Do people still dress up for Halloween?

There are witches around every corner. Werewolves are crawling across the streets. Micheal Myers and Ghostface are loose! And no, it’s not a horror movie come to life - it’s All Hallows Eve; more commonly known as Halloween. 

Halloween - a time where you can dress up as anyone or anything you want to be, and go around begging strangers for candy. A time for scary movies and ghost stories. As a kid, Halloween was one of the most enjoyable times of the year. But as time went on, I started to notice less and less people would dress up. By the time I reached the Eighth grade, people no longer seemed to care about the fun tradition. It suddenly felt “childish” to go trick-or-treating, and it was embarrassing if you wore an extravagant costume. Why is this?

According to psychologist Francisca Alves, as teens grow, we gain a new self-awareness, and this leads us to a fear of judgement. We become afraid that someone might think we are, say, weird for the costume we wear or they might think the costume is stupid. This constant anxiety and unease that we are constantly being judged sucks the joy out of doing something fun such as dressing up for halloween.   

I’ve heard many people tell me that while they are dressing up for Halloween, they’re going to tone down their costume for when they go to school. For example, say someone will be going as Darth Vader - they have a mask and everything. Instead of wearing their costume to school, they’ll put on something like jeans and a white top and say they are going as McLovin from Superbad. Just like I said, toned down. I believe that this stems from that fear of judgement. While this isn’t always the case, (some people just don’t want to ruin their costume before the nighttime), it is a big reason most of the time. This should never be the case. No one should ever be so afraid of being judged that they no longer partake in a fun event.

So why should you even dress up for Halloween? There’s a high chance that there is someone out there who thinks they shouldn’t dress up simply because they think that no one else would. That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if the whole world is dressing up or if no one is dressing up. Be the odd one out if you have to be. Dress up in crazy costumes. Wear bold and bright makeup. In the end, will it ever have really mattered? In 10 years, it won’t matter if you were the only one who dressed up for halloween or not in highschool. It won’t matter if you had the most extravagant costume in your entire grade. Stop focusing on the future and the past and focus on today. Are you excited to dress up for Halloween? Dress up! Do you really want to go big on your costume? Do it! If it makes you feel good, then do it! 

Halloween can also really let us go big creatively. I’ve noticed recently that costumes have lost their touch. One might wear a pink T-shirt and a skirt and call themself a princess. I say: go big or go home! Put together an amazing outfit with a big poofy skirt and lots of ribbons. Make your own accessories. The possibilities are endless! If you have even a little bit of creativity, the sky is the limit!

In short, don’t let other people dull your creativity. Dress up for Halloween - have fun with it! Happy Halloween!