Over the last couple of years, the spooky ‘holiday’ as seen a rise in popularity in South Africa. Why it has taken this long to really become a thing we don’t know. What we do know is that we love any excuse to dress up and eat ridiculous amounts of sweet-stuff, and Halloween seems like a perfect one to do just that!
GETTING YOUR COSTUME ON
No matter where or how or with whom you decide to spend Halloween, typically it requires you to dress up. It’s rather nice if you think about it – getting to be someone or something else, without judgement, for one night of the year.
There are no hard and fast rules for Halloween dressing-up and that’s probably the best thing about it! Historically, costumes were meant to be spooky and scary, to fit in with the connotations of it. But in recent years it has become typical for participants to dress up in pop culture, which means relevant and popular in society at the time. These ideas usually stem from characters of movies, TV/Netflix series, and books that have proved to be the most popular over the last year.
For Halloween in 2019, our pop-culture inspired picks would be as follows:
The Avengers
They have been a part of our lives for over a decade now but are still as popular as ever. Endgame Hulk-smashed box office records far and wide. And the great thing is, there is an array of characters to choose to dress up as, including The Incredible Hulk, Ironman, Spiderman, Thor, Black Widow, Thanos, or Captain Marvel to name only a few. Deciding who is the difficult part, because you’ll be highly likely to find the costumes or inspirations for all of the above, and then some, at Heroes of Games and Comics Sandton City, which would make the task a breeze.
Stranger Things
One of the most popular series on Netflix over the last couple of years is, without a doubt, Stranger Things. The series is currently in its third season in The Upside Down and keeps on being a hit with fans. Once again, the great thing about this series in particular is that each of the variety of characters are as unique as the next one – making it a playground for Halloween costume ideas. To get inspired, have a look at this list of characters to choose from.
Other Movie Characters
Thanks to the recent outbreak in the remaking and sequeling of films, you’ll be able to “recycle” some previously loved costumes, with a modern spin of course, all the while staying relevant. Cases in point:
Toy Story – the fourth instalment of the beloved Pixar film sees the return of all our favourite characters from the previous three movies, with a few new additions, in the form of Forky and Duke Caboom, who both make for very worthy dress-up inspirations.
The Lion King – the remake of the classic 1994 film means that costumes such as these are okay to do again. The 2019 version is practically identical to the original, so don’t fret if you haven’t seen it. The characters are just about the same, barring the hyenas, so you can literally take your pick.
The Joker – The villain everyone hates to love is back on circuit currently and, thanks to a fantastic portrayal by Joaquin Phoenix, should become a Halloween go-to in the years that follow. The Arthur Fleck inspired Joker swaps the well-known purple suit for a tangy red and you could get away with popping on a mask rather than doing the entire make-up thing. For a how-to on the 2019 version, check this DIY guide out.
HOW TO CELEBRATE THE NIGHT
Unfortunately, we’re not provided the pleasure to comfortably roam the Sandton streets to go trick or treating like we see in Hollywood movies, but that needn’t mean you can’t still have a good time.
HOST A PARTY
If you can’t go to the people, let the people come to you! And what better excuse to get creative than by decorating, dressing up, and eating all the good (and bad) food in order to host a party yourself?
If you want, you can incorporate a theme (on top of the Halloween theme) for continuity between guests and the all-round vibe. Popular Halloween themes include Hogwarts, Murder Mystery/Crime Scene, Decades or it can be as simple as “Scary Movies” – think Freddie Kruger, Ghostface of Scream fame, or Jigsaw from Saw.
Once you have your theme, or not, it’s time to get those invites out. If you want your guests to partake in dressing up, just remember that you’ve got to allow them time get their outfits together – if you want worthy ones, at least.
After that, it’s time to get decorating in conjunction with your theme. Head over to Pinterest and check out some super easy and affordable homemade decorations to get inspired. It’s a lot simpler than you think and you’ll be able to find just about everything you need between the abundance of retailers available at Sandton Central.
GO TO A PARTY
There is absolutely no shortage of events to attend if you’re not hosting your own. Johannesburg offers a wide range of family-orientated, as well as not-so-family-orientated, events where one can enjoy All-Hallow’s Eve away. Find out more here: (to update list closer to the time as there are no one list that features events at this time)
