Every year people strive to have the best or the funniest costumes but don’t realize how offensive their costumes can be.

The origin of dressing up on Halloween came from an old belief that spirits and ghosts would come back to earth and haunt the living on Oct. 31.

As a way to avoid being recognized, people would wear masks so that spirits would confuse them for other ghosts. Over time, the masks turned into costumes.

Now a days, people dress up as whatever they please. Party City is well known for their party supplies and costumes, but looking through their website, there are an incredible amount of offensive costumes.

For instance, the website has a costume named “Hey Amigo Mexican Costume” that consists of a sombrero, a colorful poncho, a long mustache, and pants with a donkey attached to it. Yes, a donkey attached to it.

Now, we get it. These costumes are created to get a laugh out of people. But is it really worth it to insult a whole culture for a couple of giggles?

People of Mexican descent are not ones who wear ponchos, sombreros, and especially don’t have a donkey attached to them. Yet, this is the image portrayed by this costume.

It’s extremely disrespectful, yet some people chose to dress up like this.

There aren’t just costumes ridiculing Mexicans, but also Native Americans, the Irish, and many more groups.

Every year, more and more problems and wrongdoings regarding costumes emerge on Halloween.

Aside from insulting people, the topic of whether a costume is appropriate or not also arises.

When we talk about what isn’t appropriate, we don’t mean costumes that are bloody, chilling, or so. We mean costumes that are exceedingly sexual.

We’re not targeting the debate of whether a woman can wear something some might consider too revealing, women can do as they please. We’re targeting the debate regarding whether a costume should even be “sexy” or alluring.

The number of sexy bees that we have seen is unbelievable. An insect that pollinates flowers and lives in a hive is sexy? Come on. It’s just so perplexing to understand why something as small as an insect would be considered erotic.

It’s strangely frustrating to walk down the school halls on Halloween day and see countless students wearing ridiculous, offensive, or just down right unnecessary costumes simply because the costume are “so cute” or “funny.”

There isn’t anything cute or funny about looking foolish or rude.

Halloween is about having fun and hanging out with friends. So before picking a costume, students should think about the meaning of it out of respect for others and for themselves.