Halloween has a special kind of magic when you’re a kid. The dark sky, crazy costumes and bags filled with candy on the night of Oct. 31 made Halloween feel like a dream. But at a certain age, this magic slowly fades, turning into parties and adult activities. Halloween changes not because people want it to, but because growing up leaves behind the childhood charm.
Needless to say, there are some who may argue that Halloween does get better as you age. There are parties, haunted houses to visit and apple orchards to explore. But even with all of these it’s not quite the same as being out on the streets with your friends racing house to house for candy.
What used to be a night filled with candy and costumes, slowly turns into nostalgia. A poll by Ferrero found that 77 percent of participants over 18 said they feel nostalgic about trick or treating and miss going out. This shows that Halloween isn’t just about the candy, it’s about the experience. The thrill of going out for candy, comparing candy hauls and sweating in your costume from all the running are all just faint memories.
There is the inevitable truth that at a certain age you’re not “allowed” to participate anymore. A poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that most Americans think kids should stop trick or treating by age 13, even though they are barely teenagers. For many, that’s when the fun ends. Some people won’t even hand out candy to bigger kids because they believe they’re too old for it. Halloween at its heart is all about trick or treating and without it, the night feels incomplete.
Costumes were another thing that completed Halloween, but this doesn’t last long. When you are younger, costumes are everything. According to a poll by Yahoo, only 22 percent of participants planned to dress up for Halloween, and of that group, 17 percent were younger than 18-years-old. This shows that growing up leads to losing more and more of Halloween until it is just another day, rather than a holiday.
What was once an exciting night is now just a reminder of your childhood joy. No matter how old you get, part of you will always remember what it felt like to be out there dressed up in a costume with a bag full of candy. Halloween doesn’t disappear as you age, it changes for the worse.
