If you’re a student, the months leading up to the fall season can bring many things. You get to head back to campus, hang out with the friends you missed, and inevitably the feeling of burnout as you get overwhelmed by coursework. However, in between all of that, we get this glorious time of year called, spooky season. Spooky season of course is not an official time of year more than it is the time we all decide to partake in fall and Halloween festivities. 

Like most major U.S. holidays we celebrate in the fall season are riddled with major corporations trying to profit off of our love for Halloween and all things fall. As much as I wish I could say that I reject the push of capitalism upon us, I can’t help it. It could be because I’m an October baby, or that my complexion looks particularly amazing when paired with fall colors. Either way, I have allowed myself to be taken over by the spooky season. Granted, the first day of fall isn’t until Sept. 22, but I’m choosing to ignore that fact and have started my fall festivities already. 

When I was younger the only thing we did to celebrate this time of year was having our annual Halloween party and parade around the elementary school with our costumes. Because my birthday is in late October, every once in a while we’d have a Halloween-themed birthday party. Now that I’m an adult I have more control over how I choose to celebrate and have traditions of my own. 

I have started to buy my fall scented candles and air fresheners, apple cider doughnut being the first in rotation, and have baked my first batch of pumpkin-flavored cookies. The next step, without being too obvious, would be to fully redecorate my apartment with warm colors and anything that has a pumpkin on it. I think in the true spirit of the spooky season I’ll need my friends to question my sanity as they walk into my apartment. My diet will consist of pumpkin pie, caramel apples, and pumpkin spice lattes. From now until the end of October I will have to watch fall or Halloween-related movies, just to keep the momentum going. 

In all seriousness, I think people’s love for the spooky season has more to do with comfort and tradition than anything else. It’s one of the only times of the year where we can embrace our inner child and do things we’ve done since we were going door to door saying, “Trick or treat”. I fully encourage everyone else to enjoy this time of year, go drink cider, visit pumpkin patches, and carve those pumpkins. 

Destiny Blanchard is a senior management major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].