It is already mid October and Halloween is fast approaching. When I think of Halloween, I am hit by a jumble of thrilling memories; stringing up paper maché bats and sticky spider webs around our house, failing at bobbing for apples, eating candy until I couldn’t move, and falling asleep full bellied, sprawled out on my friends chocolate stained floor. I remember making my sister say trick or treat because I was too scared, and my pleading with my parents to let me watch a PG-13 rated horror movie which, for good reason, they never allowed. However, mixed in with these Halloween memories from my childhood, are more recent ones: searching tirelessly for a Halloween costume that was just the right amount of scandalous, watching popcorn-throwing-scary R rated horror movies with my friends, and realizing that I was perhaps too old for trick-or-treating, and going to my friend’s Halloween party instead.

As with any American holiday, as you grow up, the holiday’s traditions and expectations begin to change. It is really no longer socially acceptable for teenagers to trick-or-treat, and even if you do, the excitement of eating as much candy as you want isn’t really there anymore, because you could just drive to the supermarket and do that on your own, although it probably wouldn’t be as much fun. And the whole “getting scared” part of Halloween has also evolved as I’ve gotten older. There was a certain exhilaration in watching a scary (PG of course) kids movie and thinking that at any moment a caped vampire could come and bite you, or that you parents would finally tell you that Halloweentown does in fact exist and you will hop in a cab, driven by a skeleton named Benny and be brought to Halloweentown to learn how to be a witch. There was also a certain comfort in knowing that as long as you kept your blanket tucked firmly beneath your little toes, none of the scary and bad creatures could get to you.

However, while Halloween changes as you become a teen, it’s not always for the worse. For one, us teenagers can actually have parties, which, as cliché as it sounds, is a good excuse to dress up and meet new people. And even though the excitement of the unknown is in some ways gone, we still manage to scare the bejesus out of ourselves through things such as haunted houses, scary movies, and playing pranks on each other. Although how I celebrate Halloween has changed, the basis of what it stands for is still the same. Halloween is a time where we can all make a fool out of ourselves without fear of judgement from others. It is the one time of year when even adults can play dress up, when kids can eat as much candy as they want, and when us teenagers can forget about college and school and let ourselves bask in a mixture of nostalgia and excitement at what is to come.