Author Spotlight
Isabel Baldassaro
There I was. Ten years old, sitting in class eager for the long day ahead full of Halloween-themed games and activities. Despite the upcoming hours of fun, all I could think about was how excited I was for the bell to ring. Tonight was a night I had been eagerly awaiting for weeks. It was the night of Halloween.
Growing up, Halloween was the ultimate experience. My mom bought fall-scented everything in bulk, filling our whole house with smells of pumpkin pie and cinnamon. My sisters and I would spend hours setting up our favorite Halloween decorations, from fake spider webs to skeletons to painted pumpkins.
But as I got older, I realized the consequences of preparing for Halloween too early. I’ve always thought it’s never too soon to prepare for any holiday, but when it comes to Halloween prep, I think there’s an appropriate time to start everything so that there isn’t that worry that comes with pre-planning. Starting prep later would allow for more spirit around the holiday, compared to if you started early, leaving you feeling over it before it has even happened.
Between the months of August, September and October, school always seemed to go from days of classes to days spent finding any opportunity to talk to my friends about their Halloween costumes. It became too much, and often made me and the people around me feel overwhelmed.
Even now, with August almost over, there are already new fall-themed products and decorations being displayed in multiple businesses. For instance, Starbucks came out with their yearly fall-themed drink, the Pumpkin Spiced Latte, on Aug. 30.
I love the feeling of Fall, but businesses easily turn everything to Halloween-themed in a short amount of time. I understand that it’s difficult to display fall without including decorations such as jack-o’-lanterns and witch hats, but it takes away that calm fall feeling.
This not only takes away the joy of the holiday, but it also makes it become more of an assignment than a fun event. In the past, most people I know didn’t even have a finalized costume or plan until a week, if not a couple days, before actual Halloween night. Some people enjoy a thrown together plan that has the freedom of change. Others seek the ability of knowing exactly their plan to make the night successful.
But even toward the end of the summer, I had already started to see TikToks of Halloween costume ideas and people decorating their houses with everything spooky. It almost felt as if the summer was rushed and I wondered if I should already begin my prep for Halloween, a holiday that was still three months away.
I think most people enjoy having something to constantly look forward to. I personally love getting excited for school breaks, holidays and vacations. Having Halloween to look forward to gives people something to take their mind off the endless tasks they have to accomplish and makes it seem like it’s all worth it. But soon enough, many stress about the preparation and presentation of Halloween weeks before they should even have to.
No matter which one you are, it still feels too sudden to start the excitement as soon as September hits, when Halloween isn’t until Oct. 31.
If stores were to simply put up fall decorations and slowly ease into the Halloween spirit as it got closer to the holiday, maybe toward the end of September and into early October, it would relieve the stress on those who see spooky decorations and assume they’re behind on their Halloween planning.
Once Halloween actually comes around, we can spend the weeks leading up to it with excitement and less worry that plans won’t go the way we want. It would truly get everyone more in the Halloween spirit if they weren’t already exposed to it a month or two prior.
The truest joy of Halloween is the thrill you get from the holiday itself. When you plan too far in advance that you dread the holiday, you lose the exhilaration it’s supposed to bring. There’s no fun in Halloween if you’ve already experienced it before it’s happened.
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