Candy has a whole aisle of its own; multicolored bags of carbohydrates lined up like a Candyland Christmas display.

 The ultimate goal? To be loaded with sugar.

That’s one of the best things about celebrating All Hallow’s Eve. What other time of the year can you get two pillow cases full of sugary treats and not be yelled at by heath-possessed parents? 

But what if you can’t eat any of that candy?...

You can't just have one piece, it only makes you want more. Halloween is the bane of many people’s existence for that one reason, myself included.

Many of us are on diets, but when you find yourself in the presence of skull-shaped gummies, it’s hard to keep on track, especially when candy somehow manages to push itself in your face wherever you are during the month of October.

While I do have a diet, I have to keep my mind on a very major health issue - Type 1 Diabetes.

Yeah. It's not much fun at all...

Don’t get me wrong, I can eat candy as many as Type 1 and even Type 2 Diabetics can,  just as long as I’m careful.  However, it’s still irritating to see people with bags of candy just munching away with no worry attached to that second Mr. Goodbar.

I don’t get these feelings all year round; they’re just more prevalent during this season. Normall, I can get away with ignoring a passerby with my favorite candy in hand when my blood glucose levels are a little high.

But when each and every person has pumpkin shaped cookies, bags of candy corn, and bat Reese Cups?...

While living in a suburban neighborhood with a large amount of children, I’m always defected the duty of handing out the loot when they come around with their plastic pumpkins. Waiting for twenty minutes and not being able to chow down every once and while ‘cause your meter’s in the house? Just…no.

That’s cruel and unusual punishment.

Don’t take this the wrong way,  I love this time of year. Halloween is really when I get to thrive; I’m big on costumes and horror movies, a fan of vampires and werewolves alike, and The Nightmare Before Christmas is an annual favorite.

But it would be so much easier if there was a way to make chocolate bars invisible to the Diabetic eye.

Image Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P5qDqu3vEL0/Tq72zA7Bt8I/AAAAAAAACOM/_5xpCmjrnNY/s1600/halloween-candy-in-bowl-590.jpg

Unlike most places in the world, Halloween isn’t just a one-day event at USC. In Columbia, Halloween means an extravagant, four-day costume-fest. Unfortunately, though, we can’t all afford to wear a new, glitzy costume each night. We all want jaws to drop when strutting our costumes into parties, but don’t want to do the same when checking our bank accounts. Here are a couple of inexpensive costume ideas for guys and girls living on a college budget.

 

701 CCA (Center For Contemporary Art) is a little-known piece of art heaven located in the heart of Downtown Columbia…but not for long. For this past All Hallow’s Eve, from 7 pm-12 am, they hosted their first ever signature event that featured a costume bash, which I have to say, was unbelievable. If you weren’t there, you missed an extravagant event. The entire 701 Whaley building was utilized to its fullest extent.

 

They sold masks at the door if you were not feeling particularly “artsy”, The Nickelodeon Theatre showed “Troll 2” on loop, Jasper Magazine had a Ghost Story Salon where you had the opportunity to swap the spookiest of spooky stories, Sid+Nancy took “Black Carpet” photo portraits (I mean hello, can you say profile pic?) and Greenhaven Preserve had casket photo portraits. 701 CCA had their Biennial Part 1 exhibition on display downstairs, as well, but the main event was The Uncommon Costume Contest.

For all of you horror film junkies out there, here are two films you may not have seen that are perfect for getting you in the mood for the holiday season: 

 

Dog Soldiers

 

Low budget werewolf movies are almost unanimously awful (one need look no further than the “The Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch” for proof).  “Dog Soldiers” is perhaps the only exception to this rule, utilizing suspense and awesome, practical special effects to overcome its financial limitations.  What really makes the film stand out is the soldiers actually behave like trained professionals.  It seems like in every other horror movie, the military is comprised entirely of violent General Ripper-wannabes (“Day of the Dead”), rape-crazed sociopaths (“28 Days Later”) and grunts with IQs less than their shoe size (“Aliens”). 

Anyone can incorporate fashion into Halloween night. Stylists, do you want to be the next Rachel Zoe? Designers, want to be the next Karl Lagerfeld? TGIH (thank goodness it’s Halloween, duh). Here’s my top pick for girls and boys…and don’t worry guys, I kept yours extra simple!

 

Girls: Rachel Zoe

Rachel Zoe has a more bohemian style than most of her fashion counterparts. If you want to look the part, you’ll need:

When we initially think of Playboy, two things come to mind: naked college girls and Hugh Hefner in his garnet robe and slippers. But these contexts are so twentieth century. The new Playboy brand consists of a variety of companies, including clothing lines and a suite at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

Happy Post-Halloween! I decided to venture into Five Points last weekend, simply to laugh at people, and I couldn’t help but think: "Isn’t it funny how the meaning of Halloween changes over the years?" Let’s take a look back through the years and see just how much you’ve “matured.”