Halloween_burden

Jeff Green | Oct 25, 2007

There are six days left until Halloween and I am faced with the biggest dilemma with which people my age are now faced: What am I going to wear?

Now, this may seem like an extremely shallow question at first but the truth is, the pressure to find a great costume escalates with every year that passes. It was all fine and dandy to simply throw on a princess costume or to don a vampire’s cape when I was 7 years old, but as a person gets older, it is expected that she make an effort to create a never-before-seen-super-fantastic-talk-about-for-years-to-come outfit.

Fortunate as I am, I have always had a mother who insists on homemade costumes, which have been consistently eye-catching in their awesomeness. However, after having made 3 different costumes each year for the better part of 20 years, my mom is getting a little tired of having to be our Halloween fashionista. Halloween used to be a holiday that she, and many mothers like her, looked forward to because it gave her a chance to express herself creatively and to make her kids happy as well. I can’t help but notice though that the constant stress to have a great and new costume every year is becoming a burden for many nowadays and has recently become a chore for my mom, rather than a fun occasion.

Since the middle of September, Halloween displays and merchandise have bombarded us at any store we walk into, showing just how commercial this holiday has become. A day that used to revolve around themed activities and a whole lot of candy has evolved into a decadent, competitive and expensive day, where everyone tries really hard to innovatively outdo the person next door.

There is still hope though and that is to simply remember what Halloween is really about, and that is of course dressing up for the night, putting on your best smile and conning incredibly nice strangers into giving you more candy than you will receive for the rest of the year.

Therefore, the next time you find yourself in a bind for a costume and feel panicked about your lack of creativity, take a deep breath and keep in mind that this day is just for fun. And worse come to worst, if you really can’t think of anything to wear, go with what I call “Plan B” and stick a decorative lampshade on your head.