Editor’s note: This article is a part of a head-to-head. Read the other article here.
Halloween isn’t just one day celebrated at the end of October. It’s a month long build up of excitement and planning, finally manifesting on Oct. 31. It’s great for candy sales, costume makers and of course children and families. You get to bond over sugary goodness, and whether it’s in the form of traditional candies or homemade spook-tacular baked goods, food always brings everyone together.
Halloween is a holiday for everyone. It’s casual unlike Christmas or Thanksgiving when you’re expected to put on your finer clothes and socialize. Costumes are encouraged and people get to show off their creative skills through costumes or makeup while others get a chuckle out the intelligent costumes they’ve come up with using puns.
Some religions, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, don’t celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, some Christians who believe it’s a holiday associated with the devil choose not to partake in this juvenile holiday filled with frights also. Everyone is allowed to make their own choices, but when you assess Halloween without really thinking much about it, it can be broken down into a simple holiday that allows children to spend time with their friends, goof off in silly costumes and discover new candies they like.
If parents monitor their children’s safety and regularly check through the bags of candy, there’s no reason Halloween should feel unsafe or not fun. Candy in excessive amounts is bad for any human body, but this is just one night of the year and many parents make their kids pace themselves on treats. Or if you’re a parent who needs an excuse to binge on candy, you can eat most of your child’s candy when they go to bed so they don’t have to reap the unhealthy side effects of all the sugar.
There are so many cheerful holidays filled with fun songs, bright colors and messages telling everyone to be good. Halloween is a time when all of those things go out the window. People get to express their creepiness, watch all the dark, scary movies they want and make up silly rhymes telling people to smell their feet.
No holiday centers around healthy food. Excessive candy consumption shouldn’t be a reason to turn away from Halloween. This is a time of year when good grace is replaced with gore. Family pictures aren’t pretty, but the costume coordination in them is still flawless and children get to bond with friends and family while they trade their loot from the night. It normalizes terrifying things for children, teaching them it’s OK to be a little weird or abnormal.
Jordan Miller is a 21-year-old elementary education junior from New Orleans, Louisiana.