Halloween Spirit!

Disclaimer: Halloween has had many different meanings since its Pagan beginnings. I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about now, as it stands in our current and modern world.

A lot of people say that Halloween is for the kids. A lot of parents don’t even dress up. They bundle up nice and warm, stick their hands in their pockets and slowly walk down street after street while their kids run door to door. How boring! How sad! HALLOWEEN IS FUN! I think those that feel that it’s for kids don’t really get what Halloween is all about. What it CAN be about. Think of it like…Disneyland. Wha? Yes, Disneyland. Disneyland has all these rides and some of them are pretty cool but it’s all about the young….and the young at heart. Unless you can pull out your inner child, Disneyland is probably pretty boring. I know they are just women in costumes, but I loved taking my daughter up to Cinderella and Ariel and talking to them for her like they are the actual princesses. I got excited every time I saw a large character walking by. Same thing goes for Halloween, you can have fun! It can be exciting!

I see plenty of young people who still dress up, but the parents out every Halloween night don’t dress up, at most they put on a witches hat. Why is that? I have always dressed up. I’ve never even been to a Halloween Party before (and I REALLY want to!) but I always dress up, even if I’m just handing out candy, I dressed up. And now that I’m guaranteed to go outside every year, heck yea I dress up! Now, I can understand that sometimes money can be an issue; the parents spend so much money on their kid’s outfits they don’t want to spend another $60+ for their own costume! That’s why my husband and I, one year when we had a little extra to spare, went to a Halloween store and bought ourselves nice but not too expensive costumes. Something simple but cool that we could wear each year if for some reason we couldn’t afford or have time for another costume. We change it up a little and I’d like to get another costume to change it out and around a little more but we always have a costume. I will always dress up and take my kids trick or treating, and when they are too old/cool to go with me, I’ll dress up and hand candy out and embarrass the hell out of them in front of their friends. Or maybe I’ll find or host a Halloween party instead!

But, I really have to wonder…why do so many people lose their Halloween spirit? Did they ever have it? Even my husband said “it’s for the kids” And I’m really starting to think he only dresses up because I pretty much make him dress up. I know as a kid he was all about it…what happened? Why do older people get boring? Heck, we’re not old! He’s only 26! Why are so many parents acting like this? Don’t they understand what Halloween can really be all about? Are you wondering what it I think it’s all about, at least in my humble opinion?

Halloween is the one day a year you can be anything you want to be. You can take that however you’d like. You can dress up in something funny, crazy, and maybe a little bit offensive and it’s perfectly acceptable. You can dress up as your favorite TV/movie/cartoon character. Or as your hero. You can make an abstract costume and dress up like a saying. You can make no sense and dress up as a table, a tv, a lamp, anything at all. It’s the one day a year an adult could dress up like a fairy princess and it’s okay! Male or female! You can be scary or funny or sexy, you can be ANYTHING. How can you not like that?! How could you not take advantage of that?!

So, come on boring people/parents of Halloween. Look in your closet, get creative, and throw together a Halloween costume! Last year I managed to take every day clothes and accessories and make my husband and I’s costume in about 10 minutes on Halloween. I was a dead chick and he was the zombie that killed me. A little creative make up, dirt, red food coloring, and a razor blade and BAM, insta-costume!