Senior Year- Halloween

Editor's Note: Alyssa Holmes' blog posting was delayed by the recent winter storm. 

So Halloween’s coming up pretty fast, and I didn’t even realize it until yesterday. I was walking into CVS and all I saw was orange and black and candy and costumes and other Halloween paraphernalia. I’m not even going to lie about how excited I got.

It made me start reminiscing on some of the costumes I had once sported as a kid. I was a dancer from ages two to thirteen, and as all dancers will tell you, that is prime for Halloween. A majority of my Halloween costumes were just my old dance costumes. I had a jazz costume when I was, like, 7-years-old that was basically a Dalmatian, complete with a feathery tail and floppy ears. Prime Halloween costume.

When I was around 10-years-old, my tap dance was the can-can, so I had a can-can dress. Prime Halloween costume. When I was 6-years-old, I had a bright turquoise hippie dress with orange, yellow, and pink flowers complete with long white socks that looked like go-go boots. Prime Halloween costume. And even in those rare years that I didn’t have a creative dance costume to wear on Halloween, I was still pretty imaginative. One year I cut the bottom out of a laundry basket, hung it around my shoulders, filled it with cotton and white balloons, wore a shower cap, and carried around a back scrubber and rubber ducky. My bubble bath costume was the hit of the neighborhood.

Well, except for that one guy who thought I was a chef.

As I stood in the middle of the Halloween aisle at CVS, reminiscing about my past Halloweens, it hit me that I can’t celebrate Halloween the same way anymore. I’m a senior in high school. There are restrictions on Halloween now. We’re considered “too old” for trick-or-treating, “too big” to fit into the good Halloween costumes—aka the ones suited for ages seven to twelve—and “too rebellious” to even be trusted to go out on Halloween.

If I were to go trick-or-treating, I’d have a bunch of angry adults telling me that I’m stealing candy that should be for little kids. If I were to go out and buy a costume, I would be buying some modification of a bra and panties that is supposed to represent a “nurse” or a “schoolgirl.” If I were to go for a walk with my friends on Halloween, I would have the cops on my butt all night making sure I’m not smashing pumpkins or egging people’s houses.

Maybe it’s just me, but I really just like the thrill of ringing people’s doorbells and getting a little treat. I think any “nurse” or “schoolgirl” who actually dressed in those Halloween costumes on a daily basis would be fired or expelled. Pumpkins should be for looking at, and eggs should be for eating.

I hate being this old on Halloween. I miss the innocence of childhood Halloween, and it sucks that I’ll never get it back. I don’t even know what I’m doing on Halloween this year. While every other girl my age will probably be dressing like a hooker and calling it a “costume” to go to some party, I’ll probably be watching TV and eating leftover candy bars because no one ever trick-or-treats at my house.

Then again, I’m considering this my last year as being a “kid,” since I am only seventeen. So, don’t be surprised if I show up at your house wearing some ridiculously creative, awesome, and non-skimpy Halloween costume, looking for a piece of candy.