Singapore Content Creator Dresses Up As Vape Bin For Halloween Using Materials He Bought With SG60 Vouchers

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How much effort do you put into dressing up for Halloween?

For media entrepreneur Joel Lim, his bright idea this year was to go as a… vape bin?

Speaking to 8days.sg over the phone, the 32-year-old says it came down to this or the Tanjong Katong sinkhole.

But he eventually went with the vape bin as the sinkhole was just something he couldn’t figure out how to execute.

And no, the National Environment Agency (NEA) didn’t recruit Joel for the anti-vape campaign, though that would have been genius.

“I thought the vape bin would make the perfect costume choice as everyone will get it immediately and think it is funny,” he says, adding that his friend, content creator Daisy Anne, will be dressed up as… the vape itself.

Putting it together took him about two to three nights, using materials he bought online, at Art Friend, and from a hardware shop that cost him about S$80.

“I used my SG60 vouchers when I bought stuff from the hardware store,” laughs Joel.

Joel tells 8days.sg that the now annual tradition of dressing up based on the hottest trending topic of the year started back in 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic.

As an NTU graduate in fine arts, majoring in communications, he recalled that many of his friends in the creative space were very upset when a viral article listing “Artist” as one of the top five non-essential jobs in Singapore then.

“So, I thought, why not bring up a point and use humour to talk about it? It wasn’t that deep, but more of a thought process I had then,” he explained.

Of course, this writer raised his eyebrows when he saw that Joel boldly dressed up as President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in 2023, and asked if it ever gets sensitive when dressing up as political figures?

“Absolutely! And I tend to be more careful when it comes to dressing as politicians during Halloween because people might think you are mocking them. But I managed to angle it in a way where it was from his [Spotify] playlist as that was what went viral,” Joel explained.

Well, according to him, that costume allegedly caught the attention of President Tharman's kids at a party that night.

“Someone at the club told me they were friends with his kids, and they wanted to show it to them. We always think there is a gap between us and public figures, but oh wait, they actually can see the costume,” he laughs.

When asked if he has ever archived his costumes, Joel lets us in on a funny story; he has never been able to as he always loses them at parties.

“Let’s just say Halloween parties are some of the best, and when you get too engrossed in dancing and drinks, you probably end up going, “Hey, where is my headgear” at the end of the night”.

“Like for my President Tharman costume, I couldn’t find my playlist board,” he laments.

When we comment that his Halloween parties must be quite ratchet and his vape bin costume might not survive the night, he gives out a cry saying, “That will be so sad!”

“Maybe this year I will try to stay more sober, and keep the entire costume,” he laughs.

Photos: limxjoel/IG