Halloween

Halloween is actually a pretty ridiculous holiday if you think about. Do not misunderstand me, i really like Halloween and feel that it can be very whimsical and fantastical for both adults and children. My problem with Halloween, though is that it is very commercialized. Gone are the days of my own youth in which families came together to make their own costumes, yes i said make. In our society to today people as a whole have gotten lazy. It has become normal for parents to go to stores for costumes, willing to shell out upwards of $50 for a cheap, polyester princess costume or a corny batman ensemble that chafes. That is if they even bother putting on a costume at all. Gone are the days of magic and wonder, admiring costumes for their originality rather than its price tag. And parents are okay with!


I can remember  back to when I was about 9 or 10 and I was still excited about Halloween. It was back in my elementary school, back when I was innocent to the world's many atrocities. My parent had to go to a Halloween party for one of their friend's and some of my neighbours had decided to go as different characters from the movie the Wizard of Oz. This man that used to live across the street was Dorothy (yes i said man), the lady next door was the Scarecrow and my mother had the arduous task of finding a Tin Man costume. It may sound lame but as a family we went to Rona to purchase materials to MAKE a costume. My dad found the shiny duct tape, my sister the silver spray paint, my mom some metallic bubble wrap and I was in charge of picking out the ideal silver chain to hold our creation together. Later that night we worked to glue, tape, drill and paint a Tim Man costume that could not be copied. it was ORIGINAL!

When i think back to those crazy, costumes-making sessions I am disheartened. I recall all the corny joy that my adolescent self had making that costume and mourn for the lost childhood of today's youth. They must settle for cheap, itchy costumes that are repeated on every other boy and girl. I could not tell you how many vampires came to my door this year. And the worst part was that they were not scary, i want to suck your blood vampires, they were coiffed, pale kids with amber eyes from the twilight movies. They weren't even representing the characters of the books because who in our generation still reads?