For as long as I can remember, I have always looked forward to Halloween. In elementary school, I couldn’t wait to parade my costume around the classroom and collect candy from classmates. As a pre-teen, I was far too cool to dress up, but I looked forward to roaming the streets with friends on a school night because that was a rare, rare event. And then of course in college, I made it my job to come up with a variety of creative, slutty, and hilarious costumes that would make great prof pics.
But now that I graduated and entered the ‘real world,’ those days are over.
Between working full time, working overtime, and working out, there is barely any time to do anything other than, well, work. Life is busy. In the little free time you have, you’re most likely going to attempt to have a social life or, like, relax – Not come up with multiple amazing DIY costumes like you did during college. No, those days are over. There is no more support to get off your ass and get to iParty because you’re not surrounded by students who have an immense amount of free time on their hands anymore. Even if you don’t live at home with your parents or by yourself, and actually live with friends, they’re most likely just as busy as you and not thinking about Halloween.
So what happens as October 31st approaches? Nothing. The holiday literally will sneak up on you and a few days before the first day of Halloweekend (aka the weekend before Halloween), you will be left with no costume… Unless of course you’re one of those intense people who orders costumes and/or accessories online weeks in advance – and in that case, power to you. But most of us just don’t have the time or energy for this shit anymore.
Even though the thought of dressing like a hilarious whore and getting black out with incognito strangers is not as appealing as it used to be, I still love it. I’ve admitted to myself that things are different now and post-college Halloween will never be the same as college Halloween, and that has helped me to enjoy my newfound ‘adult life.’
The first part of having a successful Adult Halloween is figuring our where to rage on Halloweekend. Halloween parties are rare because not many people our age have apartments big enough to host parties. And when there is a party, it won’t be full of hundreds of people you kind of know – it will be a small/decent sized party of people you really do know and some mutual friends, which of course is still just as fun. If there’s no party to go to, the bars won’t be full of people you know – and although we loved seeing familiar faces at the bars in college, it’s nice to not worry so much about what you look like in your ridiculous Halloween attire. It’s nice to be around strangers sometimes (right?).
Then you must decide what to wear. Instead of dressing up like a complete and total slut, adults usually dress up in a sophisticated – yet still sexy – way. At the bar this weekend, there were no girl sans pants wearing only a thong (I saw it in college). There were girls dressed up in costumes that were both funny and sexy. So when you’re debating whether to be funny or sexy, like Mindy Kaling was in last night’s The Mindy Project, be both! Just don’t try to hard… For example, Winston’s GF in last night’s New Girl was ‘reigning cats and dogs.’ It was witty, but – no. Way too much effort. Who has the time to create such an intense costume anyway?
After you have your costume, you have to decide when you’re going to wear it. Will you go out both nights during the weekend? Will you wear the same costume both nights if you do? Will you be lame if you stay in one night? What about both nights? And after you’re done dealing with the weekend, then it’s on to Halloween day (if it’s during the week of course). Do you dress up for work? Or no because you don’t want to pull a Mitchell from Modern Family? That spidey suit was not a good one to be caught in at the office.
To be safe you could wear a wig or cat ears – something that you can easily put on or take off just in case no one else is dressed up… Or you could just not dress up at all. And depending on where you work, most people probably won’t. But it’s totally up to you .
Then, do you go out Halloween night? You can’t trick or treat. You most likely don’t even get trick or treaters. And even if you do, you most likely will still be at work when they come. You have work the next day, so you don’t really feel like going for a night on the town in costume. So do you just ignore the holiday? You don’t see the appeal of candy… and most offices always have candy anyway. You just want to work out and sleep. Is that so wrong?
Even though you’re not raging as much as you did for college Halloween, the nights you do spend celebrating are good enough for you. You’re a mature professional adult (right?). You’re busy. You’re tired. And you’re growing up. Things that used to seem fun to you don’t anymore. But other things seem even more fun. I cannot get over how much fun everyone I saw out this past Halloweekend was having. Post-grads were everywhere, having a blast dressed in absolutely hilarious costumes. Guys were louder than usual and definitely way more outgoing – maybe because they felt like they were in a disguise – and girls were way more… nice. And believe it or not – people celebrated without being 90% naked (only 80%). The difference between a city bar full of post-grads and a college bar full of students on Halloween is apparent. Less boobs, more laughs, but still a good amount of boobs.
We’re at an age where we’re mature, yet still young. We can really do whatever we want and not have to worry about what anyone else thinks. So on this Halloween, do what you want. If you want to dress up for work, do it. If you want to go out tonight, do it. If you want to stay in, that’s fine. Do (and wear) what you want and enjoy it. Soon enough, your Halloween will be all about trick or treating and costumes for kids again. Enjoy it while it lasts…
Happy Halloween 20-somethings! Are you dressed up for work? Are you going out tonight? Or did you go out in costume this weekend? Let us know how you’re celebrating Adult Halloween.
**Don’t forget to enter our Halloween Costume Contest! You have until tomorrow, November 1st, at midnight to send us your pics. Tweet a pic of you in your costume at @forever20tweets or email it to sam@forevertwentysomethings.com. Click here for more details.**
