Now before I start this, let me just say that I value everyone’s opinions, so please respect my opinion on Halloween being the best holiday.
As you could probably tell, I absolutely love Halloween. Recently, I have gotten into arguments with my friends about Christmas vs. Halloween. Like I said before, I will respect the fact that those are their opinions; however, I just do not agree. So, let me tell you why I personally believe Halloween is the best holiday.
To start off, it’s in the best season with the best drinks, candy, and food/snacks that come out during this time. You’re going to tell me that you don’t get excited for apple cider or pumpkin spiced items? Once Dunkin, Starbucks, or your local supermarkets start selling fall items, I get so excited! Apple cider doughnuts, pumpkin doughnuts, apple pie— all of it is so good. Plus, add on the fact that you could buy a whole bag of candy and not be questioned about it because people will think that you are stocking up on Trick-or-Treating candy! Now I’m not trying to attack Christmas, but are you honestly going to tell me that you get excited when candy canes come out? I get pretty excited when I see the Reeses Peanut Butter pumpkins or the orange Kit-Kat bars, even though I am severely lactose intolerant.
Now onto one of the probably the biggest points of this list: you don’t have to spend a lot of money to make some happy, as some other holidays do. Think about it— yes, some people, like my family and other Halloween enthusiasts, go above and beyond with their decorations— hell, my family set up a haunted house every year. But, the majority of families nowadays either get cheap decorations or make their own, buy bags of candy, hand it out to trick-or-treaters, and it makes kids happy. Now compare it to other holidays (sorry to diss on Christmas again), but Christmas is literally full of people buying each other presents that either cost a lot of money or, in the case of kids, will be toys that are played with for two weeks and then never used again. I know people are going to say, “Well Christmas is all about the experience and spending time with family.” Let’s be honest though: Christmas is all about the retail industries making their money back at the end of the year during this holiday, along with having people stress out in the kitchen cooking a meal for the family. Halloween is all about the experience of going out for Trick-or-Treating or going out to a haunted house with your family or friends.
Moving on, now onto the costumes and makeup during this holiday. This is the season where all the talented makeup artists and costume designers can shine. Now I’m not the best at it, but I was the one in high school that went super extra for their costumes. While I may have not been the best at special effects makeup, I had an absolute blast creating the looks and learning from my mistakes. My most favorite looks probably had to be the puppet from Five Nights at Freddy’s or Georgie from IT.
Think of all the fantastic costumes and makeup work you see on Halloween though. Whether it be on TV, or in a haunted house, or some trick-or-treaters— this holiday is the best time for people to express other types of art forms and it’s accepted during this time because everyone is supposed to look scary or spooky. I love watching the show Skin Wars for this reason because people create outrageous but beautiful designs with just face paint and other types of makeup. Also, costuming is so much fun whether you take it straight out of the packaging and wear it, or you customize your own costume like I usually do. It’s honestly a lot more fun to customize your own costumes because you can add more of a personal feel to it.
My last point to make to this list is all the great Halloween themed episodes or movies that come back or get developed. You’re not going to tell me that you don’t get excited when Hocus Pocus or Halloweentown pop up on the TV? Literally, all the Disney Channel Halloween movies are so good (except the Halloweentown sequels.) Also, the Halloween films and all the classic slasher films are always the fan favorites to put on in my household. Sorry to trash Christmas, but all those movies either have to deal with Santa, a snowman, reindeer, or the theme of “saving Christmas magic,” blah blah. Now I know Halloween movies aren’t 100% accurate, but Christmas movies are not accurate at all. At least in real life, you have skeletons that are real, and if you want to go deeper into scary, serial killers and cannibals are real. Meanwhile, there are no reindeer in real life that fly, nor are their snowmen that come to life or, spoiler alert, a real Santa.
Now yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and while you may love Christmas, I love Halloween. Also, this article wasn’t intended to be a diss track to Christmas, but those were helping points as to why I like Halloween better. While yes, I still celebrate other holidays, Halloween is always my favorite holiday because I feel more comfortable and connected to the holiday. It’s a holiday where I can scare people and get away with it while dressed up as some creepy thing. Then afterward, I chill out while watching my favorite Halloween movies and eating leftover candy. This Halloween will definitely be different, but I hope everyone stays safe, makes good decisions, and enjoys their time.