There are always people talking about how only kids should dress in costume, how the holiday is solely for kids to enjoy, but that is not true. This weird tradition for kids to gradually stop dressing up for Halloween — be it due to embarrassment or simply because of the lack of time — causes a sort of taboo that keeps adults from the fun they could have.

Trick-or-treating has always been a focal point of Halloween. When October hits, everyone is either getting ready to buy chocolate and candy or decorating their house with spooky ghosts and spiderwebs.

People think that trick-or-treating is required if you dress up for Halloween, however, this doesn’t have to be the case. Most people forget that Halloween doesn’t need trick or treating to get into a silly costume; it is just the cherry on top.

Though it is understandable for fewer people to go trick-or-treating after the pandemic, just wearing costumes is a different case. How complicated or simple the costumes are will always be up to the wearer’s discretion. That being said, for a holiday liked by many, it’s saddening how much people push away the fun over the candy.

Dressing up only requires yourself and a costume. The most simple and common Halloween costumes are witches, cat, dogs, ghosts, zombies or costumes based on cartoon characters; you can easily buy these online on Amazon or other websites. Target is also a good place to find inexpensive props to make your costume extra goofy or realistic.

If cost is the problem, DIYing an easy costume from craft paper, cardboard, and paint is also a popular last minute plan. The total cost would be however much paper and glue you buy and most of the time, the materials already exist at home!

If even that seems too much, you can always wear clothes you own, and style it inspired by what you want to be dressed as. The quality of it doesn’t matter as long as you dress up specifically for the occasion.

Friends can also make this fun. Impressing, scaring, or laughing at each other’s costumes can fuel the whimsy of Halloween. It’s just another time for the community to come together and just be.

Going out and finding a Halloween party to crash, or staying in and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters are still two great excuses to dress up and have some fun. 

If these reasons aren’t convincing enough to at least put on a little extra accessories, you will be missing out on the wicked charm of Halloween.