Ahh, Halloween time. I remember the days when I would dress up as a scary witch or a High School Musical cheerleader. Also, in the movie Mean Girls when everyone went to a Halloween party dressed up in scandalous costumes and Katy showed up as a scary witch? Oh, how things have changed. 

Halloween now doesn’t even compare to Halloween when I was growing up. When I was growing up, we would all get dressed up in our costumes for school, go trick or treating, take silly pictures with friends and neighbors and put up Halloween decorations. Now that I’m in college, I’ve realized so much. In college, no one seems to dress up for Halloween, like the spooky kind. A majority of college students, even high school students for that matter, are dressing up in costumes that tend to be a bit more revealing and scandalous. 

“Halloween has changed so much from when we were younger to Halloween now,” Amelia Patefield, UND student, said. “Not only have the cultures of Halloween costumes changed but people don’t even dress up as fictional characters anymore, they usually dress up as famous celebrities or make their own costumes to be more revealing or attractive.” 

When I was a little girl, I was always so freaked out about Halloween. I had the understanding that this was the time to carve pumpkins, decorate with creepy spiders and spider webs, scare people and dress even spookier. It’s so common this time of year for people to say, “spooky season,” but the thing is, it’s not even spooky anymore. It saddens me a little that it’s not like the original Halloween, where there was a lot of spookiness. 

Not only this, but the dangers of Halloween have also increased. When I was younger, I felt like I was always safe trick or treating with friends my age or close to my age. Year by year, it seems like the dangers are only getting worse. With sex trafficking rates being at an ultimate high nowadays, parents are most likely concerned about their children going trick or treating by themselves. This has ruined Halloween culture, as it is supposed to be spooky and fun, but also safe for kids. The constant worries and fear that people struggle with is only making it harder and harder for people to continue Halloween traditions, like trick or treating. With that, many people are putting toxic things in candy. This has been a problem for as long as I can remember, however, it has only gotten worse. People are also putting sharp objects in treats, to cause harm to children. I remember my parents would always tell me to check through my entire bag filled with treats, just to make sure they were safe and okay to eat. I cannot imagine how much parents enforce this now, if it was already bad when I was younger.

Unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of Halloween today. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely am guilty of changing up our Halloween culture too. I hope that down the road, today’s Halloween culture will die down and the original Halloween culture will rise again. Although I believe this is highly unlikely, I think more and more people should go back to the Halloween culture we had growing up. This made it so much more fun for children to dress up and trick or treat, and also remain safe while having fun. Every child and family should feel safe around this time, with no concerns. This is a day to show off your creativity and old Halloween cultures are perfect examples of that.