There is no other season like fall. The allure of the changing of leaves, sweater weather, and a hot pumpkin spice latte are unlike any other season. Regardless, football games and tailgates feel crisp, Halloween brings us an entire weekend of shenanigans, and Thanksgiving break is right around the corner. It simply is one of the best times of the year for anyone in college. But lets take a trip down memory lane. Remember when your mom would take you to the local Halloween store to pick up your costume? Or in high school, when parties where exclusively in your friends basement, with parents upstairs? Halloween has aged with us but it always fun to think about the times when we hopped from house to house for a Snickers bar, not hopped house party to house party. Raking fall leaves quickly became an Instagram of the #fall #leaves and your #ridingboots. Sometimes, it’s fun to take a look back to our younger and simpler years because fall at any age is a time to remember.
1. In Class Halloween Parties
The week of Halloween was always filled with in-class parties. Everyone dressed up, there was tons of candy, and you spent an afternoon playing fun games. Kind of like a PG Halloween frat party, am I right? Anyway, it was the total middle school pregame to the actual night of trick or treating. Nowadays, we unfortunately don’t get a fraction of the amount of the candy we used to get during Halloween season. I’d appreciate if our professors passed out a few Reese’s here and there.
2. Carving Pumpkins
Every October, my family and I would head to our local pumpkin patch and run through the field, all of us competing for the biggest and best pumpkin. We’d later take our prizes home and carve them out on the front porch, while my mom cooked the seeds. These pumpkins were our pride and joy until they rotted on the front porch. How cute and cozy does that sound? Regardless, it’s pretty difficult to carve a pumpkin in a residence hall and as a poor college student, I would much rather spend my money on a new Naked palate because #Priorities.
3. High School Bonfires
I remember in high school that anything worth gossiping about in the fall happened at a bonfire. If it wasn’t a bonfire, it was a park hangout or a night spent in the basement, because where else do high school kids have to go? If the guy who was dropping favorites on all your tweets was there, he was going to sit next to you and give his hoodie when it got cold. It was a total guarantee. If you didn’t have a bonfire pit, you were forced to search out friends who had one. Then it was your job to convince their parents to let them have people over every Friday night. Now, that high school bonfire social scene doesn’t exist because with no parents and residence halls as our homes, there’s no need. #RIPHSBonfires
4. Trick-or-Treating
There’s nothing like getting something for free. Halloween was always just that: unlimited free candy. I used to lug around pillowcases full of candy, half of which I wouldn’t even eat. It was all about the conquest and bragging rights of heading to school with candy for the next six months. Unfortunately, my metabolism in 4th grade was significantly faster than it is now. But you only live once right?