BY: Erica Condon
Staff Reporter
It is finally the evening of Oct. 31, you’ve carved your pumpkins, decorated the house, and picked out your Halloween costume. You head over to Nana’s house for pictures with all your cousins in costumes. The time has finally come to go out and trick-or-treat, it is officially Halloween.
For freshman Tori Hanuschak, a criminal justice major, this is what a typical Halloween night consisted of in her childhood.
“I feel like everyone used to get really excited about Halloween when we were little
kids,” said Hanuschak. “But now it kind of just creeps up on us as we get older and it doesn’t really feel like Halloween anymore.”
Many students also feel that Halloween traditions from childhood have now become memories of the past.
“As a kid, the buildup to Halloween was always exciting,” said senior Eric Torrens, a media arts major. As the years have gone on, Torrens still tries to keep the spirit of Halloween alive by continuing certain holiday traditions.
“I still play Halloween classic songs like ‘The Monster Mash’ and ‘Werewolves of London’ and carve pumpkins. I still think it’s fun to put on a costume and hang out with friends,” said Torrens. “Though I must say my costumes will never be as cool as the Power Ranger suits I wore with my brother when I was younger.”
Dressing up in different costumes is one of the main aspects of Halloween. However, junior Sean Burke believes that even the act of dressing up in a costume has changed since he was young.
“I think that as a kid Halloween was more about having the coolest costume and actually dressing up as someone or something you really admired,” said Burke. “That way you could feel like you were cool when you were going out for candy with your friends, but now as a college student the holiday itself has become more of an excuse to go out and party.”
For junior Deanna Nicolo it has become less about the candy and more of an excuse to party.
“I definitely view Halloween as more of a celebration as I’m getting older as opposed to just trick or treating for an hour or two,” said Nicolo. “I feel that it is mostly about partying for college students now. On the other hand, I also feel like it’s a kids holiday in some aspects.”
In addition, junior John Cambio thinks that there comes a time where you get too old to participate in trick-or-treating.
“I think that once you are around the age of 7th grade you start to become a little too old to trick-or-treat,” said Cambio.
However, junior Rachel Ward, a nursing major, thinks that no matter what age you are, you are never too old to go door-to-door collecting candy on Halloween night.
“I don’t think you are ever too old to trick-or-treat. I also do not think adults should turn away kids that they think are ‘too old’ for trick or treating,” said Ward. “They should be grateful that adolescents are still doing things like trick-or-treating and not doing things that could get them in trouble.”
