In the past couple of years, I've started to think of Halloween as gross. I get kind of complain-y about it. There's way less kiddie cuteness and way more (completely inescapable, in New York) slutty drunkenness, and I tend to avoid it all together. But the good kind of Halloween, with trick-or-treating, exchanging candy with your siblings, and eating your yearly quota of candy corn, really is fun. So, in an effort to stop being such a Halloween Grinch, here are my own personal reminders of why Halloween doesn't deserve my boycotting.
Hocus Pocus. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and a talking cat. It's really all you could want in a Halloween movie, especially if you grew up in the 90s.
Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins: the best proportion of chocolate to peanut butter all year.
Kids in costume. There's nothing cuter than seeing how excited a kid gets about a whole holiday devoted to dressing up and eating candy. And I love when kids think of their costumes themselves. A friend's son is being a "Spiderman Dragon" this year, and last year a kid in Brooklyn told me he was a robot clown.
Nostalgia. It's impossible to see kids in costume and not think back to your own days of trick-or-treating. The picture on the right of my little sister dressed as a tiger feels like a snapshot of the best parts of Halloween as a kid: elated to be up past bedtime, with a pile of candy that's all yours.
What about you? Are you a Halloween Grinch or Halloween lover?
Images: top photo by ash2276, Breakfast at Tiffany's dress by atutudes, Max costume by The Radical Thread Co. Last two photos by my dad, who was undoubtedly saying "show me some teeth!" as he clicked the shutter.
oh my. i just love everything about this post. especially the fact that my sister and i had veeery similar hula girl costumes at one point, as well.
ReplyDeleteI love Halloween and dressing up and am a bit glum I don't have an excuse this year. I moved to England just as my trick-or-treating years were coming to an end and I'm so glad I got to dream up fun costumes and go door to door as a kid. The Halloween traditions here are a bit different, though trick-or-treating is starting to catch on, though the kids do it on random days!
ReplyDeletei'm with you. i have 3 (adult) people tell me this year that halloween is their favorite holiday. i don't get it.
ReplyDeletebut i love the hula girls!