On Monday many AU students will dress up for Halloween while others have chosen to celebrate the unofficial holiday in other ways.
"I am planning on dressing up," said Courtney Haran, a junior in the School of Communication. "I have koala ears that I bought. ... I figured I would be a koala not just because they're my favorite, but also because I got accepted into the AU Abroad Australia program [for] the spring."
Haran plans to go to a friend's house in Bethesda today and help her hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Halloween costumes and accessories are a $3 billion industry in which Internet sales of costumes account for $1.3 billion dollars in sales, according to a Yahoo! News statistic.
"The fastest moving costumes are those ... fashioned after a recent hit movie like the classic Batman Returns' or 'The Incredibles,'" according to Yahoo! News.
This year's most popular costume is Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies. Rounding out the top five are Batman, the Corpse Bride and characters from the Fantastic Four and Harry Potter.
Other popular costumes, especially with AU students, tend to be those reflecting news stories from the past year.
Megan Kania, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, dressed up as a little boy accompanied by a friend dressed as Michael Jackson, paying homage to Jackson's child molestation trial earlier this year.
For those still looking for a costume, Spirit Halloween Superstore in Bethesda, located just two stops from AU near the Bethesda Metro station, has a large supply of costumes left, including Napoleon Dynamite, a beer keg and Little Bo Peep.
"Halloween is a good time to dress up and go crazy with your friends," Kania said.
Many costume stores sold out of popular costumes early on, so customers turned to the Web for a greater selection, according to an article on PRWeb.com.
The average costume retailer sells out of their most popular stock sometimes two months before Halloween. On the other hand, online retailers can express mail or even overnight their costumes and decorations to make sure their products arrive in time for Halloween parties, according to the article.
Some AU students are celebrating Halloween away from the D.C. area.
Brian Conway, a junior in the School of International Service, will spend Halloween night at Heinz Field attending the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens Monday Night Football game.
"I guess Halloween won't be any different since I'll be going as a Steelers fan," said Conway.
Halloween is also a time where many AU freshmen experience D.C. at its craziest, including trick-or-treating at many of the foreign embassies near campus.
"I haven't trick-or-treated since I was about 14, but now all I want to do is dress up and go out, especially to the embassies," said Hillary Hippert, a freshman in SIS. "There's a lot more to do in a city like D.C. than there ever was in cow country Maryland."
Other students chose not to dress up and spent Halloween weekend enjoying the pleasures of the autumn season.
"Actually, I do not dress up for Halloween ... I am going on a hay ride instead," said Andrew Roohi, a sophomore in SIS.
For more Halloween costume ideas, visit www.spirithalloween-.com.
