By Sydney Sibelius '18
Staff Writer

Every year, Scripps hosts an annual student Halloween Candlelight Dinner. This year, on the night of Thurs., Oct. 29, the Hampton Room was filled with Scripps students dressed in costumes ranging from a group of minions to the patriarchy in the form of Hugh Hefner. The event began with a costume contest, and ended with a three-course gourmet dinner.

The catering staff put on a delicious meal starting with an endive salad with butternut squash, pumpkin seeds and caramelized onions. The second course consisted of gluten-free pasta with falafel meatballs, chicken with red pepper sauce, roasted asparagus and peppers and mashed red potatoes with mushroom gravy.

The meal was finished with watermelon chunks and pound cake cupcakes topped with orange frosting and candy corn. Everything was served family style, with students picking up each serving from tables right outside of the kitchen.

The Hampton Room was transformed into the Hampton Halloween Haunt and was decorated from the floor to ceiling in spooky Halloween themes. The table centerpieces were composed of skulls and creepy crawly bugs, with flickering candles illuminating the dark room. The walls were lined with gravestones, and the ceilings were covered with Halloween streamers.  
More than 60 students students attended the event and celebrated the ghoulish evening. All of the costumes were creative and clever, and the judges, Interim President Amy Marcus-Newhall and two other members of the Scripps staff, had difficulty in choosing the winner and runner-up.

The costume contest was judged in five categories. Contestants could enter into the categories of scariest/ugliest, best duo/group, funniest, best handmade, best pop culture-inspired, and best make-up/hair.

This year’s winners consisted of students dressed in all types of costume. The winner for the scariest costume was your worst nightmare: a hooded, masked figure. A swarm of boycotting bees won as the best group costume; they were all dressed in black and yellow and carried around signs of protest. The group included Melissa Montez ‘16, Alexa Muniz ‘16, Prisma Herrera ‘18, Pamela Ng ‘16, Catherine Chiang ‘16, Mabel Kyinn ‘16, and Katarina Figueroa ‘19.

The funniest costume was won by Bekah Manikowski ‘16 and Julia Black ‘17, who were dressed respectively as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a Hi-C juice box, and created a lunch box together.

A gumball machine worn by Chloe Bazlen ‘18 won the best handmade category, and a student dressed as Agent Sharon Carter won the best pop culture-inspired costume. Best makeup was won by the character Harley Quinn.

Winners were awarded a gift bag of candy and a gift card to businesses in Claremont Village. Additionally, every student that attended received a small bag of candy at their place setting.
The Scripps staff pulled out all of the stops and created a spooky and memorable evening. The room was filled with laughter and smiles as all of the students were celebrating Halloweekend.