The streets of Champaign-Urbana will be alive Friday night with ghosts, ghouls, goblins and more when thousands of students across campus venture out to celebrate Halloween.

For many, the most important part of Halloween is finding the perfect costume. Because college students tend to have a limited budget, the perfect costume is often the cheapest one available.

Payal Patel, senior in engineering, said she will be wearing the devil's costume she wore last year so she won't have to spend money on a new costume.

Erin Schwerer, freshman in ACES, said she doesn't plan on buying a costume at all this year.

"I'm poor," she said. "I'm probably not going to spend any money."

Others choose creativity over cost, willing to defy the cliche costume standards that many students abide by.

Junior in LAS Jeff Evans is going as a giant smiley face this year.

"I'm going to tape a yellow Frisbee to my face," Evans said. He said he plans on drawing a smile onto the frisbee and punching a hole into the mouth. "This way I can still smoke cigarettes on Halloween."

C.J. Goldstein, sophomore in LAS and a member of Gamma Phi Beta, will be trick-or-treating with members of her house. Goldstein and 11 of her sorority sisters are going as the Rockford Peaches from the movie A League of Their Own. For their costumes, they went to T.J. Maxx and Sport Mart to gather items such as white skirts, pink shirts and knee socks.

Some students decided to purchase their Halloween outfits at local shops, willing to spend extra money on packaged costumes. Jackie Warrick, sophomore in LAS, bought a Minnie Mouse costume from Dallas and Co., a popular costume shop located in downtown Champaign.

The store has been busy providing its customers with everything from Teletubby suits to nun costumes.

Wes Shield, store manager, said their selection of costumes and accessories draws people from as far away as Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis.

"We carry more unusual and unique things than most stores," Shield said. "We are by far the largest costume shop in the Champaign-Urbana area."

Although other local stores such as Target and Wal-Mart carry costumes, Shield said Dallas and Co. is the only specialized costume shop in Champaign.

Dallas and Co. will be open until 9 p.m. Friday for last-minute shoppers in search of a costume. Shield said some of the more popular costumes this year have been bumblebee outfits and gangster hats. Their most expensive costume costs around $200 to purchase. It is an elaborate pimp outfit, complete with a purple fur-trimmed jacket.

This evening campus will be bustling with Halloween parties and special events. Many Champaign-Urbana bars are competing for the business of Halloween partygoers. The Canopy Club is hosting "Halloween Hysteria II." Advertisements for the event are calling it "the biggest Halloween party on campus."

Mike Armintraut, marketing director for The Canopy Club, said the event is a "huge dance party" where people can celebrate Halloween until 2 a.m.

"This year it's nice because Halloween falls on a Friday," Armintraut said. "So there will be a ton of people here."

Rick Kallmayer, captain of the University Police Department's patrol division, said he doesn't expect an increase in criminal or dangerous behavior tonight.

"We'll do what we usually do like any other weekend night," he said. "Parties will be similar to that of past weekends except with a Halloween theme."