Dressing up for Halloween should not have an age limit, it is basically like ComicCon but at home with your friends. There shouldn’t be a hard limit on what is the appropriate age to stop dressing up in costumes. This is why it’s frustrating to see people shame others for just having fun and doing what they enjoy.
Halloween is the one time where you should be able to wear what you want with no judgement and eat as much candy as you want (it’s like a cheat day with ghosts). As a kid, the excitement is in the costume and the trick-or-treating. As a teenager, you get the kick out of going to multiple parties and scary movies. I remember feeling frustrated in High School because I wanted to dress up as Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family, but my mom said no because I “had grown past that dressing-up age”.
But why does the fun have to stop there? As a university student who hasn’t experienced much Halloween culture in my home country, I want to dress up and have fun before the cold takes away my ability to wear hot outfits. Grown-ups should be allowed to have fun, to rep their favourite Addams Family character, or wear their “Vampires Vs. Werewolves” t-shirt from their Twilight era.
People shouldn’t be put down for wanting to have fun, especially if it’s through an expression of themselves. If putting up Halloween-themed decorations or wearing an elaborate costume makes someone happy, why make them feel bad about it? Dressing up for Halloween can mean more to someone than you realize. It might be someone’s way of socializing and making new friends, or they could be reminiscing about their generation’s pop culture. The point is, Halloween can mean different things to different people, and making them feel bad about representing themselves should be a big no-no.
