October is the month of carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. Halloween is on October thirty-first and it has been going on for centuries and one of the most popular traditions is going out at night to trick-or-treat, but when does this tradition stop? When do people decide to stop? Here are some of the opinions of James Logan high school students.
Many students have been celebrating Halloween since their childhood and still treasure the holiday as teens.
“Halloween is my favorite holiday because it’s the only day that everyone can dress up as whatever they like without feeling judged,” senior Trisha Sanidad said. She believes that there shouldn’t be an age limit for trick or treating. Halloween allows everyone to express themselves through costumes and it’s quite fun. Trisha notices that fewer students are dressing up for Halloween because not everyone is willing to buy a costume for a one-day event. Halloween hasn’t changed for her personally because it’s the factor of growing up that makes it more fun because the spirit of Halloween never goes away until you stop celebrating it. She plans not to stop celebrating Halloween and dressing up because it’s the only day you can get candy for free.
On the other hand, senior Paulene Garcia has stopped celebrating Halloween since elementary school. Halloween used to be really exciting because as a kid you seldom get to dress up and get a lot of candy, but ever since she got out of elementary school she didn’t feel excited about it because there’s a weird stigma about how trick or treating is only for children. Garcia said that Halloween is getting less popular because students are older and can celebrate Halloween in other ways that are more appealing as opposed to running around neighborhoods asking for candy. She believes that people should stop trick or treating once they hit freshman year because she feels like that’s when they should grow out of sweets. She recalls buying most of her costumes at those pop-up Halloween costume shops and has stopped buying costumes after fifth grade. Instead of dressing up for Halloween and going out at night treat or tricking, she enjoys giving out candy.
People usually stop trick or treating when they reach high school. Senior Abby Capistrano said she had been dressing up for Halloween since kindergarten. Halloween is getting less popular among high school students because they feel it’s for kids only and they lose that spirit as they grow older. They don’t want to seem childish or immature among their peers. Capistrano used to buy her costumes at Spirit Halloween, but now she prefers to create or own costumes and shop for certain items that go well with each other. She used to be super enthusiastic about dress up and trick or treating but now she feels like that enthusiasm has faded away.
Overall, Halloween has become less celebrated among high school students. But, students still find ways to be festive in some way. As people grow older they find different ways to celebrate and to keep the Halloween spirit alive in their own ways.
