Ritika Khurana

Ritika Khurana poses for the camera in a cherished Supergirl costume at the age of five.

Some people go with the undead and monsters, while others love to be magical or famous. No matter what you prefer, costumes are arguably the best part of Halloween. We spend so much time thinking about what we want to dress up as and how we could achieve the perfect costume. However, at some point, people begin to tell you not to dress up.

I am a huge fan of Halloween, obviously for the candy, but also for the costumes. I was a devil for almost three years, Supergirl for two, and Clawdeen from the “Monster High” franchise for another two. 

While fun and light-hearted costumes were my style, my sister leaned toward the more frightening side. She was the same devil for three years (before I inherited the costume), a vampire for two years, and a zombie for three more, and that is only until her first year of middle school.

Just when I started to venture into the land of scary costumes like my sister (I had an amazing vampire costume in sixth grade), COVID-19 hit. Suddenly, my plans of being a banshee in seventh grade disappeared into dust.

I returned to my lighthearted characters for Halloween in eighth grade, but when I entered high school and got excited for Halloween, some people started saying that I was getting too old to dress up and go around trick-or-treating.

I ended up not trick-or-treating, but I did get to dress up as a different type of vampire for a family friend’s Halloween party. This year, I find myself wanting to dress up once again and some people still tell me that I am too old to put on a costume and ask for candy. 

People have their own opinions, but we should not let their views affect the way that we feel about ourselves and our beliefs. To add on, the opinions that we have should not be forced on others to make them conform to our idea of acceptable.

I will probably not be able to dress up, but not because people told me not to. I will not dress up because I would rather read a scary book and sit with my dogs than walk around outside on what is sure to be a cold day.

To me, that distinction is important. I want to do the things I wish to do, but I do not want to do them to fit in, be liked, or not seem lame. So, maybe I will not go trick-or-treating. Maybe I will dress my dogs up instead. Or maybe, I will come to school dressed up just for fun. 

Halloween is for everyone, for all ages, so people can dress up, trick-or-treat, and have parties at any age. It is a great time for people to be whoever and whatever they want, so everybody can dress and celebrate as they please.