Suffolk University Program Council’s Halloween Bash returned for its annual celebration of the season — this time at the Icon Nightclub.
The event started at 7 p.m. and ran for three hours. Suffolk students of every year gathered in the central room to dance to a selection of music by DJ El Sid and eat the Halloween candy littering the tables.
After the success of last year’s Halloween Bash, Suffolk Program Council’s Anna Plumb and Emily Gonzalez De Los Santos, this year’s co-traditions chairs, knew they had to bring their A-game to the event planning this year.
“We have to make sure the event is bigger and better every year. Icon was the best space to get as many students as we can to the event,” said Plumb.
The space, while more compact than that of last year’s venue, kept everyone on their feet for most of the night.
In addition to the change of venue, the team also added some new elements to the night. These incorporations included a digital photo booth and a face painting station where students could add another element to their costumes.
This year especially seemed like “everyone was in it to have a good time,” said Plumb.
It wasn’t all fun and games though, as the costume contest brought in some fierce competition from enthusiastic students.
There were three categories which contestants could win: best individual costume, best duo costume and best group costume. However, judging came with a twist this year.
”We wanted the crowd to choose [the winners] so it would be more engaging,” said Gonzalez De Los Santos.
The people who ended up walking away with awards were Julia Robillard, who won the individual contest for her “Lady Bird” costume, Kylah Huggins and Varsha Vijay, who won the duo contest for their “Monster High” getup and Laila Ahmad-Zani, Alex Choi and Raffaella Shanahan, who won the group contest unopposed as the characters from “Princess Protection Program.”
“During the Halloween Bash, we decided last minute to be the Princess Protection Program for the three of us and it was perfect that Raffaella was dressed up as Aurora,” said Ahmad-Zani. “I was excited to win because I didn’t expect to come with anything. It was fun to dress up and get ready for my friends.”
Although there were only a few winners, the event was not in short supply of Halloween spirit. Many other costumes stood out during the night, sporting the familiar faces of characters like Spider-Man, Batman, Marty McFly and assorted characters from “Monsters Inc.” and “Chowder.”
“Even if they didn’t know the person they would still hype up their costume,” said Gonzalez De Los Santos. “It really showed off our little Suffolk ‘Ramily,’ continuously supporting each other.”
The event continues to be a staple of the fall semester, bringing out crowds of returning and new students alike.
“It’s the first large-scale event of the year that PC puts on, and we had over 250 people attend so it definitely catered to a large population of Suffolk,” said Plumb.
The Bash is the first in a series of events managed by the Program Council across the academic year, with several other seasonal events in the works that are soon to be announced.
As for the next Halloween Bash, “Everyone really seemed to be pumped the entire time, so hopefully next year has someone to beat that,” said Gonzalez De Los Santos.
