Sexy superheroes, sexy policewomen, sexy cats — it’s all been done before.

Women of Carleton: if you’re going to dress sexy this Halloween, try to be creative. Donning a sexy maid costume is the adult equivalent of cutting two eyeholes in a white sheet and calling yourself a ghost.

 Everyone knows that Halloween has become the one night of the year where many women feel they can show skin without fear of judgment.

“A lot of girls want to dress sexy on Halloween because they’re not going to be stereotyped that night,” says Alice Williams, floor manager for the Spirit Halloween store. “On a regular night when they go to a bar and they’re showing too much, you know, people can say ‘whore.’ On Halloween it’s like you can dress up and be as sexy as you want to be and play out that fantasy.”

For many women, wearing a sexy costume is empowering and fun. Not every woman chooses a costume that requires little more than fishnets and a pair of animal ears. Many wear funny or scary costumes.

But it’s not the pervasive trend, and the evidence is in the numbers.

At Spirit Halloween, Williams says about 40 to 50 per cent of all women’s costumes would be considered sexy. Even more so, at Monster Halloween, store manager Carole Connolly estimates the amount of sexy costumes is closer to 80 per cent.

However, Connolly points out the costume packages are often sexualized with buxom, long-legged models posing in the outfits.

“The reality is that the costume doesn’t look like that on the average woman,” says Connolly. “The packagers make it like that but when you are to actually put on the costume it just looks like a really cool costume and not necessarily super sexy.”

At both stores, the most popular costumes for women are the sexy police officer, sexy maid and sexy storybook characters, such as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

This is all fine and well, but the trend is getting old and tired.

Here are a few suggestions on how to upgrade your sexy Halloween costume from generic to entertaining.

1. Sexy Chewbacca. For this costume, you’ll need a big, furry suit. Put a gold bikini over it and don’t forget your ammo belt.

2. Sexy ghoul. “My clothes fell of . . . and so did my hand!” Wear a hospital gown with a bikini of some sort underneath. Wrap some fake bloody bandages around yourself. Bonus points if you can figure out how to fake missing a hand.

3. Subordinate clause. This costume requires a couple. The guy dresses as Santa Claus. The woman dresses in full dominatrix gear and leads Santa around on a leash. It might make people scratch their heads for a second until they remember their Grade 10 grammar lessons.

4. Out of work playboy bunny. Sweatpants, baggy t-shirt, overall bad hygiene. Slap on a pair of bunny ears and off you go! Bring some cheezies as comfort food.