Trick or Treat? How Halloween has transformed from toddler to teenager

I used to love dressing up, becoming the people that I would watch on my television in my favorite shows and movies. From about 2005 until 2015, there are photo albums filled with images of a young Allie as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Gabriella from High School Musical and a pickle from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Yes, I dressed as a pickle. Halloween served as the prime time to capitalize on this pastime, letting my creative juices flow while brainstorming who to be for the night. However, as I have matured from a small girl dressing in a bright green leotard, tutu and tights into a college student who plans on wearing an orange jumpsuit and big black framed glasses as I hold a fart gun toy to embody Vector from Despicable Me, I have recognized how Halloween has transformed into a completely different holiday. 

The most apparent Halloween transformation took place for me during middle school. Rather than finding ease in picking out a costume I genuinely wanted to wear, it became an eye-opening experience to cliquiness and the promotion of dressing a certain, more provocative way. This also marked the beginning of “the end” of Halloween for me. The idea and build up towards October 31 began taking over the actual day itself; Halloween’s preexisting magic began to dissipate. 

Instead of trick-or-treating and carving pumpkins, the Halloween activities consisted of parties and costume planning. This year, I started to see Halloween costume idea videos in July— over three full months before the holiday. While someone might see this as a way to get ahead of the game, it just added another level of stress to me. I could not wrap my head around the idea of organizing costumes this early and was worried that if I did not begin preparing that I would end up with bland concepts (which I believe isn’t the case, demonstrated by my Vector accessory). 

On another level, Halloween plans always seem to plateau in practice. The reality of the “Halloweekend” never meets my expectations; this does not inherently mean that I do not have fun, because I do, but it is never what I imagine the holiday as. 

Even though Halloween is no longer the same occasion as it has been in the past, there are ways to celebrate it in reminiscence of my childhood holidays. My costumes may be drastically different, but I can still embrace dressing up as people who I watch on television as I did when I was younger.