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Have a Happy Halloween!

Posted on November 6, 2017 by Sunny South News

On any other day, it might be a little weird to see someone in fairy wings, green facepaint, horns or some combination of all three, but not today.

Today is Halloween; that special time of year in which we decorate pumpkins, spread fake cobwebs around, embrace all things scary and gorge ourselves on candy (that we may or may not have snuck out of the bowl for trick o’ treaters). Today is the only time when we can wear witch hats unironically and cackle like mad without people taking a slow step back. Today we can throw parties and trust that everyone will come dressed up as someone — or something — else, and no one will bat an eye if there is smoke coming off of the ‘witches brew’ punch. Halloween is a time of make believe, and a time of treats and tricks.

But not the property damaging/harming kind of tricks. It’s all fun and games until someone eggs a car and the RCMP — not those dressed up as police officers for the night, but the real law protecting RCMP — have to get involved.

For those who haven’t guessed, Halloween is one of my favourite times of year. It’s my second favourite holiday in fact (right after my birthday, which in my mind everyone should celebrate with free chocolate). There is something about the holiday that exudes fun and excitement — and really, what other time of year ca you run around dressed as a skeleton and it be perfectly acceptable?

Plus, the free candy never hurts.

This year will also mark the first year getting trick o’ treaters at my own place.

In previous years, my front doors has either not been that easy to get to or was in student housing ( which is essentially Halloween code for ‘the people here are starving students in the middle of midterms, do NOT disturb’, although on the plus side it did make for some great zombie looks without the makeup), and thus were not conducive for trick o’ treaters.

This year, my front door is actually easy to get to, and I just hope I have enough candy on hand. I’ve heard horror stories from my parent’s house, where secret candy stashes had to be broken into because they ran out of candy before the night was over!

Insert Scream horror scream here. With maybe just a sprinkle of lightning as well.

Although we can all agree it’s cute when a little kid comes to your door dressed as a dinosaur, carrying a bag the size of them, don’t forget to let the teenagers enjoy trick o treating as well.

Don’t be like Bathurst, New Brunswick, the town that banned trick or treaters over 16 and set a curfew of 8 p.m. for trick o’ treaters, with those who break the rules getting a $200 fine.

Although those rules, passed earlier this month, were better then their old anti-trick o’ treater rules — no one over 14 and curfew of 7 p.m. —  don’t make your town the new Town that Banned Halloween. Please be nice to the teenagers who trick o’ treat, because again, who doesn’t love free candy?

On a side note, how can Bathurst possibly enforce that ban? How do you know someone is still trick or treating or just heading home? How do you tell if someone on the street is 16? What about parents or older siblings dressed up to chaperone the trick o treaters, do they get fined, even if they aren’t getting candy? Seriously, what is the Halloween equivalent of Scrooge, because we just found that in some members of Bathurst town council, who passed the bylaw dictating that.

But as much as I enjoy Halloween, I recognize that maybe, some do not. Whether they don’t like the concept, find the frights too much or just don’t get the point of jack o’lanterns, you have to respect that. If everyone enjoyed the exact same things, life would be boring, and I’m sure you have holidays that you don’t like as much. So if someone says I don’t want to dress up or I don’t want to watch scary movies all night or any variation thereof, respect that.

Don’t ruin someone else’s day just because it’s Halloween and you have to do this because tradition/it’s festive/it’s scary-fun.

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