Why You SHOULD Wear Your Halloween Costume to Work

"Well this is awkward."

Last Halloween, I got up even earlier than normal to cover my face in Pennywise inspired scary clown make-up for work.  I love that fact that Townsquare Media actually encourages us to dress up and have a little fun at work on Halloween. They ask employees from all over the country to send in photos from their workday to be part of our corporate costume contest and even feature them on their Facebook page.

Well, much to my dismay I was the ONLY person in costume for hours! Luckily, our traffic goddess Robin Scott and Zizly from our sister station showed up in costume a little later in the day. Despite our office's lack of participation in the fun, I am 100% planning to dress up again this year!

Wondering if you should participate in your office's costume contest? I say you should because life is always more fun in costume and actual studies show that you should, too!

According to a O.C. Tanner survey, about 45% of offices let and encourage their employees to dress up for Halloween.  A deeper look into the survey responses showed that employees who dressed up were prouder to tell people where they worked and were more engaged in contributing to the success of their company.

If you do choose to dress up, US News offers these tips for keeping those costumes work place appropriate!

Make Sure the Costume Makes Sense for What You Do

We know that there's a bunch of folks that love listening to us at St. Luke's and St. Al's, so we'll use them as an example.  If you work in a field like that where you may have to deliver bad news, you probably don't want to dress up as say Elsa or Anna from Frozen.  That could make an already uncomfortable moment even more awkward or disrespectful.

You have to think function as well. I LOVE my Yoshi costume that I used for our Trunk-Or-Treat last year, but the gloves only have four fingers.  With how much I need to type or use a mouse during the workday, it's not the most functional at work costume.

It's Ok to Go Low Key

Now that I've mastered getting the boot covers over my shoes for my Wonder Woman costume, it won't take me eons to get dressed on Wednesday morning, but it's still a little more costume than I'm used to doing at work!  If you're trying to think of something last minute, there's nothing wrong with doing a little "closet cosplay" where you build an entire costume around something that you already have.  Case in point I have a white shirt with an obnoxiously large black bow on it.  If I can find a wide-brimmed black hat, that's an easy Zoe Benson (from American Horror Story) costume!

Keep it Work Appropriate

Work's not the place to be showing off your assets. If you think for a second that your costume is showing too much skin, it probably is...throw another layer on underneath it.  Be considerate of your co-workers too.  Some of them might not find your Native American, Mexican or geisha costumes appropriate.

Don't Shame Those Who Don't Dress Up

Last year, one of my co-workers has chuckled every time I walked past him. He spent five and a half years on the other side of the desk from me and admitted had I not dressed up, he would've been let down.  It's just who I am! The said, not all of my co-workers are into Halloween as much as I am and I'm not going to harp on them for it.  They may have a good reason for not dressing up and I'm cool with that.  Be nice to your less festive co-workers today.