Halloween, a holiday for parties, haunted houses, candy, trick-or-treating, and of course, costumes. When we aren’t looking for big bags of candy to buy for the trick-or-treaters, or skulls, pumpkins, and spiders to decorate our houses, we’re probably in the store trying to find the perfect costume to wear for that one day; or maybe you’re lucky enough to know how to make your own costume, but even then, you have to worry about finding all the appropriate material to make it.

Let’s face it, unless you know for sure what you want to be for Halloween, finding a costume is difficult. Trying on a Halloween costume is not really an option when you’re shopping for one, so usually you have to rely on the sizing charts that you usually find on the costume packaging; and even then, there’s a chance that not every part of the costume will fit like it’s supposed to. At the end of the day though, wearing a costume can be an enjoyable experience and is definitely worth it.

I can say that I am definitely someone who loves Halloween mainly because of Halloween costumes. Ever since I was little I have always had a costume on Halloween. Like many schools, my school allowed kids to wear costumes to school. My classmates and I would always spend our lunch period the week before Halloween talking about our costumes. Then on Halloween, when we were all in costume, we would all pretend to actually be the characters we were dressed as. Being very young at the time, I always thought it was just us being kids, and fooling around; it was Halloween, and being in costumes was a norm for people our age.

Now that I am older though, I realize that for me, it means a lot more than that. When we are young the world exposes you to a lot of things through media, animals, movie and TV characters, actors and mythological creatures. Each of us grows up with a fascination of a lot of these things, and we wish we could become them. I know for sure that there would be times when I would see a character on a TV show or in a movie and say, “I want to be just like them.” Halloween is the one time of year when we can become these things. It allows us to use our imaginations and unleash our creativity, and for a while, we can feel like a movie star, a superhero, a vampire, etc.

Some people don’t see it this way though, and they view costumes as childish; or they simply don’t want to put the effort into it. While Halloween is certainly not the only time I use creativity and imagination as skills, it is definitely a great time to use them because I get to express to other people that I have an appreciation of the characters and personas I am dressed as, and I feel no judgment because other people are dressed up as well.

That is why no matter how old I get I will never lose my appreciation for costumes and will continue to dress up in them on Halloween for as long as I can. It is something I know I enjoy and I know I always will enjoy.