Halloween is slowly coming out of hibernation again and I think it’s time we address the elephant in the room. No, I’m not talking about politically incorrect or offensive costumes. I’m pretty sure everyone else has that covered. I want to discuss the horrific idea that Halloween isn’t what it used to be.
We all know what I’m talking about. The magic that used to float in the air around this time of year has dulled. The candy isles of Walmart are now filled with whispers of “ten dollars for THAT?” and Halloween stores only offer women’s costumes that display our asses for the world to see. They’ve even found a way to make Spongebob sexy!
Not to mention that most of us have stopped trick or treating by now. I say most because I trick or treated until I was 19, and I know I can’t be the only one that kept on trucking after her prime. I would have continued the tradition for the sake of free candy and scaring children, but I haven’t been able to these past few years because I had adult things to do. THIS is the problem. We are growing up now and Halloween is no longer the favorite child of Mother October.
Halloween isn’t what it used to be and it’s for the same reason that we now get excited to go to Lowes or Bed Bath and Beyond. We used to HATE going there but now we relish in the idea that we will be getting a Kitchen Maid blender in sea-foam green (I don’t even bake!). I’m sure most people have discovered that the very things we had no interest in as kids became our sole focus.
This is not to say that the feeling of Halloween is gone forever because that certainly isn’t so! It’s just that I constantly hear people exclaiming how Halloween doesn’t feel like Halloween anymore. They try to provide excuses like “the weather isn’t right” or “Halloween is just on a Monday this year”. As kids, we didn’t give a flying broomstick as to what the weather was like or what day it was. Halloween always felt the same because that’s how we saw it.
I expect to get that “Halloween feeling” again when I have kids some day. I feel as though by helping give younger generations a good Halloween, you’ll be regenerating the feeling you’ve lost as well. I know that I always looked forward to taking my little siblings out for Halloween as I got older and that’s what helped me cling to it for so long (along with the free candy). However, they’re all grown now so I have nothing better to do than throw on a cheap half-assed costume and get discount drinks from the local bar.
I guess what I’m saying is…give someone the Halloween you remember and that spooky magic will be returned to you. It’s kind of like the idea of Pay it Forward but instead, it’s full of fake blood, terrifying masks and, of course, the free candy. Just be sure to only take one.