Halloweekend. A college student created a holiday that entices a weekend of fun and in my case dressing up as a bear without getting weird looks. More known than this is Binghamton, which is famous for its parties and even more famous for its Halloweekend parties. Almost like a religious pilgrimage, college students from all over the U.S. flock to Binghamton to party in one of their Halloweekend venues. In anticipation of this weekend, I bought my Rilakkuma onesie from Temu and planned my trip. After conferring with my friend, I ended up buying a round trip ticket to Binghamton University and a party ticket to Lambdas, Haunted IX party (maybe around $120 total minus all the Ubers and other miscellaneous stuff). Suffice it to say, the party did not disappoint. I had an amazing time with all of my friends taking pictures with all our costumes and dancing to 2010s pop. For anyone who didn’t have a chance or is partying the week of Halloween, be excited.
I think in the just over two days I was at Bing, my expenses including all the Ubers and food was $180 maybe? I don’t know the exact number but every dollar was well spent. The DJs were insane, the flashing lights were great, and the vibes overall was everything I expected.
For anyone planning a trip to any college for Halloween, it is always good to buy tickets early, as tickets will get extremely expensive as time goes on. Also, don’t count on getting any good Airbnbs, especially around Bing, because many frats from around the country will buy out the Airbnbs months before. What many people, including myself, did was just crash at a friend’s dorm. Personally, I spent my night sleeping on the floor of my friend’s four-person suite. Honestly, though, if you aren’t tired enough (among other feelings, iykwim) by the end of the night to sleep on the floor, something is wrong.
My weekend actually started on a Friday at 4:10 a.m. I packed everything before I slept, so all that was left to do was do quick checks and wash up. I got out of my dorm in about five minutes and called an Uber to the Lincoln Harbor bus station so I could take a bus up to Fort Lee. Commutes like this always make me nervous, but I was confident that I allotted enough time. After I got to Fort Lee, I hopped on the 159 bus and got to the really suspicious Fort Lee bus station, which was literally on the side of the highway. Going strong on two hours of sleep, I made it onto my bus to Binghamton and knocked out for my three-and-a-half-hour journey west. I arrived at Bing around 10 a.m., where I called another Uber to take me from the Binghamton bus station to the actual university, where I would meet her, and she would take me back to her dorm. Later in the day, we would meet up with her three other friends, two of whom came from Cornell. Around 7 p.m., we would start getting ready, and when I say it took the girls three hours to get ready, I am not kidding. The sadder fact is that I had to scroll on tiktok for most of that time. After hours of brain rot, we took some pictures and started heading to the party around 10:30 p.m. For Halloweekend parties, it is always advised to get to the party early because the lines for these parties are infamous for spanning around the block. However, we got there decently early, feeling good and in a good spot in line. After this, we went into the venue and partied the night away. At around 3 a.m., we were all tired, so we took an Uber back. The Uber back was around $50 compared to the Uber there, which was $15; however, if you are splitting among friends, it’s actually not that bad. Literally, the second we got back to the dorm, I curled up on the floor and went to sleep. The perfect night.
I rate my Halloweekend experience a 10/10. It was everything I expected and more, and I am extremely grateful to all my friends who accommodated me and let it happen. I don’t even regret missing my CS 116 quiz (sorry, Professor Akcam-Kibis). I will definitely be planning my trip earlier next year and staying longer for both the Friday parties and the Saturday parties. For everyone who didn’t have the best Halloweekend, it’s okay. There’s always next year. Until next time, though, toodles.
