When we were younger, our Halloween costume dreams consisted of Harry Potter, Cinderella, Spiderman, or our favorite Power Ranger. In elementary school, showing off the latest styrofoam Avengers costume in the Halloween parade allowed for more overinflated, five-year-old egos than winning a scooter race in gym class. 

As we got older, so did our preferences: Rapunzel donned some cat ears while Woody turned into a gory zombie. Other students abandoned their Halloween dreams altogether, instead claiming to be dressed as “bored, jaded teenagers.” When we reach the ripe ages of young adulthood, do Halloween costumes undergo another reinvention? Or do the costumes experience their own deaths?

I had a heart-to-heart with a couple of high school students and recorded their thoughts on the issue. Some simply said they would smear fake blood on their faces if it meant a consistent candy supply for the next month. Others elaborated on how societal pressure influenced their Halloween costume plans.

The pressure embodied the phenomenon of a math teacher posing a question to the class, only to receive such silence that one could hear Google Chat notifications going off in the next room. However, if one person dared to participate, others would follow suit. This meant, in stereotypical high school fashion, students would wear costumes if their peers did, too.

But one student offered a different perspective, encouraging others to disregard the actions or opinions of their peers and instead stay true to themselves. Think about it like this: the human mind has about 6,000 thoughts a day, so one judgemental thought couldn’t make a difference in your life. If someone’s wearing a pair of AirPods, they don’t care about your costume; they don’t even know where they’re going. 

Halloween takes on different connotations as we enter different portions of our life cycle: we used to do cartwheels and jump over sofas just thinking about the candy and clout our costume would bring. Now, the weight of the matter lies in whether or not to wear one at all. Whatever your decision may be, it reflects your style and character, which is what Halloween blesses us with: a day to be yourself.