With Halloween quickly approaching, many UK students are making plans for the weekend and are working to find the perfect costume.  TikTok users have provided costume inspiration.

On TikTok, the #halloweencostumeideas tag has over 431.8 million views. One of the most popular trends for 2021 is a fairy. Some creators take inspiration from pop culture references like “Winx Club”or “Disney Fairies”as a group costume. Others are taking a more traditional renaissance fair-esque route, dressing as woodland fairies and styling their costumes with freckles, fake ears and flower crowns. 

“My roommates and I got our idea from TikTok. We decided to do a group costume as the fairies from Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell [and] Vidia,” sophomore Tessa Debra said. “I’m going as Peter Pan.”

Junior Amanda Martin said she has seen a lot of fairies on her TikTok For You page, as well as people paying tribute to famous movies. These tribute costumes include Lara Croft from “Tomb Raider” and Fembot from “Austin Powers.”  

“I think [the costumes] are so cute, especially after Ariana Grande dressed like Fembot in her ‘34+35’ music video,” Martin said.

Senior Morgan Dailey drew inspiration from “Talladega Nights” and planned a couples costume for her and her boyfriend to be Ricky and Carly Bobby.

Other costumes on TikTok follow current events and popular media. These include Britney Spears, as well as characters from TV shows like “Squid Game” and “Euphoria.” Many videos link where users can buy costume pieces, most of them coming from Amazon or Party City. 

“I saw my [Cupid] costume on TikTok and was able to order everything from Amazon,” sophomore Lauren Burkeen said.

Despite sites like TikTok and Pinterest giving users new ideas, some students still expect to see more traditional costumes.

“Even though social media gives us all kinds of ideas, I feel like we are still going to see girls in devil ears and boys in basketball jerseys on campus this year,” said sophomore Maddy Tindall. 

As far as events and places to show off their perfectly curated costumes, students have a few options. The Lexington tradition of Thriller Night, an event downtown where participants dress as zombies and recreate the famous Michael Jackson music video, is returning after COVID-19 cancellations last year. Another option for Halloween festivities is The Scarefest. It will be at the Lexington Convention Center Oct. 22–24 and will include seminar speakers, celebrity guests and a film festival.

With Halloween landing on a Sunday this year, students can make the entire weekend (including Thursday) a Halloween celebration by attending off-campus gatherings and Halloween-themed bar hopping. There will be a bar crawl on Saturday, Oct. 30. Bars on the map include Tin Roof, McCarthy’s and The Roxy. The bar crawl will also feature a costume contest with a $1,000 prize.

“I went out last year for Halloweekend and had so much fun,” said sophomore Shelby Fox, who will be dressing as a race car driver. “I am really excited about the costumes I have planned this year and can’t wait to celebrate.”