students planning on wearing costumes from the overdone to the underdone. But if students haven’t gotten costumes by now, it isn’t too late to find one. Two shops in Des Moines are ready to serve last-minute party needs.

Theatrical Shop

Located in historic Valley Junction, the Theatrical Shop offers basics for costumes as well as extreme additions. The shop boasts hundreds of costumes for purchase or for rent, and has extended hours until the end of the Halloween holiday. Find anything from bagged costumes, makeup, wigs and plenty of accessories for add-ons. In addition to the norm, the shop also sells fabric and other materials for the creative types looking to make their own costume. Rentals are top quality. If you want to be Han Solo’s clone this year, visit the Theatrical Shop. You’ll look like you’ve stepped out of the Millennium Falcon.

Nobbies

Located on University in Clive, this store has everything from wigs to wicked witch warts. Their stock of instant disguise kits can quickly create a professional-looking costume if you’re really scrapped for time. Their Web site offers express and next day air shipping for online orders. If you’re looking for a period costume, check out the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s costume ideas they have on their Halloween page.

These stores are great for those with a little more dough to spend as well as the more frugal students. If anything, a trip to Nobbies or the Theatrical Shop is bound to inspire awesome ideas, whether you buy or rent or not.

For people low on cash, there are a ton of options to making a great costume on a budget, or even for free. For example, try finding a big enough cardboard box and painting it a bright hue to fashion yourself as a Lego. Who’s to say you wouldn’t get a laugh out of that one?

Another popular and relatively affordable way to dress up is by dressing up in a group. For example, dressing up as the cast of “Futurama” with your friends will give you the chance to share ideas, borrow items and get great feedback on one another’s costumes. Shopping at Target, Walmart or Goodwill can be inexpensive places to visit for costumes depending on your needs.

However, sometimes the best ideas are gained from asking students around Drake.

“I like to dress accurately as opposed to overly promiscuous,” Mary Jane Morgan (AS2), said. “I’m going to be Ginny Weasley because I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and I currently have red hair.”

Other students are downplaying their roles in Halloween. Elizabeth Demmon (B2), isn’t going as anything.

“I hate Halloween,” Demmon said. “I’m a big scaredycat, and Halloween is all about being scared.”

The more creative the costumes get, the higher probability it has of being a success, and costumes can be cheap. The fairies and sexy animals and Ghostbusters strolling through campus are overdone. In this day and age, creativity has a big effect on people, so even if you want to be something that’s seen every Halloween, add your own spin on it and you’ll have everyone asking how you got such a sweet costume.

In the end, the best thing you can do for Halloween if you’re dressing up is to dress as something you think is great – it’s a holiday that’s supposed to be all about having fun so you just have to go for it.

“I like Halloween because it’s always fun to dress up, the candy and it’s just a good reason to have fun,” Morgan said. “It has a fascination about it. It’s magical and really silly at the same time – you can forget yourself for a night.”