Halloween. In my opinion, it’s the best holiday. One night a year, we all get to dress up and pretend to be someone else. As that other person, we either go to Halloween parties or – and this is the particularly good part – we go door to door to random strangers’ houses and they give us free candy.
The interesting thing is, people associate trick or treating with little kids and are generally more inclined to give them candy. But Halloween actually was intended for college students.
Parents BUY candy for little kids. That’s one of the major reasons to be a little kid. But no one ever buys me candy. So I’m the one who really needs this whole trick or treating thing. And personally, I’m not going to stop until I’m 25.
Or until I’m served with a restraining order, whichever comes first.
I don’t know what to be for Halloween this year or what fantastically fun thing I am going to do. It was much easier when you were little (unless Halloween was on a weeknight – that was the worst). You had your mom make a costume or, if you were lucky, you rented one.
Then usually you would have a party at school that day, and at my
elementary school, you got to wear your costume. Then later, you’d head out into the night, careful to watch out for those awful pumpkin-smashing bag-grabbing adolescents. Everybody knew to go quickly to the house that gave out WHOLE candy bars and to avoid the people who gave out something healthy, like apples.
Who wants that on Halloween?
Then you’d go home and eat candy until you were sick. Your mom would take the bag away, saying she didn’t want you to eat too much, but she really just wanted to eat all the M&Ms.
Okay, that might just have been my mom. The point is: It was a lot simpler back then.
Now, because Halloween is a holiday and on a Saturday night, you’re under all this pressure to have a good time. I’m at a loss. I e-mailed some friends from home, asking them what they are going to be for Halloween. I got everything from the esoteric – such as one friend going as the Wittenberg Cathedral complete with Martin Luther’s 95 theses nailed all over his body – to the ridiculous; I’m sorry, but no one is going to recognize her as Winnie Cooper from “The Wonder Years.”
But by far the most honest response I got – and this is a direct quote – was, “I thought it would be a good idea to be drunk for Halloween. I just haven’t decided on a costume yet.”
I have a hunch that’s a popular sentiment. I also got lots of suggestions to be Monica Lewinsky. You know what? It’s going to be overdone. Just a tip for those out there who want to be something political – go with Janet Reno. Much less clich? and more frightening.
The thing that makes Halloween so great is that nearly everyone celebrates it. Did you ever go into a bank on Halloween? It’s all decorated and it usually is giving out candy or something. VERY uncharacteristic of banks.
Actually, lots of people in my home town thought that trick or treating was sacrilegious somehow (I never got the gist of that whole argument – something having to do with All Saint’s Day being the day after) and they wouldn’t let their kids trick or treat.
Well, unless you are one of those evil people, remember Halloween is your big chance to dress up stupid, eat free candy especially designed for Halloween – such as candy corns, which contain absolutely no other ingredient but sugar – and enjoy the festive nature.
Most important, be careful and have a GWonderful time.
