It is officially that time of year when the leaves are starting to change. People are trading their iced coffees for pumpkin spice lattes, and pumpkin bread is slowly replacing the banana bread craze. Here in Hamilton, the air is crisp and the sky is cloudless, which means summer dresses are phasing out, and Dr. Martens boots and oversized sweaters are making their fall debut. All these amazing qualities of the fall season are not remotely encompassed in the holiday of Halloween. For that, among many other reasons, Halloween is overrated. 

There are a couple of reasons why I believe Halloween is overrated and irrelevant. The first is that the movies are actually horrible. Honestly, Halloween movies are not worth anyone’s time. There’s a reason why no one itches to watch a Halloween movie outside of the final two weekends of October. The movies are poorly made, they all consist of the same plot and they try too hard to get the audience ‘scared’. The movies are on no one’s ‘favorite’ or ‘must-see’ lists. The monotony of Halloween movies allows this type of film to be the perfect white noise.  

Speaking of trying too hard, this leads me to my next point: Halloween candy is simply not good. Candy corn tastes like wax, Pixy Sticks is just artificially colored sugar, Dubble Bubble loses flavor the moment it touches your tongue, Tootsie Rolls are incredibly weird chocolate and Smarties are chalk. If you want candy, go to the store, not some stranger’s house. Actually, most children are warned to never talk to strangers, let alone take candy from them. Why is Halloween an exemption to the norm? 

Another questionable Halloween norm is costumes. Halloween costumes are expensive and sparing, but simultaneously appear cheap and repetitive. Also, let’s be honest here, as you get older the costumes are essentially a competition of who can wear the least without freezing to death. Halloween is devoted to an individual being something they are not, and it is a one night pass to dress however you want and not have to fear any social ramification. We glorify this component of Halloween, when in reality we should be able to express ourselves however we see fit regularly, but I digress. 

More importantly, why do we need Halloween if we have theme parties on a regular basis? Theme parties are essentially pseudo-Halloweens. Every weekend, or at least pre-COVID-19, sports teams and fraternities alike would have parties that required you to dress a certain way in order to enter. From 80’s Aspen to Beach Bash, the possibilities are endless. Theme parties are a collegiate norm, and for that, Halloween is unnecessary. 

Halloween is an odd and overrated holiday. As an adult, Halloween demands that you decorate your home, buy candy for strangers and distribute it all night long. You do all these things free of charge because if you do not, you will probably wake up to toilet paper draped on your home. 

Halloween is not worth all the time, energy and money put into it, as it simply boils down to a sugar rush. The movies are horrendous, the candy is disgusting and the costumes are not worth it. Maybe when I was ten years old Halloween was all the rage, but now I simply believe it is overrated.