Why is it that Halloween for kids is all about trick-or-treating and eating loads of candy, but when you reach college it seems to be all about getting trashed?

College has somehow become an experience that doesn’t just include its original purpose, i.e. learning. It is now considered the time to break free from parental bounds and to find yourself. But why does partying have to coincide with that? Halloween is no exception to this trend.

There have already been many events planned this Halloween to ‘celebrate’ and party like there’s no tomorrow. Among them are plenty of Frat and Sorority parties, of which there is sure to be a good amount of alcohol and who knows what else.

Why does drinking and throwing a party as ‘adults’ have to coincide with that? Sure, being able to drink legally is a right of passage in America, but that doesn’t mean we need to go overboard. Is it really so fun to get wasted? Someone will either make a fool out of themselves, get hurt, sick or get into a sticky situation. I don’t see the fun in that.

Maybe we are all clinging to the fun we would have trick-or-treating as kids, but this adjustment in early adulthood just allows for us all to get wasted (if we choose to do so) while wearing weird outfits.

Halloween has become an excuse to dress up either scary, funny or sexy for no significant reason.

With costumes, instead of having fun like we did as kids, we now try to impress others with having the absolute *best* costume out of everyone. There’s always that costume contest going on, or college students may just want to be the most noticeable and original of their friends.

Do we really need to peacock i.e. display oneself ostentatiously? Why not just have fun and ignore if someone doesn’t like what you have on. We all would look ridiculous wearing these things on any other given day.

But maybe we do need to go back to our innocence. The journey into adulthood is rough, and we all need a bit of relief from that.

Maybe wanting to get dressed up for halloween is our escape for the night. We can be fun or we can just be something we couldn’t be otherwise. Halloween is the night for the outrageous and college students today embrace that. We are still learning how to grow up, and that’s okay.

In regard to drinking, however, why not ease back a bit and be able to remember the fun night out you had? You’ll thank yourself in the morning and might come out realizing that you don’t have to get wasted to have fun.

We’re just kids learning to be adults in my book. Try to live a little and enjoy being young while you can–be it in a silly or a scary costume. You do you.