Because Halloween is my favorite holiday, I have immense respect for the holiday itself and the traditions associated with it. I have noticed that Halloween changes from when you are a child to a college student. No longer does your mother dress you in cute onesies and send you off to school to join the other kids in costumes for a big parade. We now fend for ourselves in coming up with fresh, creative costume ideas for Halloweekend, forgetting how we used to dress up and trick-or-treat when we were younger.
Reflecting on how Halloween has changed as I have gotten older, I stick to my purist inclinations that wearing Halloween costumes should be reserved for the holiday itself. I admit in having gone against my better judgement in the fact that I indeed, wore a costume to a party the weekend before Halloween. That experience is why I now believe Halloween should be celebrated on Oct. 31 alone.
Firstly, going to the Halloweekend party was a last-minute decision. I scavenged through the drawers of my dresser looking for any spare pieces of clothing that when combined, could make a somewhat decent costume. Donning a black mesh shirt with white stars, black jeans and blue sparkle socks, I became the Milky Way galaxy. When I arrived at the aforementioned party, I was jammed into a small room with way too many people and not enough light. I thought, while sweating profusely and looking around the room at everyone in their costumes: Why did we do this to ourselves? Why did we wear costumes to a place like this? The extra clothing that we were wearing as part of our costumes made everyone unnecessarily hot and uncomfortable, especially when crammed in a small room with roughly 40 other people.
The most popular costume of the evening was Serena and Blair from “Gossip Girl” in their iconic outfits. These look like school uniforms, consisting of skirts that remind me of what I wore growing up. I went to private school for 10 years and I will never forget how unforgiving the uniforms were. Skirts with plaid patterns that Burberry would scorn at and pleats that created the most unflattering shape to my body plagued my high school’s hallways while I suffered in silence. I would not wish those outfits on my worst enemies, which is why I find it puzzling now that people would voluntarily wear them as a costume.
When we celebrate Halloween on its designated day, we can save ourselves from the repeated discomfort that comes with wearing our costumes both on Halloweekend and on Halloween. Not only the costumes, but the makeup worn to accompany them is just as tedious to apply and wipe off for multiple days. I understand Halloweekend and the desire to celebrate Halloween spirit before the actual holiday, but there can be other more comfortable ways to do so. Some alternatives would be watching your favorite Halloween movie or baking some spooky treats, but we should leave the actual donning of costumes to one day only: the holiday itself.
Email Isabella Miranda at immiranda@email.wm.edu