Halloween season is in full swing — people have officially finalized costumes and plans. But the meaning of Halloween truly depends on your stage in life. For a little kid, it’s a super exciting holiday where you can dress up and be anything you want, while getting candy and getting to stay up later than your usual bedtime. 

But as the years go by, the entire foundation of Halloween shifts. People’s perception of Halloween and the traditions involved gradually transform as the person grows up. For teens, they start to lose their want for candy or trick or treating. Instead, they prefer to just dress up and hang out with friends, or go to parties. 

People start to overlook the fact that Halloween is a holiday. As you grow up, it becomes more of a social outing.

Clara Hook, sophomore, said, ”I feel like as you get older, it feels less and less like a holiday, and more of just a time to go out with friends. It’s especially easy to overlook it and kind of forget about what it used to be.”

One of the main reasons for this shift is rooted within social norms and what is considered socially acceptable. Once teenage years hit, people start to really care about what others think of them. 

So when is it socially unacceptable to continue to do some of the Halloween traditions you grew up with? 

Most of what you think and do is greatly influenced by the people around you. As you grow up and mature, traditions like trick or treating begin to seem childish, and even if you personally don’t find it childish, you may start to believe it is from the people you hang around.

The things you do on Halloween aren’t the only changes. What you start to wear gradually shifts as you start to grow up. You want to fit in with your group, no one wants to be the odd one out.

Hayden Betts-Kitchen, sophomore, said, “Peer pressure affects your life now. You have a lot of friends and you’re probably going to think that they’re gonna judge you if you do this or don’t do that. And it’s just mostly that you wanna fit in.”

You go from dressing up as anything your heart desires, to wearing what you think will make you fit in the most or look the cutest. What you wear is different between girls and boys. Girls start to want to look more skimpy and show more skin. Guys don’t usually care as much about costumes as girls do, but their costumes are definitely influenced by what their friends wear. 

The pressure to look and dress a specific way really starts to take an impact. This, in turn, affects the way you start to look at Halloween. Costumes used to be solely about what you wanted, and now they are pretty much just different versions of what your friends want.

As the years go by, the foundations of Halloween don’t disappear; they simply shift and mature as you grow. As the want for candy and silly costumes drifts, the true treat is connecting with others and reflecting on the nostalgia focused around your childhood memories with Halloween. That playful darkness within the Halloween spirit will never be fully lost.