Everyone has that special tradition that they do on or around Halloween. Whether you carve pumpkins with your family or friends or stay up all night long watching scary movies with a big bowl of popcorn, there are many different traditions. Some students have well-established traditions with their families, while others have started new ones with friends around campus.
I go with my mother and little brother to pick pumpkins in Brussels. We cross the Mississippi River in a ferry and travel up to Wittman Hotel for lunch. We have a buffet of delicious food and pick up some cider and then each of the kids get to pick out our own pumpkins. Every time fall comes around, I am always reminded of our family tradition and it puts a smile on my face for days afterwards. My Halloween tradition always puts a smile on my face, so I was curious to see what other spooky traditions my fellow beavers practiced.
Freshman computer science major Kayla Kehr said her favorite Halloween tradition is family parties: “One of our party games is bobbing for apples with vampire teeth on. It makes it so much harder, but it’s so fun. Another party game our family plays is tying donuts to the ceiling fan and turning it on. Then, participants try to catch the donuts with their mouths. It’s a blast.” She also mentioned that her family does huge bonfires with costumes and s’mores. Kehr says her traditions have been going on for a decade now, and looking back on them, she feels very nostalgic. “Even though my family doesn’t always get along, I always know that we can get together on this one night and have fun,” she said.
Junior communications and business double major Ally Fowler says her favorite tradition is taking her cousins out trick-or-treating. With her twelve, nine and two year old cousins, she travels all over Brighton trick-or-treating with them. “If no one gives my cousins the full size candy bars, then I usually go to the nearest Dollar General and buy them full size bars,” she said.
Despite the fact that Halloween is supposedly only for children, teens and adults continue to make the holiday fun for themselves, because doesn’t everybody need a little bit of childish fun in their lives?