As darkness falls tonight, lines of frenzied shoppers will wind through aisles of makeup, masks and costumes. Horror films will flicker to life on silver screens, and wide-eyed children will dart between doorsteps in search of candy and adventure. And as Public Safety readies its forces to fight violence and vandalism, the first drinks will trickle from the taps to intoxicate thousands of eager partiers.

Students will head out in droves to celebrate this year’s unseasonably warm Halloween weekend. It’s likely the last chance to enjoy Syracuse before winter sets in, and everyone on campus – from fraternities to the University Union to the Department of Public Safety – seems poised for a party.

‘I’m probably having the best Halloween I’ve ever had,’ said Shawn Voyten of Party City, a costume and party supply store about 10 minutes north of campus. ‘People are just buying everything. I’m wiped out of a lot of stuff.’

FASHIONABLY LATE

The National Retail Federation predicts that consumers will spend an average of $41.77 on Halloween costumes, candy and decorations this year. About 48 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds plan to throw or attend a party, an NRF survey found, and about 57 percent will dress in a costume.

Many students, though, still haven’t decided on the proper Halloween attire.

‘I don’t have a costume yet,’ said Emily Gelman, a senior magazine and sociology major. ‘We’ve been talking about it, but I can’t think of anything.’

Widespread procrastination means that last-minute buyers will likely swamp costume stores tonight. Voyten hires 30 temporary employees for about eight weeks to handle the huge spike in sales during the Halloween season, and he has kept his store open late all week.

‘I just don’t have enough people to cover the rush,’ he said. ‘It’s just so crazy.’

However, some responsible students have planned ahead to avoid the long lines and confusion of Friday-evening costume shopping.

‘I bought my costume like eight months ago,’ said senior magazine and political philosophy major Rebecca Parker, who will masquerade as Jessica Rabbit. ‘It went on sale at an exotic dancer store, and that was the only place I could find it.’

The NRF expects consumers to spend an average of $14.85 on costumes, but students on a tight budget may opt for cheaper, more creative outlets than the standard Halloween store.

‘That’s the beauty of the Salvation Army,’ said senior broadcast journalism major Adam Kaufman. ‘I’m going to go and see what I can find for a total of about $5, tear it apart, put some mud on it and wear it.’

Kaufman’s still not sure if he’s going to dress as a ninja or a bum.

MONSTER MASH

Once students settle on a Halloween disguise, they’ll be treated to temperate weather and the semester’s biggest party weekend. Tonight’s low is 54 degrees, and the chance of precipitation is just 30 percent. Last year, it snowed on Nov. 1. Marshall Street, fraternity houses, South Campus apartments, residence hall suites and the off-campus student residential district will overflow with masked mayhem and drunken debauchery.

‘I think a friend of ours is having a party,’ Parker said, ‘so we’re probably going to go there. Maybe go to the bars, maybe – if I can walk in my shoes.’

Her Jessica Rabbit costume features a red lam tube dress slit to her hip and orange, 4-inch stiletto heels.

‘I’m sure my friends will tell me what’s going on,’ Kaufman said. ‘It’s Halloween, so you want to go where all the good costumes are.’

While students binge and flaunt their creative apparel, Public Safety will be out in full force to ensure that everyone makes it home in one piece.

Public Safety will increase its patrols on campus and in the adjacent neighborhoods. Halloween is a red-line day, which means that Public Safety officers can’t take off from work.

‘[We] encourage students to have fun, be lawful and considerate of others they come into contact with,’ Senior Lt. Grant Williams said.

Not all students will spend the night partying, however. University Union Cinemas has scheduled a Halloween movie marathon for tonight. The four films – ‘Idle Hands,’ ‘House of 1000 Corpses,’ ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ and ‘C.H.U.D.’ – start at 6:30 p.m. in Gifford Auditorium and run past midnight. UU Cinemas chose the horror flicks with Halloween in mind, but they won’t be dressing up or extending the celebration off-screen.

‘It’s kind of a tradition,’ UU Cinemas co-coordinator Kelley Krapp said of the marathon. She doubts attendance will be affected by tonight’s plethora of parties. The people that skip partying for the movies on the average Friday night will probably do the same tonight, she said.

The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity will conduct a sober, heart-warming event of its own this afternoon. The brothers and the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority plan to take local children trick or treating to the greek houses around campus.

‘We wanted to do a community service event,’ said Greg Jones, the vice president of communications for Sig Ep, ‘and one of the brothers just happened upon this.’

The brothers will take the children out in the afternoon so they’re not exposed to late-night, post-party antics. They’ve provided other fraternities and sororities with candy to hand out to the children.

‘Almost the whole house is doing it,’ Jones said. ‘It’s going to be great.’

Whatever the costume and wherever the celebration, the warm Halloween weekend is all the excuse students need to cut loose. And if tonight is wild as expected, it’ll raise the bar for future festivities.

‘Every year,’ Gelman said, ‘Halloween is a party.’

Published on October 30, 2003 at 12:00 pm