Halloween Used to Be about Candy Now It’s About Having Plans

I remember when I was a kid, Halloween had one simple goal which was : get as much candy as possible. 

I didn’t care where I was going. I also didn’t care who else had plans. Lastly, I didnt care if my costume was better than anyone else’s. As long as I had a costume, and a bucket and somewhere to go trick or treating my Halloween was perfect. 

Now that I am in college, and somehow Halloween feels different like it comes with a completely different checklist: 

What are you dressing up as?

Who are you going with? 

Are you going anywhere in particular?

What are you doing that night?

And also suddenly, having no plans feels like it’s your own kind of plans. 

As a commuter, I’ve never really experienced a stereotypical college Halloween, because I don’t live in a dorm where everyone is already making plans down the hall. I’m not casually running into people in the hallway and getting invited somewhere that night. To be honest once my classes are over I head home. 

And to be honest? I like doing that. 

But sometimes there is something weird about watching everyone else’s Halloween plans come together while you’re just sitting  at home wondering if you’re supposed to be doing more than just sitting at home on Halloween. 

When Halloween was just Halloween 

To be honest when growing up, Halloween wasn’t complicated. 

You picked your Halloween costume and went trick or treating, and you ate too much candy and probably watched a Halloween movie when you got home. 

Also I felt that there wasn’t this pressure to make the night memorable. 

But you didnt need the perfect picture. Also you didnt need a group costume. Lastly you didn’t need to be somewhere cool to go. 

Halloween was exciting simply because it was just Halloween. 

I think that’s what I miss out on. 

Then Halloween Became About Your Friends 

By High school, Halloween truly changed. 

It seemed like it became a lot less about running around the neighborhood collecting candy and more about figuring out what you and your friends are doing. 

Maybe there was a school event. Second, maybe someone was having people over. Third, maybe you just wanted to dress up and take photos together. 

There is still excitement, but there was also the beginning of that question: 

“So…. what are we doing for Halloween”. 

And somehow, that question only gets louder in college. 

College Makes Plans Feel Like a Requirement 

Halloween in college can seem like a big deal or this huge event. 

Everyone on campus has a costume, or a group. Everyone is doing something.

At least, that’s what it looks like from the outside. 

Social media definitely doesn’t help. 

You see the matching costumes, and the decorations, also the Halloween parties, and lastly the group pictures with the perfectly planned night. Meanwhile, you’re at home in sweatpants, or your comfy pajamas thinking Do I even want to go anywhere tonight?

And that’s the funny part. 

Sometimes I truly don’t want to go out. Maybe sometimes I feel like I’m missing out, but there is a difference. 

The Commuter Version of Halloween 

Being a commuter makes this feeling a little different. 

College doesn’t completely disappear when I leave campus, but a lot of the social part does. Since I am a commuter I truly don’t have a dorm to go back to. I don’t have a roommate or neighbors down the hall asking what we are doing that night. I don’t automatically become part of whatever is happening on campus after my classes end. 

My college experience has always been going to class, going to my club meetings, seeing people I know, doing my classwork and then heading right home. 

And to be honest Halloween doesn’t magically change that. 

And maybe that’s okay.  To be honest I don’t want to force myself into a version of college that isn’t mine just because it looks fun on Instagram.

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