Dressed up as a pirate, Kristin Dombrowski painted a sparkly moon and stars on the face of 11-year-old Morgan Newport, who was a half-angel and half-devil for Halloween.
"(The children) are so happy when they come through, I just keep coming back," said Dombrowski, a telecommunication, information studies and media and studio art junior, who has participated in on-campus Halloween events for the past few years.
MSU students organized trick-or-treating in Rather Hall on Monday evening as a way to provide safe, fun activities for local residents.
Morgan's mom, East Lansing resident Jennifer Newport, said she has brought her children to trick-or-treat at residence halls for more than 12 years.
The event is one way to improve relations between students and permanent East Lansing residents, Newport said.
"It brings the community together," she said.
The event was organized by the Rather Hall government, said Dan Blenman, Rather Hall government president and premedical freshman.
"On Halloween, (students) could be going out and making destructive decisions, or they could stay in and have just as much or even more fun," Blenman said.
Students love to interact with the community, Dombrowski said.
"It shows that the students do care," she said. "Not everyone is out getting drunk all the time."
Students volunteered so children could trick-or-treat inside rather than in the cold and on potentially dangerous streets, Blenman said.
"I remember times it was so cold on Halloween, parents would be driving along the street," he said. "So it'll be nice to come to a warm environment."
Lansing resident Gloria Romero brought her two daughters trick-or-treating in Emmons Hall last week and in Rather Hall on Monday.
"It's safe, it's convenient and we don't have to be outside," Romero said. "I've always liked it — that's why we come back."
Residents decorated their halls for the trick-or-treaters with glow-in-the-dark stars, crepe paper, light-up gravestones and fog machines. Every hallway was decorated, Blenman said.
"We wanted to make this as fun an experience for ourselves and the kids as possible," said Miles Warren, a political science junior and resident mentor in Rather Hall.
Some students spent more than five hours decorating their hallways for the event, Blenman said.
The students, many of whom were in costume, offered refreshments and showed the film, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," on a projector in the Halloween-decorated lobby.
