Halloween might seem like it’s still a long ways away but before you know it, it’s the week before and you don’t have a costume and there’s nothing tackier than a last minute storebought costume. We’re college students, how about a little creativity?

First of all you need to ensure that you have a good event to attend to show off your costume. Since Halloween always falls on FL/GA weekend, you need to make sure you hold your festivities before people flock to Jacksonville, even if that means having a party the day before Halloween.

Once you’ve got the venue, you need to get the costume. For this, I propose group costumes. These costumes are eye catching, fun and will automatically make you and your friends the life of the party.

There are tons of themed group costumes you can choose from. One fun option is Alice in Wonderland. With a little bit of shopping and some tweaking at home, you can make cheap and unique costumes at home. Each person can give their own homemade twist to the Cheshire Cat or the Mad Hatter. Not to mention, this is perfect if you’ve got twins in your group of friends.

One of the most popular costumes this Halloween will undoubtedly be the Joker, but you can make jaws drop at your party by going with an entire cast of Batman characters. All you need to do is find the right random items of clothing and add some accessories, like Robin’s characteristic R or the Riddler’s question marks, and you can bring Gotham to any party.

Super Mario, the most beloved video game of all time, is a great source for costume ideas. From Mario and Luigi to Princess Peach, these are easy costumes to recreate at home. Just bust out your overalls and prom dress.

Other good group costumes can come from your favorite movie or TV show, like Wizard of Oz, for instance, Star Wars or Pacman. If you want a simple but cute costume, you can go as Dunder Mifflin employees. 

A good way to get a lot of random items of clothing like a purple Joker jacket is to hit up your local thrift stores. Clothes are displayed by color and you can check back every couple of days if you have no luck.

And remember…there’s absolutely no costume you can’t slut up.