The title for the best holiday is one that is debated constantly, and I’m here to say that Halloween rules with a pumpkin crown.
Many holidays are in contention for the title of the best. Christmas is a big one, Easter is always fun and you may even get a curveball Thanksgiving from people every once and a while. Personally, I like to throw in an unexpected Flag Day. But Halloween is just a step above.
Halloween reminds me of the time I spent with my family as a kid. The process of figuring out what we wanted to dress up as, figuring out who was going to be what characters, then putting together the costume was so much fun even before there was candy involved.
Even if there were some years when my family was busy or when I was very young and they couldn’t handmake the costumes, there were always options online that we could pick up.
Some personal favorite Halloween costumes were when I got to dress up as a zombie from Plants vs. Zombies, Shovel Knight from Shovel Knight, BMO from “Adventure Time” and Ferb from “Phineas and Ferb.”
As I grow older, it becomes much more difficult to find the time to dress up for Halloween. I still don’t even have a Halloween costume for this year as I’m writing this. But every day in fall when the leaves get crunchy and the wind blows cool, I wish I could make fun costumes with my family again.
The vibes of Halloween are also amazing. It’s the time of year when the temperature has finally cooled down, and you’re not sweating all the time, but it’s not so cold that you step outside and freeze.
The spookiness is always fun, even though it scared me as a kid; haunted houses are really fun and horror movies can make for a really good watch.
Then, finally, the cherry on top of Halloween is the candy. Unless you were trick or treating at the dentist’s office or were only getting apples and raisins, the process of going up to some stranger’s house, knocking on their door and hoping they had the good candy was always a treat.
If you put a much younger version of me in front of a bowl of Kit Kats and told me not to eat them, they would be gone in seconds. There were other candies I liked too.
Hershey’s is a classic, Sour Patch Kids tasted like a nice punch to the face and, as I’ve grown older, Mike and Ike’s have really grown on me. Plus, no matter what candy it was, finding a house that gave away a full-sized version of a candy was like hitting the jackpot.
A lot of my love towards Halloween might be nostalgia for a bygone era of when I was a kid and my life was simple.
Instead of dealing with deadlines every day, I was building costumes, getting scared by the cheesiest movies and gorging on way too much sugar.
Even though those days are sadly gone, I will still always look back when the spooky season rolls around and smile.
Emerson Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or at etreynolds@eiu.edu.
