Halloween is a festive time when people dress in costumes, make jack-o-lanterns, and go trick-or-treating. Here are some of our tips and tricks to ensure that you have a fun and safe celebration!
Halloween Culture in the United States
Halloween is celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2025 will occur on Friday, October 31. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Over time, the celebration evolved into All Hallows Eve and later Halloween. Today, Halloween is a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes, and eating treats. You can read more about the evolution of Halloween here.
Halloween in New Orleans draws thousands of visitors for the many activities that the city has. Just like Mardi Gras, locals dress up in lavish homemade costumes, enjoy parades, and decorate their homes.
Costuming Tips
In New Orleans, dressing up in a costume is an important part of any celebration. In a city where costume shops are common across the city, there are many places where you can go to get unique costuming items! Visit this website for a full list of local costuming shops. Of course, online retailers like Amazon, HalloweenCostumes.com, and Spirit Halloween have some great options as well. Spirit Halloween also will set up physical locations around this time of year as well. This year, there are physical store locations in Gretna, New Orleans, and Metairie. You can find a full list here. Here are some close to the Uptown Campus:
- Walgreens, 718 S Carrollton Ave, New Orleans, LA 70118
- Jefferson Variety, 239 Iris Ave, Jefferson, LA 70121
- Funky Monkey, 3127 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115
- Miss Claudia’s Vintage Clothing & Costumes, 4204 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115
- Uptown Costume & Dancewear, 4326 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115
When deciding on a Halloween costume, it is important to avoid cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is when someone adopts a culture that isn't their own and does not acknowledge or respect the culture being used. Cultural appropriation can often occur during Halloween. The general rule of thumb is if your costume is disrespectful towards a culture or ethnic group, or pokes fun at those groups in any way, it’s not a costume you or anyone should wear. Here are some examples of things not to do for costumes:
Don’t change your skin color
Dressing up as your favorite character from a movie or TV show is pretty harmless, but it can become harmful quickly when using makeup to alter your skin tone. Changing or darkening your skin tone, known as "blackface," "yellowface" or "brownface" is disrespectful. It is never acceptable to darken your skin tone in order to imitate a character or a celebrity.
Don’t dress up as a stereotype of an entire culture
Some of the most common examples of dressing up as a stereotype are wearing kimonos, ponchos, grass skirts, and headdresses in an attempt to dress up as someone from Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, or Native American cultures. For example, if you decide to wear a poncho, a sombrero, and a mustache while dressing up as someone from a Latin American country, like Mexico, you are reducing an entire group of people down to one stereotype.
Be mindful of cultural importance
It’s possible to appropriate a culture even if you don’t darken your skin tone. For example, cornrows or dreadlocks. These hairstyles hold significant meaning to the Black community as a way of expressing and acknowledging their history, and non-black people wearing them disrespect that cultural background. Another example is Native American headdresses or other regalia. These are parts of sacred religious attire for various indigenous communities, so wearing them as a costume rather than in their intended context is disrespectful towards those communities. In general, any aspect of Native American cultural dress is not a costume.
Safety
Be safe as you engage in Halloween activities! Whether you are handing out candy to trick-or-treaters or attending fun costume parties, be sure that you follow these tips:
- Travel in Groups: If you go out, go with friends. A group of people will be less likely to attract attention than a single person. Go out in groups and return in groups. You will have more fun with friends and you will be safer with other people!
- Leave Valuables at Home: Don't bring your immigration documents out with you or other valuable items! Leave them at home in a safe location.
- If You Drink, Don't Drive: Twice as many child pedestrians are killed on Halloween night than on any other night of the year. 14% of fatal accidents on Halloween involve a driver under the influence of alcohol. If you drink, don't plan on driving! Use Tulane transportation resources to get to and from your destination safely, or use Uber/Lyft. Remember, you need to be 21+ to drink in the United States!
- Avoid Mixing Substances: Mixing alcohol and other substances can create an unsafe environment for you and the people around you. Read this "Stall Street Journal" from October 2020 from The Well for more information!
- Write Down Emergency Phone Numbers: Write down a friend's phone number and keep Tulane emergency contact information with you at all times. If your phone runs out of battery, you can still contact these numbers if you have them written down!
Activities
Now that you know some costuming tips and safety tips, let's talk about some fun things to do to celebrate Halloween!
- Attend Krewe of Boo: Krewe of Boo is New Orleans' Official Halloween Parade, combining the magnitude of Mardi Gras with the macabre theatrics of All Hallow's Eve.
- Visit the Skeleton House: Located on St. Charles Ave on the corner of State St is the Skeleton House. Louellen and Darryl Berger, the residents of the house, decorate their property every year with skeletons with creative and funny puns. This house is within walking distance from the Tulane Uptown Campus, or you could take a streetcar to visit it!
- Do a Haunted Tour: There are tons of great tour companies here in New Orleans that can show you historical sites with haunted histories.
- Visit a Cemetery: Because of the geography of New Orleans, burying the dead underground is very difficult. To solve this problem New Orleans buries their dead in plots of land above the ground or in mausoleums. Visit one of these historic sites and take a tour!
- Visit a Haunted House: Haunted House attractions are very popular this time of year. These attractions involve walking through a house or maze and actors popping out to scare you! Some local ones include The Mortuary and New Orleans Nightmare
Celebrate Halloween with OISS
This month, we will host or cohost several events for international students and scholars to celebrate Halloween! Here are a list of the upcoming celebrations:
- Global Café Halloween Pumpkin Carving: Join us for an unforgettable evening of pumpkin carving, coffee, snacks, and Halloween-themed goodies. Whether you come with your gang of ghouls or fly solo, we'll make sure you have everything you need to create the perfect pumpkin masterpiece. The first 50 groups get pumpkins, designs, and carving kits on the house!
- Tuesday, October 28 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM in Pocket Park
- Coffee & Conversation: Pies and Pumpkins: Coffee & Conversation is a biweekly gathering of international students and scholars to have themed conversations. Learn about New Orleans, US culture, and global cultures in a casual environment! Great opportunity to practice your English! Come have a discussion about Fall traditions in the United States.
- Thursday, October 23, 12PM-1PM in the Tidewater Building Downtown, Room 1225
- OISS Trick-or-Treating: Each of our participating offices will have stations set-up in their offices or in another place of their choosing where international students and scholars can stop by, say “Trick-Or-Treat”, and get some Halloween candy and maybe swag or resource information. Costumes, makeup, or fun Halloween accessories for this event are HIGHLY encouraged.
- Friday, October 31 from 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM Downtown and 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM Uptown
